TRUMP VERDICT A TRIUMPH FOR ELECTION DENIAL. It’s been eight years since Democrats were stunned by Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Many in the party refused to accept what happened. No, they did not deny that Trump was president of the United States or the plain fact that he was sitting in the White House, but they did not believe the election was legitimate or legal. 

Wild theories took hold among Democrats and their allies in the media. Some said Trump had made a deal with Vladimir Putin in which Russia would help Trump win and then Trump would reward Russia with favorable treatment. The rumormongering was turbocharged when the FBI opened an investigation and then, in the days before Trump took office in January 2017, when media outlets began reporting on a mysterious “dossier” purported to contain intelligence reports detailing Trump’s alleged dealings with Russia.