Joe Lombardo may be the frontrunner in Nevada’s Republican gubernatorial primary, but I’m guessing Joey Gilbert is expanding his lead among the party’s sizable Forever Trump wing.

As Clark County Sheriff, Lombardo may enjoy more name recognition in Southern Nevada than others in the field, but Gilbert’s pugnacity and unabashed worship of Trump continues to stir a GOP base still stewing over the 2020 election. I suspect the attention Gilbert is generating is also good for the Reno attorney’s law practice.

Gilbert’s embrace of the Big Lie continued this past week in Las Vegas with a political event at Calvary Chapel Lone Mountain Church featuring election conspiracy-spinner and Ichabod Crane-look alike Capt. Seth Keshel, also known as “Captain K.”

A self-styled “Election Data expert” who touts his “endorsement” by a certain aggrieved former president, Keshel is one of several retired members of the military who continue to shake the 2020 conspiracy tambourine in stops across the nation. Its most notable member is former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn.

Keshel may be new to Nevada, but he’s certain there was something fishy about Joe Biden’s 33,000-vote victory. For his part, Gilbert is proud to stand with Keshel.

“I agree with Seth Keshel's views on the challenges facing our nation, what kind of leadership is needed to fix them, and I'm proud to be endorsed by him,” Gilbert said via email. “I share Seth's conviction that the 2020 election was corrupted and that Trump was the rightful winner.”

Gilbert also takes issue with any impression that he’s less than a frontrunner in the race, any poll results to the contrary.

“I am not ‘less well known in Southern Nevada,’” Gilbert said, noting that a Strip campaign rally drew an estimated 5,000 supporters and GOP straw polls that showed him ahead of Lombardo.

Keshel returned Gilbert’s bro hug in a statement: “We will be highlighting the abominable 2020 election in Nevada and the need for the reforms Joey Gilbert will champion for the state’s elections. Guests will be challenged to pledge their swords in defense of our liberties and the cause of electing America First candidates to office to replace feckless RINOs and America Last Democrats."

This kind of nationalistic nonsense might be easy for some to write off as the hot wind of yet another patriotism peddler, but Keshel has found a sizable audience. He was among the conspiracy theorists consulted by attorney L. Lin Wood, who led Team Trump’s failed legal challenge to the election results in Georgia.

Keshel’s statistical hunch-playing was used to promote the Big Lie that enraged Trump’s true believers so much they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Keshel claimed to have found a statistical model that proved the 2020 election results were fraudulent and spread the false claim of “excess votes” being cast for Biden. The claims were specious, but they larded failed voter fraud lawsuits in Arizona.

By August 2021, Keshel had arrived. The right-wing Gateway Pundit website trumpeted, “Elections Expert Seth Keshel Releases National Fraud Numbers: Finds 8.1 Million Excess Votes in US Election…” Nevada was among the seven states Keshel claimed had been victimized by widespread fraud.

Harvard University political scientist Gary King reviewed Keshel’s claims and reached a simple conclusion, telling the Associated Press in August 2021, “There is zero valuable academic information here. Voters, they’re allowed to do what they want. They surprise us. It’s incredible hubris to imagine your model is always right. That’s just crazy.”

But incredible hubris is the coin of the realm in Trumplandia, and the tambourine of conspiracy continues to cast its spell and fact-checkers be damned. As late as October, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found nearly 6 in 10 Republicans still believed the election was stolen from Trump.

If muddled thinking is your thing, Keshel is your man. At an appearance in Monticello, Minnesota, Keshel proclaimed, “My stuff is all sources. You can boil it down to basically like ‘How the hell did this guy get so many votes?’ And then other people can figure it out.”

Hey, who can argue with that science?

Like Republican Big Lie acolyte and Nevada Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant, Keshel attended the conspiracy-riddled election fraud conference in South Dakota sponsored by the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell. Now he’s taken his show on the road.

Beyond the political theater, there are signs the efforts of Keshel, Flynn and other former military officers are feeding an even more troubling current inside the Trump end of the party. It’s the sense that it’s warranted to intimidate government officials, especially those charged with monitoring elections and enforcing voting laws, in order to regain power. In November 2021, a Reuters review of election threats found many included the false claims being forwarded by Flynn, Keshel and other misguided veterans. The falsehoods were being used to attack the integrity of the process and provide fodder for threats to election officials.

Not that these brilliant military minds have always kept their stories straight. Some pointed to China’s influence in Trump’s loss. Others slandered voting machine companies. Some claimed Deep State involvement, and the hidden hand of shifty Venezuelans was also felt.

And if Keshel can’t produce credible evidence to back his bogus claims despite repeated opportunities, the folks drawn to his message are willing to take his word for it.

When you’re all in for the Big Lie, the facts aren’t part of the act.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.