"The only way the outcome of this election is going to be widely accepted — which is what we need — is through the post-election process in our law," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says in a new video. Truly just scratching my head at this. 1/x

In the video, Rubio states, "The fact that 70% of Republicans don’t believe the 2020 election was free and fair — that should be of concern to everyone." But he makes no mention of Trump's repeated, *false* claims of widespread fraud. That 70% didn't come out of nowhere. 2/x

In 2011, 45% of Republicans said they thought Obama was not born in the U.S. By Rubio's logic, Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate should've solved that. Instead, birtherism continued to fester within GOP. And it fueled Trump's rise. 3/x https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-produces-his-birth-certificate/2011/04/27/AFFISyxE_story.html

In short: stoking a conspiracy theory, then indulging voters when they begin to believe it, only leads the conspiracy theory to grow, not dissipate. This is a cycle that's taken place before within the GOP. It has many dangerous consequences. 4/x

I keep going back to this telling exchange captured by @loisbeckett. American trust in institutions has been plummeting -- but now, even democracy itself is mistrusted. Giving credence to Trump's baseless fraud claims makes that worse, not better. 5/x https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1325128476265836544

Zooming out, all the worry about foreign interference pales when you consider the damage being done *by American politicians* to voters' trust in their own democracy. This -- and not any one particular president -- is what I imagine U.S. adversaries are most delighted to see. 6/6