According to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 1,065 U.S. adults conducted between December 1st and December 6th, only 24% of Republicans believe that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in last month’s presidential election. Of Democrats and Independents, 95% and 67%, respectively, accept that the election result showing that Biden won is accurate.
What is it with these Republicans? Is this a case of denial by Trump’s horde of rapscallion-like supporters who have become almost dependent upon his daily lies, unfounded election fraud and conspiracy theories, and the biased reporting coming from right-wing outlets like Fox News? Or is it an act of desperation by the delusional, about-to-be former president whose election loss has led to a rapid deterioration of his mental faculties?
Denial is the action of declaring something to be untrue, and it most definitely is untrue that Trump did not lose the election. Willful ignorance is when people refuse to become informed so that, in this case, they don’t have to face the reality of Donald Trump’s defeat.
As we slowly progress toward the eve of his eviction from the White House, are more than three-quarters of Republicans in denial? Or are they the victims of an evil yet ingenious plan to pull victory from the jaws of defeat by spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to those who choose to remain willfully ignorant about the actual and irrefutable outcome of the election?
Or is there some other explanation besides denial and/or willful ignorance?
Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (rapscallion), The Daily Spur (dependent), Word of the Day Challenge (desperation), Your Daily Word Prompt (rapid), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (ingenious), and MMA Storytime (Eve).