Fox News host Sean Duffy still thinks the Dems used COVID to ‘steal’ the election

More than a year after Donald Trump definitively lost the 2020 presidential election, yes still some pro-Trump figures Fox News who believe the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen.

Fox News host Sean Duffy, a former Republican congressman and former member of MTV The real world, used Concerns about a newly identified COVID-19 variant on Friday to baselessly accuse Democrats of “cheating” in the 2020 election.

Fill in as one of the panelists of the late afternoon opinion program Year, Duffy quickly pivoted to co-hosts’ complaints that President Joe Biden wasn’t doing enough to stem the COVID-19 wave to emphasize that Democrats were exploiting the ongoing pandemic.

“I think if you look at the benefit of COVID to the Democrats, they won the last election based on COVID,” Duffy said. “They were able to change the electoral rules. So it just got a lot easier to cheat and potentially steal different sections of the electorate in the last election.”

Lone’s libertarian co-host Jessica Tarlov quickly interjected, asking Duffy if he was really saying that “the election was stolen,” prompting him to double down.

“Do I think there has been fraud in my Wisconsin state? That’s right, there was cheating! Does it change the result now? I do not know.”

After Tarlov wondered if Duffy was saying “you don’t know or you know,” the one-time reality TV star argued that he wasn’t “saying it changed the outcome of the election.” Co-host Dagen McDowell, meanwhile, jumped in and told the pair to “struggle about this during the break” and “just stay on COVID!”

However, Duffy had the opportunity to finish. Claiming that the government “could impose broader rules regarding elections in favor of Democrats”, he then wondered “why don’t we just close our borders and stop people from coming to the office?” people crossing the border”. He went on to suggest that this was part of a discreet plan by the Democrats.

“With COVID, if you can shut down an economy, then more people will depend on the government,” he stated. “Who is the party of government dependence? Democratic Party member. So I think they see this as a win for them to win the elections.”

McDowell then offered to allow Tarlov to refute Duffy before moving on to another panelist, only to leave the Fox contributor free to demote and give another co-host a chance to speak. McDowell partially corroborated Duffy’s comment before continuing.

“From Sean’s point of view, I’m worried about the overreaction and the people using this thing,” she said. “Again, when do people give up their liberties and civil rights? That’s when they’re scared and so it’s beneficial, certainly libertarians, like that level of control and power. “

A large number of Republicans and right-wing experts have argued since last year’s election that Trump only lost due to widespread voter fraud, with many arguing that the increase in voting by mail in the battleground state due to the pandemic is illegal and unconstitutional. Dozens of courts, consists of United States Supreme Court, Yes throw these out election results disputes.

Fox News, for its part, has largely reduced its broadcast denialism since Joe Biden was inaugurated, most likely due to defamation lawsuits are pending from voting software companies Smartmatic and Dominion about voter fraud lied that the voting machine had rigged votes. Fox News has file a petition for removal both lawsuits, citing First Amendment protections.