re: For those who draw the line at "Stolen Election"

Some of us have different opinions on how the election was influenced.

For example, I think COVID was intentionally used to supercharge the Dem ground game in unlawful or borderline unlawful ways. I don't think there has been any real consequence for that and I'm confident plenty of cheating and gray area manipulation occurred.

Was the election stolen? I don't know if it was the deciding factor or not.

But it's an example in how turning the narrative over the the crazies because it's flashier and more interesting can help prevent recognition of the truth. Some elements of the conservative movement have always done this, taking something bad and nefarious and contorting it to a more unlikely but more dramatic narrative that will later be undermined and ridiculed, thereby casting doubt on the less exciting saga of boring bad conduct.

It also hurts the country as a whole when we engage in this incessant dramatization of everything. I'm all about cracking big scandals/conspiracies and I think they exist. But I think it's just another sign of excess in our culture. Things that absolutely are true don't capture the public's interest/imagination because we're so fatigued by battles over exaggerated/enhanced storylines.

Perhaps COVID was intentionally released to impact the election or reduce population, but probably not. I think a serious debate on that topic would conclude that a lot of nefarious actors are capable of nefarious things, but that it's nonetheless unlikely for a variety of reasons. But by skipping over the intermediate/more likely scandal of the US denying a reckless/accidental lab leak theory to avoid having to hold China accountable, we're missing an opportunity to tell the real story of why our dependence on China is so limiting. Instead we'll become embroiled in a debate about whether it's possible China and the WEF released C19 for population control, which should probably be secondary at best.