‘The Biggest Story’: Geraldo Rivera Spots How Donald Trump Changed ‘The Entire Republican Party’
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has argued that one issue continues to overshadow almost everything else in American politics. Speaking during a CNN panel discussion, Rivera said he believes the biggest political story is that President Donald Trump has convinced much of the Republican Party to continue repeating his claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Rivera made the remarks while appearing on NewsNight with Abby Phillip, where the discussion focused on election integrity and what could happen in future elections. He said too many political conversations focus on what might happen next while ignoring what he sees as the central issue facing American politics today.
According to Rivera, Trump has persuaded many Republican leaders to support claims about the 2020 election that have repeatedly been rejected by courts, election officials, and numerous investigations. He argued that this has damaged the party’s credibility because many Republican politicians continue to avoid giving a direct answer about who won the 2020 presidential race.
The discussion came after several Trump-backed candidates won Republican primary elections in Arizona. Many of those candidates have publicly repeated Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was unfair or fraudulent, defeating more moderate Republican rivals in the process.
Political commentator Tara Setmayer also joined the discussion and warned that the developments in Arizona should not be ignored. She pointed to the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to send election monitors to Arizona, saying she believed it reflected growing concerns about the state’s elections.
Setmayer argued that Trump has continued to question election results and has backed candidates who share his views about the 2020 election. She claimed this was part of a broader effort to keep those claims alive ahead of future elections, including the upcoming midterms and the 2028 presidential race.
Rivera then returned to what he called the key issue. He said the most important question for Republican politicians is a simple one: who won the 2020 presidential election? In his view, if elected officials cannot give a clear and direct answer to that question, it becomes difficult to trust what they say on other political issues.
He summed up his criticism by saying that when politicians refuse to answer that basic question, “everything else they’re saying is BS,” arguing that avoiding a straightforward response seriously undermines their credibility with the American public.
