A St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial slammed Republicans who have embraced former President Donald Trump's unproven claims of election fraud, warning that they may join him in the "trash bin of history."
The Missouri paper's editorial board urged Republicans who continue to push Trump's "toxic" claims of election fraud to consider how history will view both them and the former president.
After President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election, Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. They have pushed for audits in key swing states, and Trump has been accused of pressuring officials to help push his claims.
The editorial board pointed to an interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee released Thursday as showing how Trump "attempted to subvert the Justice Department to overthrow a legitimate election."
"The interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee shows how Trump's Jan. 6 incitement of a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol was only his most publicly visible attempt to overturn an election he clearly lost," the editorial reads. "In the days prior, Trump was maneuvering behind the scenes, trying to weaponize his Justice Department to validate his already-disproven claims of election fraud."
Among the report's findings, Trump apparently "repeatedly" asked Department of Justice leadership to endorse his claims that the election was stolen and to "assist his efforts to overturn the election results."
It also found that Trump allegedly forced the resignation of a U.S. attorney he believed was not sufficiently investigating the unproven fraud claims in Georgia, going outside the line of succession to appoint an attorney he thought would "do something" about the claims; and that allies with links to the "Stop the Steal" movement participated in the pressure campaign against DOJ.
The editorial praises Trump administration officials who "heroically averted this attempted coup by threatening mass resignations if Trump carried out his scheme," but it offers a grim warning for "fearful" Republican lawmakers who "obfuscate" Trump's "outrageous attempt to overthrow the election."
"With every new revelation, Trump's attempted coup against democracy further dooms him to the trash bin of history," the editorial reads. "Those who still don't understand that might well find themselves joining him there."
Despite a lack of evidence, Trump continues to claim that he lost several battleground states due to fraud. On Saturday, he urged his Michigan supporters to attend an upcoming rally demanding an audit of the presidential results in the state, where he lost by nearly three points. In a statement, he claimed "the voter fraud is beyond what anyone can believe."
Trump also faced backlash after he allegedly called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and urged him to "find" 11,780 votes in the state. Raffensperger wrote in a new book, Integrity Matters, that he believes the former president meant to intimidate him on the call.
Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment Saturday afternoon for a response to the editorial but had not heard back by publication. This story will be updated with any response.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
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