Between general unhappiness with President Joe Biden, lingering concerns about the economy and a declining share of voter registrations, Democrats in Nevada have plenty to worry about going into 2024.

Luckily for them, the state’s GOP leadership seems intent on helping them out. 

Republicans who took part in the fake electors scheme following the 2020 presidential election have officially been indicted on two felony-level charges. State party Chair Michael McDonald, national Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, Clark County Republican Party chair Jesse Law and state party vice chair Jim Hindle III were among those indicted Wednesday. 

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the folks running today’s Nevada GOP. 

Undoubtedly, the Trumpian wing of the party will be quick to describe the indictments as political persecution … but let’s revisit what, precisely, these leaders actually did nearly three years ago: 

Along with fake electors in other states, Nevada’s six Republicans held a symbolic ceremony to “cast” electoral votes for Donald Trump, submitting fraudulent election documents to the National Archives in the process. At least the fraudulent electors in New Mexico and Pennsylvania had the good sense to include caveats that their votes should only count if their legal efforts to overturn the election won in court. (Which, obviously, they didn’t.) 

In other words, this wasn’t a bunch of disgruntled Republican officials who, maliciously or not, simply alleged the election had been stolen — they are individuals who theatrically declared themselves the state’s official electors and filed paperwork asserting as much. That’s not political theater in the wake of a highly contentious (and fairly close) election loss; it’s an orchestrated attempt to undermine an electoral outcome and derail the constitutional process of transferring power after an election. 

If nothing else, the list also indicates the degree to which “anti-establishment” Make America Great Again Republicans have managed to gain a stranglehold on the state’s official party apparatus. No wonder the GOP in this state has had a difficult time winning elections in recent years.  

Indeed, the leaders of the Nevada GOP have long been shills for the Trumpian movement, resulting in a distinctly less competitive Republican Party during years that should have been “red waves.” Rather than building a bigger voter base and reaching out to independents in an important swing state, the current slate of leaders adhered to a sort of Trump-first factionalism that ultimately turned voters away in 2020 — even going so far as to cross the line into potentially criminal behavior rather than conceding to Democrats. 

And their actions in 2020 were only the beginning. Their interest in undermining the will of voters clearly hasn’t subsided, as is evidenced by the way in which they have governed their own party in the years since. 

Today’s Nevada GOP simply isn’t a friendly place for Republicans (or anyone else) who refuse to show fealty to former president Donald Trump — something individuals such as Amy Tarkanian, Michael Roberson and Jason Guinasso know better than most. Even Joe Lombardo was nearly targeted by Trump and his minions after he failed to heap praise on the former president during his campaign for governor. 

In their zeal to remold the state GOP into an extension of the former president’s cult of personality, these leaders haven’t been content with merely excommunicating “RINOs (Republican in Name Only)” and anti-Trump voices — they’ve even gone so far as to disenfranchise their own voters. 

As I have argued before, the decision by party leaders to move forward with a caucus next February is nothing short of an attempt to rig the process in favor of Trump by making it confusing, inconvenient and impractical for voters and candidates alike to take part. And while the caucus absurdity certainly doesn’t rise to the criminal level of their 2020 actions, it nonetheless demonstrates an ongoing desire to undermine any democratic process that doesn’t deliver the sort of electoral results they prefer. 

For reasonable Republicans, such leadership is more than an embarrassment — it’s a crippling liability. Republican voters deserve far better than a sorry collection of MAGA opportunists who have tried to turn the party into an extension of the former president’s campaign operations. And quality Republican candidates deserve leadership that is more interested in winning elections than paying homage to a divisive former president. 

The real losers, however, are the growing numbers of non-Democratic, independent and nonaffiliated voters who don’t subscribe to the tenets of Trumpism and MAGA factionalism. If the Nevada GOP were run by people actually interested in growing the party and representing voters (rather than relentlessly working to undermine those with whom they disagree) it could have a bright future in this state. And if that were the case, independently minded voters would actually have a reasonable and attractive alternative to Democrats on Election Day. 

Instead, party leaders are being indicted on their 2020 election shenanigans while they diligently rig the upcoming 2024 caucus to ostracize and silence those who dissent within their own party. 

Democrats should be sending them thank-you notes. 

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.