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Tamara Keith:

And this is very similar to language that many Republicans, including Mike Pence, landed on after the 2020 election and before January 6, where they didn't want to go all the way as far as Trump is going and say that the election was stolen, but they wanted to say, well, you should look into it.

And what they're saying here is, well, we will support the results if it's a fair election.

But it's worth noting that former President Trump really only thinks an election is fair if he wins. And I will just remind you that, after 2016, he won, and then he claimed that there was election there was voter fraud in California and New Hampshire because he didn't win those states.

So he is someone who has a very lengthy, proven track record of denying election results. And now you have Republicans out there, mainstream Republicans, creating sort of a permission structure, saying that, if it's fair, then maybe I will support the results. They're not willing to commit in advance.

And that creates a permission structure for mainstream Republican voters to say, well, if they're OK with this, then I can be OK with this.

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Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on Republicans rallying around Trump at his trial - PBS NewsHour