Republicans in Congress are divided as 12 GOP Senators have now publicly stated they will reject the results of the Electoral College during the official certification on January 6, joining a number of House Republicans that previously made their intentions to do as much known.
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Despite the fact that over 60 lawsuits brought about in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s win in several key states have been rejected, Trump loyalists still insist that the president’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud are valid and need to be thoroughly investigated. What exactly that means to them, at this point, when some states have already audited the results and the courts have reviewed the “evidence” and insisted there is no merit to these fraud allegations, is unclear.
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And yet Senate Republicans including Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marsha Blackburn believe the appropriate course of action is to reject the electors sent by states they believe Trump should have won until a 10-day audit has been completed.
This “would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President,” reads a statement 11 of the lawmakers put forth.
NEWS: 11 Republican senators say they’ll “vote on January 6 to reject the electors” from certain states.
Ted Cruz
Ron Johnson
James Lankford
Steve Daines
John Kennedy
Marsha Blackburn
Mike Braun
Cynthia Lummis
Roger Marshall
Bill Hagerty
Tommy TubervilleFull joint statement
pic.twitter.com/R73V943g7e
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 2, 2021
While they make their intentions sound noble enough, suggesting that continuing to indulge these conspiracy theory fantasies of widespread election fraud seems unlikely to miraculously restore faith in a democracy that politicians backing Trump’s egregious attempt to cling to office continue to willfully undermine.
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Even if the audit were to take place — and there’s no reason to believe this ploy will be successful, as the GOP simply does not have the numbers to properly challenge the electoral results — as long as Trump himself continues tweeting out conspiracies regarding fraud, his supporters will parrot them back. No audit, or court, or common sense will change that.
In fact, alt-right Americans on Parler are already throwing around the idea of starting a new civil war in response to Cruz’s call to reject the electors.
Trump has pushed this divisive outlook by encouraging his supporters to march on D.C. on January 6 in protest of the certification of the election results, an event that some fear will end in violence.
What it won’t do, however, is change the results of the election. Biden won, and experts don’t see any path for Trump or his MAGA cult to overturn, or even delay, the inauguration.
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Republicans still trying to grasp at straws thinking they can delay Biden becoming President, only to forget that it will be President Pelosi in charge if the Inauguration doesn’t happen on the 20th.
Maybe they need to read the Constitution again. pic.twitter.com/OVZETMU3ae— John Birchman
(@johnbirchman) January 3, 2021
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Russia couldn’t have planned this challenge to our democracy any better than what the Republican Senators are currently doing.
— Floss Obama
(@FlossObama) January 3, 2021
*First Published: January 3, 2021, 9:12 am
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