In Umberto Eco’s classic novel “Foucault’s Pendulum,” a group of friends develop a ridiculous conspiracy theory as a game, only to start believing it themselves, with horrible consequences for everyone involved.
Now, many Republicans have stumbled into the same trap, promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that will make it harder for them to win in 2024.
The latest example comes from Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde, the GOP’s likely nominee against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. In a radio interview this week, Hovde seemed to suggest that senior citizens living in nursing homes are not qualified to vote — an idea that has roots in one of Donald Trump’s more outlandish claims about the 2020 election.
When discussing that election, Hovde turned to the subject of senior citizens: “Well, if you’re in a nursing home, you only have five, six months life expectancy,” he told host Guy Benson. “Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote. And you have children, adult children showing up that said, who voted for my 85- or 90-year-old father or mother?”
Hovde, who is behind Baldwin in recent polling, immediately backtracked, with a campaign spokeswoman saying that he did not mean to suggest that elderly people should not be able to vote.
That suggests that someone in his campaign, at least, recognized how counterproductive this particular conspiracy theory is to a candidate in a battleground state. After all, older voters are among the most reliable — both at casting ballots and checking the box for Republican candidates. Add in the number of voters who have a loved one in a nursing home, and you’re potentially irritating a large segment of Wisconsinites with loose talk about how they shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
Voters like voting, and telling them you’ll make it harder is a losing argument.
That’s the kind of messaging that hurt election-denying candidates around the country in the 2022 midterms. Simply put, voters like voting, and…
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