John Hinderaker of the Power Line blog explores the popular use of the derogatory term “deniers.”

It all started with Holocaust deniers. That phrase has a clear meaning: it refers to someone who denies that the Holocaust took place.

But liberals saw potential in the locution, an opportunity to disqualify their opponents without actually making an argument. Thus, they started labeling people as “climate deniers.” What does that mean? Someone who denies that we have a climate? There is no such person. Someone who denies that our climate changes? There is no such person. No: a “climate denier” is anyone who questions any of a long list of theories that liberals string together to justify devastating our standard of living for no good reason.

But, hey: they are “deniers,” just like Holocaust deniers, so all argument is at an end.

Liberals must have thought that strategy worked, because now we have “election deniers.” Again, one asks, what is an election denier? Someone who denies that we have elections? No. An election denier is anyone who worries that our elections might not be entirely on the up-and-up. Someone other than a Democrat, of course. Democrats have denied the legitimacy of every Republican president since George H.W. Bush, and many other elections besides. Cf. Stacey Abrams. But that’s different.

Of course, it is a fact that our elections are not always on the up-and-up, as the Democrats themselves have often alleged. But if a Republican makes that observation, he is a “denier” like the Iranian mullahs.

Does the Democrats’ crude strategy work? I don’t think so. Despite the Dems’ propaganda blizzard, Americans remain concerned about the integrity of our elections. …

… So if you are an “election denier,” you are part of the majority. Poll after poll has shown that Americans of both parties want honest elections. Something like 70% to 75% of Americans want voter ID requirements, which the Democrats have desperately tried to make illegal. That makes me wonder: who is the real “election denier”? The person who wants honest, verified elections, or the person who wants to open the door to wholesale fraud?