On December 9, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner certified West Virginia’s election results. That evening, he attended and spoke at a Trump “Stop the Steal” rally in Charleston. At the time, there was no evidence that any election had been stolen and there has been none presented since then.

WV Secretary of State Mac Warner has an op-ed in today’s Wheeling News-Register in which he tells us:

The horrible events at our nation’s capitol on January 6th showed how fragile our democracy can be when people lose confidence in the election process.

Perhaps, Warner has no ability or willingness to self-reflect; consequently, he does not see any connection between his presence/actions at the “Stop the Steal” rally with people losing confidence in the integrity of the election. Nor does he see how officeholders like himself added credibility to those who used these "stolen votes" as justification for an insurrection. On the other hand, a lack of self-reflection may not be the problem. Given the events of the last few weeks, Warner may now realize that speaking at a the-vote-was-stolen-overturn-the-election rally may not have been the best of political moves.

David Frum, a George W. Bush speechwriter and current Atlantic editor, has had this pinned to the top of his Twitter page for the last 18 months:

When this is all over, nobody will admit to ever having supported it

— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 18, 2019

He's right. Mac Warner is just one of the first.