Opinion | Americans may have thought the 2020 election was over. Yet the conspiracy theories are accelerating.

The conspiracy theory-fueled “audit” of Arizona’s ballots was supposed to end in May, then by the end of August and now — who knows? Arizona Senate Republicans have ineptly orchestrated this chaotic spectacle over the fervent protests of county GOP officials, election experts and practically everyone else who has not signed on to former president Donald Trump’s dangerous mythology about the 2020 election. The audit has come to epitomize the toxic combination of lies, absurdity and grift on which 2020 trutherism rests. But the former president has watched intently, apparently under the delusion that the election results can still be reversed, and he has pressed Republican leaders in other swing states to run similar ballot reviews. With the help of right-wing media, he is succeeding in his pressure campaign.

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