Ginni Thomas Is Not A Liar

It all leads to a rueful conclusion: Thomas has seen the comprehensive and credible news coverage making clear that Donald Trump has no legitimate basis for his claims of a stolen election and simply doesn’t believe it. Thomas’ fervid text messages to then-Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and others, urging vigorous efforts to halt Biden’s ascension to the presidency and keep the incumbent in place, have some evidentiary value to the House’s select Jan. 6 committee as it develops a chronology of events leading to the deadly mayhem on Capitol Hill. Many news organizations have showily dropped traditional mushy language like “disputed” or “disproven” in favor of phrases like “Trump’s lie” in their election coverage. This notion is reflected in Thomas’ texts, both the “greatest heist of our history” and her imploring Meadows to “save us from the left taking America down.” But it’s apparent this mindset is also the vehicle by which other players — including many who, unlike Thomas, really do know that claims of a stolen election, as opposed to one their side lost, are false — manage to avoid a damning self-appraisal that they are dishonest, unprincipled people. “That’s the way they play it, and that’s the way we’re going to play it.” This leads to a third point underscored by Ginni Thomas’ flamboyant return to the public spotlight: It is a mistake to imagine that our seething, remorseless politics is fundamentally about Trump.