In its embrace of former President Donald Trump's bigotry and fascism, the Republican party has largely thrown values it once claimed to champion to the wind in devotion to the nation's 45th President.
The party that championed fiscal responsibility cheered when Trump's tax cuts added trillions of dollars to the deficit. The Republican nominees for President in the two elections preceding Trump's—Senators John McCain of Arizona and Mitt Romney of Utah—are now personae non gratae for having the audacity to criticize him.
And the party that once championed state autonomy over national cohesion has since canceled former Vice President Mike Pence for not unilaterally throwing out certified electoral votes in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump's constant lies about the validity of the 2020 election have now become a central tenet of the unwritten Republican party platform, and a new poll is showing just how pervasive that belief is among the party.
A CNN poll conducted last month found that, among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, a combined 59 percent felt that falsely believing Trump won ranged from a "somewhat" to "very" important aspect of being a Republican.
It reads, in part:
"About six in 10 say that supporting Trump, and that believing that he won in 2020, are at least a somewhat important part of what being a Republican means to them. More, though, point to more traditional partisan markers, with 69% saying it's at least somewhat important to oppose Democratic policies, 81% to support the Republicans in Congress, 85% to hold conservative values and positions and 86% to believe the federal government should have less power."
The poll confirmed what many already knew.
Some said the collective delusion is making democracy more and more untenable, regardless of party alignment.
Trump continues to lie that the election was stolen.
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