For more than a year, the left has blamed Donald Trump for undermining the sanctity of American elections by promoting “The Big Lie” – that is, that the 2020 election was stolen.
But on Wednesday, as his favored “voting rights” bill was flaming out in Congress, thanks to two level-headed Democrats siding with Republicans, President Joe Biden was casting doubt on the legitimacy of American elections.
In a lengthy press conference, Biden suggested that passing the bill, which among other problems would grant federal control over elections, was the only thing that would legitimize the 2022 congressional elections.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be legit. The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed,” said Biden.
“I think it could easily be illegitimate,” he added, in a seeming reference to some voting-law changes made in red states, which in many respects are more lax than the voting laws in Biden’s home state, Delaware.
In another question about the election, Biden added, “Well, it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election.”
In short, the Democratic argument will be that Republicans are undermining elections by, for instance, requiring an identification to vote.
Yet Biden then torpedoed the repeated argument about voter suppression made by himself, Vice President Kamala Harris, and congressional Democrats in the effort to enact the aggressive and expansive overhaul of voting in America.
“Remember how we thought not that many people were going to show up to vote in the middle of the pandemic,” he said, “and [we] had the highest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America?”
Harris echoed the talking points – which are being shoveled out as polls show the Republicans are getting better positioned to regain control of Congress this fall.
When a CNN reporter asked if the 2022 elections will be illegitimate unless the Democrats’ voting agenda passed, she replied, “Let’s get these bills passed before we have that conversation.”
At least some of Biden’s media allies were bothered by his remarks.
“Biden refused to say that the election results in these midterms in November would be legitimate. He refused it,” said CNN’s Jake Tapper.
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked the sweeping election bill and voted to keep the filibuster rules unchanged.
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If Biden feels the 2022 elections may be illigitament without the voters rights bill, then one could also say that the 2020 elections could also be illigitament because there was no voters rights bill.