They display their "Trump won" bumper stickers, fly their Trump flags and their profane banners targeting President Biden. I have tried to have rational conversations, both in person and via email exchanges, with a few of these 2020 election deniers. I have found they have no interest in being rational.

These Trump loyalists quickly turn angry and agitated when challenged. I've listened to claims that voting machines were hacked on a massive scale to steal Trump votes, with sometimes Democrats and sometimes China being the alleged hacker. Some claim mail-in votes were manufactured for Biden, or that bags of ballots were destroyed in pro-Trump counties, or that chicanery went on while poll observers were blocked from access to the counting process. And so on.

All this has long been disproved as nonsense. And we recently learned from the January 6 investigation that Trump's top officials told him early on those claims of a stolen election were, in the words of Attorney General William Barr, "absolute rubbish," "crazy stuff," and "B.S."

Some Trump backers contend there is no way Biden could have beat their guy in a fair election, so it had to be rigged. That is so obvious, they insist, there is no need to prove exactly how.

Reality appears irrelevant to these Trump adherents and to three-quarters of the Republican Party, where election fraud is now the dominant position. Polls consistently show only about one-quarter of Republicans are willing to agree that Biden legitimately won. In Republican-dominated states and districts, it is difficult to win a Republican primary without falsely claiming Trump won.

My work as a reporter included investigating cult behavior. People in a cult would tell me things that made no sense from my rational, objective position. But the cult members saw these things as absolute truths because of their blind faith in the leader or leaders that had control over them. Exchanges with ardent Trump supporters is much the same.

This situation is a threat to our model of self-governance and its constitutional foundation of checks and balances. If you lose an election and have a case that something fraudulent happened, you can appeal to various election officials and, ultimately, to the courts. But once the courts decide and affirm the results, that must be it. A candidate, particularly a sitting president, has a constitutional imperative to accept those results.

If it becomes routine for election losers to refuse to recognize the verdict of the voters, and to tell their backers they were cheated and that those serving in office are there illegitimately, then our democracy collapses. Republicans are headed down that road.

Republican senators should have joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump for his failure to fulfill his oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." Trump sought to undermine the Constitution by putting his own will to preserve power above the will of the people and the verdict of the courts. Forty-three Republicans, in refusing to convict, put politics above loyalty to the Constitution.

Now there is the possibility of Trump's indictment on criminal charges. There is a compelling case for prosecuting Trump, but it would make him a martyr to his followers. His adherents would only see it as further proof of the conspiracy to block Trump by any means. Their anger will grow.

The nation is in a bad place.

Trump has been trouble for Republican prospects in Connecticut. Pre-Trump, Republicans had gained an 18-18 draw in the state Senate, and near equality in the House, allowing the party to make deals by drawing support among moderate Democrats. Since Trump's arrival on the scene in 2016, Democrats have again increased their state legislative majorities as anti-Trump fervor drove Democratic turnout and placed more unaffiliated voters in the Democratic column. Democrats hold all statewide offices, the five congressional seats and both Senate positions.

To win a toss-up district or statewide office, a Connecticut Republican must siphon off Democratic votes, run strong among unaffiliated voters and get overwhelming support and a large turnout from the Republican base. Trump has made this more difficult.

In his rematch with Gov. Ned Lamont, Republican Bob Stefanowski has gone about as far as he thinks he can go when it comes to Trump. Hoping it will be enough to satisfy moderate Democrats and unaffiliated voters, Stefanowski has recognized Biden as the legitimate 2020 winner. But don't expect him to condemn Trump's behavior or acknowledge the threat to democracy it poses. To do so risks alienating Trump's base, leading some to withhold their financial support and their votes (though they will not vote for Lamont). Just acknowledging Biden won likely cost the Republican gubernatorial candidate the votes of some Trump zealots.

Stefanowski would much rather talk about Biden, crime, inflation and his own pledges to improve government efficiency and trim spending (details are lacking). In other words, Stefanowski wants this election to be about Biden and Connecticut issues, not Trump.

But the former president's continued raging about a stolen election, and the fact the Supreme Court justices Trump appointed just stripped women of their constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in the initial stages, won't help. Expect Lamont, while defending his own record, to stress his abortion rights stance and link Stefanowski to Trump every chance he gets.

Paul Choiniere is the former editorial page editor of The Day, now retired. You can reach him at p.choiniere@yahoo.com.