TOO MANY REPUBLICANS DRINKING THE KOOL-AID

President Donald Trump may be doing his worst damage to American institutions on his way out the door — torching the very notion of fair American elections in the aftermath of his decisive loss to Joe

Biden on Nov. 3 by claiming his re-election was thwarted by conspiratorial Democrats in swing states nationwide. Republican and Democratic judges alike have rejected dozens of legal challenges by Trump allies to election results for the most basic reason: They offer no actual evidence of vote-rigging or official misconduct. Instead, the challenges are motivated by a contemptible desire to throw out election results simply because the other side won.

That’s why this week will be remembered as a low point in American politics. The decision by 106

House Republicans on Thursday — and 20 more on

Friday — as well as 18 GOP state attorneys general to request that the Supreme Court overturn election results in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and

Wisconsin shows how deeply Trumpism has infected and warped the party. The court rejected the challenge of nearly two-thirds of House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy,

R-Bakersfield. As an incoming congressman, local

Rep.-elect Darrell Issa’s name didn’t appear on the list of sitting Republicans backing the Texas lawsuit looking to overturn the election. But Issa told the

Los Angeles Times recently that it’s “only fair” for the president to exhaust all his appeals as Vice President Al Gore did before conceding to George W.

Bush in 2000. Yes, Gore took 36 days to concede.

But this Republican coup is nothing like the combat over hanging chads back then. The GOP’s refusal to accept the election results that have now been certified in all 50 states suggests America is on track for a new normal in which facts, logic and reality don’t matter if they don’t cohere with ideology.

If this continues, Trump will torch the GOP, too.