“The reluctance of many GOP candidates to embrace a long-standing tenet of American democracy shows how Trump’s assault on the integrity of U.S. elections has spread far beyond the 2020 presidential race.” WaPo (Gift Article): Republicans in key battleground races refuse to say they will accept results. (Respecting the people’s will as expressed via the vote is a pretty key part of democracy. Don’t sugarcoat these findings.)

+ Jennifer Rubin in WaPo (Gift Article): “Herein rests the fundamental failure of the mainstream political media. Far too many continue to disguise the political reality we face. They refuse to use appropriate descriptors to describe Republican conduct, such as ‘fascist’ or ‘racist.’ Instead, they mislabel radical authoritarians as ‘conservatives.’ If this were a foreign country, the media would accurately describe the MAGA movement as a far-right cult. Yet in the United States, too many reporters cannot help themselves in normalizing the movement.”