National Republicans are desperate to prevent a ground fight in Congress over the Electoral College’s certification vote next month, believing it would be a terrible policy to continue waging what most like consider a hopeless struggle to overturn the election outcome.
Leader of the majority of the Senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnell Trump signs bill to extend government funding for 24 hours Surprise medical bill prevention included in year-end legislative package Congress agrees 0 stimulus checks MORE (R-Ky.) Intervened and members asked not to contact Rep. Mo Brooks
Morris (Mo) Jackson Brooks GOP lawmakers more often appear on Newsmax The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Mastercard – COVID-19 relief, omnibus calls go to Sen.-elect Tuberville wire suggests he will make an effort to challenge Electoral College vote MORE (R-Ala.) Or other members of the House who want to object to the results on Jan. 6, when Congress meets to certify the electoral college count.
President Trump
Donald Trump Trump Signs Bill to Extend Government Funding for 24 Hours Congress Approves One-Day Emergency Bill Before Closing Deadline What’s in Coronavirus Bill 0 Billion MORE runs a press campaign to revolt senators. Incoming Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Who will be sworn in on Jan. 3, has said he will join the floor fight and Senator. Rand Paul
Randal (Rand) Howard Paul GOP lawmakers more often appear on Newsmax Krebs emphasizes election security as senators emerge False accounts impersonating GOP leaders on Parler Trump hats and selling CBD oil: Report MORE (R-Ky.), Who has said he believes Trump’s election has been “stolen,” is always a wildcard.
Republican strategists hope McConnell can crush the uprising, believing that the debate over Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election outcome is tearing the party apart ahead of Jan 5. Elections in Georgia that will determine the balance of power in the Senate.
They say it’s bad for the GOP’s efforts to win back suburban voters if the party is associated with erratic flamethrowers like pro-Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani Trump pushes back on reported talk of martial law: ‘Fake News’ Trump named Sidney Powell as special counsel for electoral fraud investigation: reports Dominion voting machines demands pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell to drop ‘defamatory’ allegations MORE.
And following an election that saw the GOP become more diverse, Republican strategists are outraged at the damage they say is being done to black voters as the Trump campaign strives to throw away the ballot totals in Atlanta, Milwaukee, Detroit and elsewhere.
“The outcome of each floor fight will be the same outcome as the Electoral College vote and all those lawsuits that the campaign has already lost, so it’s smarter to look ahead to 2022 and the Georgia run-out and other races we can win. , then races we can’t, ”said a well-connected Republican.
“The losses in court, the publicity losses we suffer when our top attorney runs ink down his face and has become the laughing stock of American legal circles, which are piling up to damage the image of the president,” the person added. to.
A floor riot by a handful of Republicans on Jan. 6 is unlikely to go anywhere.
The Democratic-controlled House will not recognize the attempt to throw out the results in key battleground states that Biden has won. Many GOP senators, including conservative allies of the president such as Sens. Ron Johnson
Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonCongress Towards Veto Clash With Trump Trump Signs Bill To Keep Government Open Amid Relief Talks On The Money: Congress Passes Bill To Prevent Closure As Coronavirus Talks Enter Weekend | Federal Reserve Fights The Dangers And Aid Talks MORE (Delete), Mike Lee
Michael (Mike) Shumway Lee The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Mastercard – Congress dabbles for COVID-19 lighting, omnibus deal Johnson, Lee has no plans to challenge Electoral College results GOP Senate leaders try a end election disputes MORE (Utah) and Mike Braun
Michael BraunCongress is about to exceed the closing deadline amid talks about the coronavirus Johnson, Lee do not intend to challenge Electoral College GOP results divided by pro-Trump Texas election suit (Ind.), Say they don’t participate.
Brooks only needs one Senate partner to object to the results, and he can have that in Paul or Tuberville. Even if their objections were approved by the Senate, it would kick the results back to the states, where the governors would in all likelihood recertify the results.
Still, the handful of GOP hardliners insist that Trump’s election was stolen by widespread fraud, despite the campaign’s dozens of losses to the courts.
Brooks said on Newsmax on Friday that it is “absolute right” for Republicans to fight to decertify election results in states where he says election systems were “seriously flawed.”
“I know how some of these congressional bugs and senate bugs try to be brave when it comes to what they call tough votes,” Brooks said. ‘But in my mind we have been chosen for that. I can only control my own vote, how I am going to behave with regard to this voter fraud and election theft. “
The run-up to the ground fight threatens to consume the GOP’s efforts to win the second election in Georgia, where the Senate majority will be determined on Jan. 5, a day before Congress meets to certify the election.
Georgia has become the starting point for the efforts of Trump and his allies to discredit the election results. The president lost by only about 10,000 votes in Georgia, making Biden the first Democratic presidential candidate to win there since 1992.
The president and his allies have spoken out against Gov. Brian Kemp
Brian Kemp Trump returns to Georgia in last-minute push for Republican senate candidates Georgia government Kemp attends White House Christmas party despite Trump attacks Pence tries to reassure voters in Georgia amid Trump attacks MORE (R) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who accuse them of not doing enough to investigate allegations of fraud.
Pro-Trump attorneys Powell and Wood have claimed that the voting machines were rigged to steal votes from Trump and that GOP officials received bribes from Democrats, though notably, they have not provided evidence of those claims in court.
They have also called on Georgians not to vote in the special elections, saying the results cannot be trusted. Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn became the latest figure in Trump World to raise questions about the validity of January’s second round, calling it a “fake election” in an interview with Newsmax on Friday.
Those are enraged Republicans desperate to choose a GOP majority in the Senate to control Biden.
“Some of these people are actively working against Republicans,” said Seth Weathers, who was Trump’s 2016 state director for Georgia. “I’m a seasoned Republican, but we just can’t embrace some of these idiots or conspiracy theories and expect to throw a party.”
The president’s refusal to recognize Biden as the winner was the last straw for some Republicans.
Outgoing representative Paul Mitchell
Paul Mitchell The post-election is about the soul of the Republican Party. Longtime GOP Strategist Steve Schmidt Announces He’s Filing Democrat The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented By Mastercard – Beginning US Inoculations; state voters declare Biden; Barr is out MORE (R-Mich.) Announced that he would be leaving the party, saying, “It is unacceptable that political candidates treat our electoral system as if we were a Third World country and arouse suspicion against something as fundamental as the sanctity of our vote.”
Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele, who joined the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project in the general election, remains a Republican.
But Steele warned that attempts to overturn the results would have long-term repercussions for the party, especially in its efforts to be more attractive to black voters.
Trump has done better with black voters than previous Republican presidents. But his campaign’s attempts to question the mood in urban Democratic strongholds have angered black Republicans like Steele.
“It really puts the party in an untenable position,” Steele said. “For everyone in the Senate to double down on this nonsense is really something McConnell should be concerned about.”
“To be honest, I find it frustrating, embarrassing and amazing that Republicans still don’t know how to win. We have taken up eleven seats in the House and have become more diverse and could keep the Senate, ”he said. But instead of building on that, senators could openly question the results. It tells you a lot about how they see black voters. The fact that they are trying to get the vote thrown out in some of these places has not been lost to black voters. “