Last week’s election brought big wins for Republicans nationwide: Donald Trump secured both the electoral college and popular vote, making him the first GOP president in two decades to do so while winning an historic nonconsecutive second term.

Trump’s victory has sent many Democrats into a frenzy, inspiring Gov. Jared Polis to play into fears about “lost democracy.” Yet it hasn’t stopped the Colorado GOP from clinging to stolen election fantasies and working to sabotage their own victories.

This week, Polis and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker launched Governors Safeguarding Democracy, “a nonpartisan alliance of governors to uphold and fortify American democracy.” They declared it would be “a powerful force in state-level efforts to ensure democracy thrives for generations.”

But why? While they don’t explicitly connect the project to Trump, it’s transparently designed to fight back against the incoming Trump administration. Politico called it “another initiative aimed at countering Trump.”

It’s no coincidence this announcement follows Vice President Kamala Harris’ landslide loss. Both governors are undoubtedly eyeing the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. The entire anti-Trump campaign was built around portraying him as an existential “threat to democracy” — a narrative voters rejected, as Trump won the popular vote by 3 million.

The initiative is “supported by” GovAct Alliance, whose website spotlights Polis and Pritzker and lists two projects: Governors Safeguarding Democracy and Reproductive Freedom Alliance. It’s unclear if they’re the same organization, but it is clear they’re far from “nonpartisan.”

GovAct’s leadership team members have worked either for California Gov. Gavin Newsom or the left-wing Common Cause. Its advisory board includes four Democrats and two liberal Republicans.

The Reproductive Freedom Alliance purports to “defend safe access to reproductive healthcare.” All 23 governors are Democrats, and fearmongering over abortion restrictions under Trump is a key chapter in their playbook — despite Trump’s established states’ rights stance on abortion.

Let’s be serious: If Republican governors did this under Biden or Harris, Democrats might call it “subversive” or an “insurrection.” I’m the greatest champion of federalism, but this isn’t about states’ rights; it’s a purely performative reaction to Trump’s win.

And for Polis, it’s a Jena Griswold-esque move — channeling the “voting rights” folk-hero persona of Colorado’s hyper-partisan secretary of state. It isn’t working for her inevitable run for governor, and Polis will learn it won’t work for him either.

This kind of political maneuvering isn’t exclusive to Polis or Griswold, though. It’s part of a broader effort within both parties, where grandstanding over “democracy” and “election integrity” has become the latest fronts in the culture war.

On Monday, Colorado GOP Secretary Anna Ferguson blasted an email promoting a Zoom call with “cyber security expert” Clay Parikh to discuss the purported election consequences of BIOS password leaks from Colorado election systems. Ferguson claimed the breach “compromised” voting systems in Colorado and even 25 other states — casting doubt on Trump’s victory.

While the breach is serious, county clerks say it didn’t compromise elections thanks to mitigating security procedures and verification steps. The meeting’s goal, however, was clear. GOP representatives on Canvass Boards should refuse to certify the results and file affidavits accusing Griswold of criminal activity.

Let’s be real: They didn’t want to win — they wanted to undermine the election process.

On the call, Parikh pushed for decertification. “Don’t let ‘em certify,” he urged, while moderator Debbie agreed. The conversation quickly turned to strategies to trigger a “failure to certify” — a direct rebuke of the democratic process despite Republicans’ wins in Colorado, including flipping the 8th Congressional District.

Here’s the thing: These figures aren’t new to Colorado’s election drama. Many played key roles in the case of ex-Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, convicted for her role in the 2021 election security breach.

Chairman Dave Williams revealed that out-of-state attorney Kurt Olsen is leading the party’s forthcoming federal lawsuit to discredit the election. Olsen has represented Arizona’s Kari Lake and MyPillow’s Mike Lindell, who faces a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. Peters’ defense team admitted in court that she’d aimed to obtain “records” Lindell “needed to defend his lawsuit.”

Olsen worked directly with Peters associate Sherronna Bishop to bring computer hacker Conan Hayes to Mesa County so he could impersonate someone to image Mesa County hard drives in Peters’ scheme.

The Zoom revealed another familiar voice from the Peters’ case: Shawn Smith, who recently got lucky when he discovered the leaked BIOS passwords hidden in a spreadsheet posted online. Smith compared certifying the election with “exceptions” to “keeping the trains on time to Auschwitz.” They’ve gone this far — invoking Nazi analogies to oppose certifying election results. This isn’t skepticism; it’s simple Reductio ad Hitlerum.

Parikh and IT guy Mark Cook, both Peters’ defense witnesses, and Joe Oltmann — facing his own lawsuits — joined the party’s latest election blitz. Oltmann, known for violent political rhetoric, recently interviewed Peters on his podcast from jail. The Zoom ended with a prayer for Peters, sentenced to nine years in prison for her crimes.

Smith, Cook and Oltmann will speak at the party’s Capitol Club Luncheon next week.

Let’s be clear: By recycling the same discredited figures from Peters’ scandal, they’re rehashing a debunked narrative Peters couldn’t defend in court. Yet here they are, trying to rewrite an election their own party just won.

From Polis’ performative “safeguarding democracy” to the Colorado GOP’s tired election conspiracies, both sides are engaging in cynical political theater. With each move, they cheapen the ideals of the Republic — and the true casualty is the public’s trust.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.