Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tied Republicans to Trump’s claims of a “rigged” election, criticizing what she described as a “long-running effort by Republicans to delegitimize Democratic voters, appointees and leaders,” in an editorial published Tuesday by the Washington Post.
“Trump’s argument didn’t spring from nowhere. It’s just one more symptom of a long-running effort by Republicans to delegitimize Democratic voters, appointees and leaders,” Warren wrote in the editorial.
She blamed Republican leadership for serving up “a steady diet of stories about imaginary cheating,” calling their tactic “the last refuge of the sore loser” and citing the infrequency with which voter fraud actually occurs in the United States.
“Republican leaders — and even Trump’s running mate — have tried to tiptoe out of the room when Trump makes ever-wilder claims of a rigged election,” Warren wrote. “But as much as these Republicans would like everyone to believe that this is a Trump-only problem, it’s not. For years, Republican leaders have pushed the lie that voter fraud is a huge issue.”
Warren condemned the tactic as one of “manufactured hysteria” used to “disproportionately suppress turnout by Democratic voters — especially blacks and Latinos.”
Warren cited Al Gore’s concession in the 2000 presidential election as an example that Trump would do well to keep in mind.
“Republican leaders seem increasingly concerned that when Trump loses, he won’t follow that example,” she wrote. “But Trump’s words and deeds are merely the latest — and loudest — examples in a long line of Republican tactics that are poisoning our political system.”
