Recent polls indicate that a majority of Republican voters continue to believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. If Goebbels is right and the truth is a lie that is repeated a thousand times –– and this lie has been repeated thousands of times –– it has become Gospel for many in the Republican party.
A PRRI post-election survey from late 2024, analyzing the 2024 presidential vote among about 5,000 voters, found that 63% of Republican voters agree the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. This belief persists despite high confidence (66%) among the same group in the fairness of the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, voter suppression is real, but under-reported. Republicans pursued voter roll purges, ballot rejections, and lawsuits in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, often targeting mail-in and provisional ballots disproportionately used by Democrats and voters of color.
Now, Steve Bannon –– previously a close aide to Donald Trump –– insists that I.C.E. will be at polling places in the 2026 midterm elections, to make sure that only citizens vote. “We’re not gonna sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” he continued. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
(Somehow, non-MAGA citizens are now the “babies” crying about I.C.E., despite their obvious and now well-documented acts of unconstitutional policing. A federal judge said ICE had disobeyed more judicial directives this month than “some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.” So, non-MAGA folks who are “crying” about the Constitution and the rule of law are now “babies.” How Great Thou Art, Mr. Bannon).
But again, the myth of non-citizens disrupting fair elections is a now-tiresomely familiar GOP scare tactic. There is no evidence supporting claims of widespread non-citizen voting in U.S. elections; such incidents are exceedingly rare and isolated. Federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, with penalties including fines, imprisonment, and deportation. All states bar non-citizens from state elections too, and voter registration requires swearing citizenship under penalty of perjury.
State audits post-2024 election found minimal cases: Michigan identified about a dozen non-citizen votes out of millions (0.00028% of total). Iowa confirmed 35 out of 1.6 million ballots; Georgia found 20 registrations, 9 votes among 8.2 million voters. Many initial flags (e.g., Texas’s 2,724 potentials, Virginia’s 6,300) proved false positives, often US citizens misidentified.
The Heritage Foundation –– which sponsored the now-infamous Project 2025 –– has a voter fraud database that logs just 68 non-citizen voting cases over decades (less than 5% of total fraud cases), with only 10 by undocumented immigrants. Brennan Center studies found 30 suspected (unconfirmed) cases in 23.5 million votes. Convictions remain low despite increased scrutiny under President Trump.
Yet Trump’s FBI under Kash Patel just raided Fulton County, Georgia elections office and removed the 2020 election records to a “secure facility.” The New York Times “The Daily” podcast featured this raid in its February 3 episode.
Legal, yes, since U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas issued the warrant. Examining original materials might confirm prior audits or reveal overlooked issues like improper ballot tabulation or preservation lapses, promoting transparency and deterring future non-compliance.
But here’s the inconvenient truth: Donald Trump and his allies lost nearly all of their 62 lawsuits contesting the 2020 election. Over 86 judges rejected claims and the U.S. Supreme Court denied multiple appeals. The cases, filed mainly in battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, were dismissed or withdrawn due to lack of evidence, standing issues, or procedural flaws. Judges, including some Trump appointees, ruled the claims frivolous or meritless after reviewing merits in about 30 cases. The one “win” for Trump out of 62 lawsuits was inconsequential, and did not change any outcomes.
And still, our President goes to Davos in 2026, nearly six years later, dredges up his old grievance and his repeated lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that “everybody now knows that,” saying that prosecutions would follow for those involved. Presumably, the FBI raid was to prepare the way for those prosecutions.
Is there any wonder why “e pluribus unum” (“out of many, one”) has been lost to the deliberate lies and distortions of Donald Trump, who is still the “dear leader” for so many in the GOP who view him as their standard bearer; many of them wear hats or shirts that say “Jesus is My Savior; Trump is My President.” (Get yours today on Amazon!)
Legal but oh so very wrong: The Fake Gospel of Donald, despite his constant fabrications, continues to spark the devotion of many voters in the U.S.