The more likely theory is that the billions of dollars spent on propaganda actually worked. Marketing is far more effective than you’d think it should be… The average person is ridiculously gullible.

It's a tempting theory. There are signs that there was skullduggery in the election, and it's really easy to believe there's no way Trump could have actually won. But that idea only partially survives scrutiny.

There are several critical factors I'll point to. Let's start with the easiest. Right or wrong, an election is a referendum on the incumbent party. The Democrats did several things that enabled the idea that the GQP would somehow be better to take off. They let prices of food, housing, and energy get out of hand without even the tiniest hint of helping those impacted by that. No pushback against the billionaire class. No sense that they cared. Sure, they reduced the cost of college education by the SAVE plan, but they didn't push back when SAVE got gutted by the GQP, and even if they had, that only helps the people who went to college, and could easily be spun that the Dems only care for their base. Had there been investigations into the big food corpos, with clear communication what they were doing, maybe the GQP couldn't have successfully hung the high prices on the Dems, and the Dems MIGHT have won on by helping everyone and not just somebody seen as part of their coalition. And the idea that the Dems don't work for the common people and really only serve the donor class might not take off, either, driving Dem Voters to stay home or vote Third Party.

The second big thing is Biden DID promise a single term and a handover to a new generation of Democrats, but he did NOTHING to actually support this. Harris was supposed to be the front-runner for the 2024 Nomination? She should have been front and centre, Biden's attack dog, doing the dirty work that Biden couldn't do thanks to the fact that there are only 24 hours in the day. He should have treated this as a Lame Duck election from the getgo. When people ask where he is, Harris should have said "Biden's doing the hard work of undoing the mess we were left by the Trump administration, and hardening the country's systems against a potential repeat in the future." What she did do was act like a nobody for the first 3 years, then suddenly, appear waiting to take over, with all his baggage and all her baggage. While I did pick her over this mess, a lot of other people didn't, and here we are.

And finally, something I alluded to in the first point: A total lack of communication. This is a recurring and persistent problem! Biden and the Democrats let the GQP win the memetic war, like Obama did in 2010 and 2016, and like Clinton did in the 90s. Every time they get in office, they let the GQP set the messaging, and then promptly lose important elections, allowing the GQP to styme or even outright undo what the Dems did.

You can't just ignore the Dems fault in this. The election may well have been stolen, but if the Dems don't address the above problems, it'll just keep happening.