The latest reminder from the other party that you’ll pay no penalty from them for using conspiracy theories to aggressively delegitimize American elections, at least so long as you’re doing it on their behalf. (And you stop short of inciting a riot at the Capitol, maybe.) Democrats were foursquare behind election truther Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, they’re foursquare behind Stacey Abrams in Georgia, and now a guy who’s said repeatedly over the years that the 2000 election was illegitimate is going to work at the White House.

It makes sense in a way. Democrats clearly aren’t as worried about election subversion as they claim to be (and should be). If they don’t care enough about what happened in 2020 to work with Republicans on reforming the Electoral Count Act, why wouldn’t they make an election truther Kamala Harris’s new mouthpiece?

Fox News has the receipts on Jamal Simmons’s denialism.

@kristinagill I said losing tickets. Gore Lieberman didn't lose. (but same point)

— Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) August 11, 2012

@jpodhoretz I worked for Gore 2000 & believe W's 1st term to have been illegitimate. Yet when in the room w/him I stood and gave ofc respect

— Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) June 15, 2012

The Trump vs Biden equivalency is wrong. Trump was an anti-Democratic huckster grifting the country while unleashing our demons. Biden is the #Democratic version of McCain – a good man I disagreed with. I thought W stole the 2000 elex but I still stood when he entered a room. https://t.co/d2xHkgvCZh

— Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) January 21, 2021

Why did he stand for a guy whom he apparently believed perpetrated a giant fraud on American democracy to take power?

He’s in trouble with the left today. Not for questioning the legitimacy of Bush’s victory; as I say, the left doesn’t mind conspiracy theories about rigged elections provided that they benefit from them. They’re mad at him for … this:

Just saw 2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC. One Law student the other a protester. Can someone explain why ICE is not picking them up?

— Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) November 29, 2010

Seeding public distrust in American institutions for partisan gain isn’t disqualifying for Democrats, never mind that the president gave a harsh speech indicting Trump on those exact grounds five days ago. But demanding that immigration law be enforced? That might be a career-ended for Simmons. It’s clean-up time:

For the record, I've never advocated for, nor believed that Dreamers should be targeted by ICE agents. I've been for DACA + comprehensive immigration reform for years. Frankly, it's depressing ppl can forget about every other thing I've said in public on this bc of bad tweets.

— Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) January 7, 2022

Your move, Kamala.

Speaking of career-enders, a Senate Republican dared to go on national TV this weekend and cross his party on its supreme political priority, convincing Americans that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election. You can be pro-war or anti-war in the GOP, tightfisted with spending or willing to run deficits to fund GOP programs, but you cannot — cannot — believe that Biden got more votes and remain a Republican in good standing.

“As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states…The election was fair, as fair as we've seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency,” GOP Sen. Mike Rounds says. https://t.co/ANIQaIEzzo pic.twitter.com/DY2PW2d3qs

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 10, 2022

Trump saw that clip and had a rhetorical aneurysm this morning, accusing Rounds of having gone “woke”:

“Senator” Mike Rounds of the Great State of South Dakota just went woke on the Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020. He made a statement this weekend on ABC Fake News, that despite massive evidence to the contrary, including much of it pouring in from Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other states, he found the election to be ok—just fine. Is he crazy or just stupid? The numbers are conclusive, and the fraudulent and irregular votes are massive. The only reason he did this is because he got my endorsement and easily won his state in 2020, so now he thinks he has time, and those are the only ones, the weak, who will break away. Even though his election will not be coming up for 5 years, I will never endorse this jerk again.

It’s RINOs like this that are allowing the Democrats to destroy our Nation! Our Borders, our Military, our Economy, Inflation, the horrible handling of the China Virus and Afghanistan, and rampant crime throughout our Democrat-run cities are ripping our Country apart. We are a laughingstock throughout the world when we were respected and even feared just 1 year ago. There were no thoughts of Russia with Ukraine, China with Taiwan, Iran with nuclear weapons, or North Korea with nasty statements.

The Radical Left Democrats and RINOS, like “Senator” Mike Rounds, do not make it easy for our Country to succeed. He is a weak and ineffective leader, and I hereby firmly pledge that he will never receive my Endorsement again!

Trump got this much right: It’s mainly the Republicans in the Senate who won’t have to face voters again soon (Rounds, McConnell, Ben Sasse) who are most willing to stand up to him on his election propaganda. Rounds probably figures that, one way or another, this won’t be a problem for him in 2026. Either Trump will be out of politics at that point, whether retired or having become a two-time presidential loser in 2024, or Trump will be president and Rounds will be eager to retire himself and leave the insanity of a second Trump term in Washington.

Regardless, the point of Trump’s statement isn’t to intimidate Rounds. It’s to intimidate all the other Republicans, especially newbie Republican candidates who’ll be on the ballot in November, by signaling that if they don’t full-throatedly endorse his fantasy of a rigged election to protect his ego they’re liable to see their campaigns implode. Only the “woke” question the Big Lie. In the meantime, though, I wonder if Rounds will now be willing to join the effort to reform the Electoral Count Act. If he’s marked for political death in 2026, he might as well do some good for his country over the next five years.