{"id":1619411,"date":"2022-08-22T18:16:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T22:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1619411"},"modified":"2022-08-22T18:16:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T22:16:22","slug":"the-election-denier-smear-is-the-dumbest-rhetorical-device-in-modern-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-election-denier-smear-is-the-dumbest-rhetorical-device-in-modern-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Election Denier\u2019 Smear Is The Dumbest Rhetorical Device In Modern Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-election-denier-smear-is-the-dumbest-rhetorical-device-in-modern-politics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1619411&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Tacking the word \u201cdenier\u201d onto an issue \u2014 as in \u201cclimate denier\u201d or \u201celection denier\u201d\u2014 is one of the dumbest rhetorical devices in modern politics. The purpose, of course, is to insinuate that the underlying position is insidious, beyond the pale, on par with Holocaust denial. One might debate a \u201cconservative\u201d on the issues, but a \u201cdenier;\u201d well, that\u2019s someone who can\u2019t be reasoned with.<\/p>\n<p>For starters, the logical and grammatical problem with the \u201cdenier\u201d formulation is that nobody actually <em>denies<\/em> the existence of elections or climate. A \u201cclimate denier\u201d is often a person who believes in economic tradeoffs and rejects eco-scaremongering. And an \u201celection denier\u201d is typically someone who believes that a political contest has been stolen, or corrupted, or unfairly implemented. This is the position of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, by Doug Mastriano and Stacey Abrams, and by Dinesh D\u2019Souza and <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2018\/07\/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html\">Jonathan<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2012\/06\/yes-bush-v-gore-did-steal-the-election.html\">Chait<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, not all \u201celection denialism\u201d is identical. There are those who maintain Donald Trump was a Russian asset since the 1980s and others who believe that the Electoral College is an antiquated institution. Both positions are wrong, but one is a critique of federalism while the other is bonkers.<\/p>\n<p>But the left likes to lump together nuts who believe child-porn rings are operating out of DC pizzerias and the millions who have concerns about the prevalence of low-integrity, mail-in ballot systems or executive actions that allow late, undated ballots to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/us-supreme-court-allows-counting-undated-mail-in-ballots-pennsylvania-2022-06-09\/\">counted<\/a> after Election Day. If these latter concerns make one a \u201cdenier,\u201d then surely someone who believes that asking a citizen to show an ID before voting is tantamount to Jim Crow is also one. Because, if it\u2019s not \u201cdark money\u201d stealing \u201cdemocracy,\u201d it\u2019s confusing ballots, or \u201cvoter suppression,\u201d or \u201cgerrymandering,\u201d or the Ruskies or the Supreme Court, or the Constitution. It has long been the case that Democrats do not accept the legitimacy of elections.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, Dem operative Jon Karl <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/liz-cheney-stopping-trump-pence-testifying-jan-week\/story?id=88456566\">interviewed<\/a> the recently deposed Liz Cheney, who promised to work against \u201celection deniers,\u201d people who do not \u201crespect the outcome of the election.\u201d Among the people Cheney will reject are Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz\u2014neither of whom, as far as I can tell, deny that Biden is the legitimate president of the United States. Apparently, that isn\u2019t enough anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho won the 2020 election?\u201d CNN\u2019s Jim Acosta asked Donald Trump\u2019s acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously Joe Biden is president,\u201d Wolf responded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, no,\u201d Acosta said. \u201cDo you believe he won that election fair and square?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe Biden is president,\u201d Wolf again said before bringing up the possibility of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Do Democrats believe Trump won 2016 squarely and fairly? Do they believe that Georgia or Texas run \u201cfair and square\u201d elections? Doubtful. Yet, it is only conservatives who are asked to treat every election law passed by Democrats as a sacrosanct pillar of \u201cdemocracy\u201d or risk being smeared as a traitor.<\/p>\n<p>CNN\u2019s preening Jake Tapper also loves to throw around the phrase \u201celection denier,\u201d which he <a href=\"https:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/show\/cg\/date\/2022-08-17\/segment\/01\">defines<\/a> as anyone \u201cwho lies about American democracy in the 2020 election.\u201d Why doesn\u2019t this go for the 2016 election or 2024 election or 2000? Well, because Tapper spent <em>years<\/em> spreading the Russia \u201ccollusion\u201d fraud, a concerted effort to delegitimize \u201cAmerican democracy.\u201d If we accept Tapper\u2019s parameter\u2019s for any other election year, not only does he meet the definition of a denialist, but virtually every Democrat qualifies. <\/p>\n<p>It goes for Hillary Clinton, who repeatedly declared Trump an \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/hillary-clinton-trump-is-an-illegitimate-president\/2019\/09\/26\/29195d5a-e099-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html\">illegitimate president<\/a>,\u201d and claimed that 2016 was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/video\/hillary-clinton-maintains-2016-election-160716779.html\">not on the level<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/hillary-clinton-trump-is-an-illegitimate-president\/2019\/09\/26\/29195d5a-e099-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html\">stolen<\/a>,\u201d is by the definition Democrats embrace an \u201celection denier.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattsIdeaShop\/status\/1561344200104361984\">As are<\/a> Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, John Kerry, Al Gore, the late John Lewis, the late Harry Reid, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/07\/opinion\/how-to-rig-an-election.html\">Paul Krugman<\/a>, Jerrold Nadler, virtually the entire Washington Post editorial page, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/time-magazine-cover-shows-trumps-white-house-transforming-into-the-kremlin-2017-5\">Time magazine<\/a>, every other major media outlet, the White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, former DNC chairs, and scores of others. <\/p>\n<p>When asked this weekend why 74 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, NBC\u2019s Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1561727534395432961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1561727534395432961%7Ctwgr%5E6036d6ea0adef037d5d130e9fe45825be1dc449c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsarahd-313035%2F2022%2F08%2F22%2Fwatch-yamiche-alcindors-explanation-for-why-so-many-americans-are-so-worried-explains-why-no-one-should-ever-listen-to-her%2F\">responded<\/a> that people are \u201cvery worried about former President Trump coming back into power, or former President Trump or another Republican stealing the election in 2022 or 2024.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Not only is this astoundingly silly, but it\u2019s also an example of the kind of preemptive election \u201cdenialism\u201d that was employed by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, and many others, during the run-up to 2020. \u201cLet the election decide,\u201d was a dangerous idea according to Pelosi during Trump\u2019s first impeachment because the legitimacy of 2020 had already been undermined. \u201cThe President\u2019s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won,\u201d Schiff <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/newshour\/status\/1220056517510156298\">said<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>When the Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/08\/15\/election-deniers-march-toward-power-key-2024-battlegrounds\/\">warns<\/a> us that \u201cElection deniers march toward power in key 2024 battlegrounds\u201d it isn\u2019t talking about Stacey Abrams or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/news\/pennsylvania\/capitol-ideas\/mc-shapiro-joins-ags-seeking-special-prosecutor-for-russia-probe-20170511-story.html\">Josh Shapiro<\/a>, it is laying the groundwork for challenging the legitimacy of the next election. <\/p>\n<p>And voters <em>should<\/em> be able to question the legitimacy of elections if they believe laws have been unjust or cheating has occurred. Even if you contend, as I do, that most election fraud claims are overstated or partisan wish-casting, it is \u201cdemocracy\u201d to complain. But, it seems, the only ones tagged as \u201cdeniers\u201d\u2014and all the big outlets liberally use the term now\u2014are Republicans. Which is just another reason half the country distrusts journalists\u2013 a vacuum in trust that doesn\u2019t only propel skepticism, but gives space for more conspiracies to flourish.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of five books\u2014the most recent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Eurotrash-America-Reject-Failed-Continent\/dp\/0063066017\/\">Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent<\/a>. His work has appeared in National Review, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reason, New York Post, and numerous other publications. Follow him on Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidharsanyi\/\">@davidharsanyi<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tacking the word \u201cdenier\u201d onto an issue \u2014 as in \u201cclimate denier\u201d or \u201celection denier\u201d\u2014 is one of the dumbest rhetorical devices in modern politics. The purpose, of course, is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1619411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1619411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1619411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1619411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1619411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}