Take on claims head-on

Former president Donald Trump’s continued false claims about 2020 create a huge headache for Republican leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The more Trump prattles on, the harder it is to look the other way from his bizarre and false claims.

The time will soon come when McConnell will have to do what he has long avoided: directly, publicly and forcefully rebut Trump’s lies about election fraud.

Trump’s all-over-the-place political messaging complicates matters. On one hand, Trump endorses numerous candidates and argues that his fans should put his friends in office. GOP leaders could live with Trump’s rants if this were primarily what he was up to.

But it’s not. He is also increasingly focusing on his false allegations that Democrats fraudulently stole the 2020 election. Trump upped the ante Wednesday by sending a message warning that Republican voters will not turn out in 2022 unless GOP leaders “solved” the purported fraud.

That’s a shot across Republican leaders’ bow that Trump clearly hopes will lead them to embark as willing sailors on his suicide cruise into the rocks of fact and public opinion.

As long as Trump is politically active, he will push his election fraud narrative to anyone who listens. That will have an effect whether McConnell likes it or not. The only question remaining, then, is whether benign neglect continues to be the optimal strategy.

McConnell would be wise to start preparing to fight back. He knows that Trump’s allegations are figments of his fevered imagination. It takes time to demolish each of the specific allegations that too many Republicans believe to be true. But without that exertion, those Republicans will continue to believe the election was stolen. And if they believe that, some might not vote at all. McConnell should not take that risk. He can start with the bully pulpit he commands, the Senate floor.

McConnell shouldn’t stop there. He should enlist the support of leading figures whom Trump backers trust, such as Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham or radio stars such as Mark Levin. Their endorsement, and those of others like them in other conservative spheres of influence, would force Republican voters to face the facts.

McConnell is one of the savviest political strategists of the past half-century. He probably already knows this is a Rubicon he must cross, even if that risks an open fight with Trump.

But he also knows that the facts are on his side, and fear of Democratic victory in the midterms will incline even ardent Trumpians to hear him out. That should give him the courage to fuel his cunning and do what he does best: win.