Election Soup
[guest post by Dana]
Today it was announced that after three recounts, Georgia re-certified the election results:
Georgia election officials announced Monday the results of the state’s presidential race will be re-certified after yet another recount to reaffirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump. “We have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said during a Monday press conference, marking the latest blow in the president’s attempts to change the election results in Georgia. Raffensperger’s announcement comes after three counts in the state.
…
“Today the Secretary of State’s office will be re-certifying our state’s election results,” Raffensperger said. “Then the safe harbor under the United States Code to name electors is tomorrow, and then they will meet on December 14th to officially elect the next president.”
So far, no new reports of death threats to Raffesnperger or his family, or to election workers. But give it time…
President Trump certainly had Georgia on his mind today:
The Republican Governor of Georgia refuses to do signature verification, which would give us an easy win. What’s wrong with this guy? What is he hiding?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2020
What a peach.
In the meantime, House conservatives are shamefully pushing Trump not to concede the election and to take the fight to the floor. Because this is Trump’s Republican Party:
President Donald Trump’s staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill are urging him not to concede even after President-elect Joe Biden wins the Electoral College vote next week, calling on their party’s leader to battle it out all the way to the House floor in January as he makes unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud.
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[C]onservative House Republicans argue that next week doesn’t mark the end of Trump’s desperate efforts to overturn the election results, which he has failed to do through scores of fruitless lawsuits and brazen efforts to pressure state and local leaders to subvert the will of voters and appoint new slates of electors to the Electoral College. They said that Congress should engage in a full-throated debate over the results in key states because of their allegations of fraud, which have yet to be borne out in court.
This is the look of desperation:
Asked if Trump should concede next Monday, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said bluntly: “No. No way, no way, no way.”
“We should still try to figure out exactly what took place here. And as I said that includes, I think, debates on the House floor — potentially on January 6,” Jordan, a trusted Trump confidant, told CNN.
…
“That’s a ways away,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican another close Trump ally, said when asked if Trump should concede after next week. “There are members who believe there could be value in having substantive debate of what occurred in states with substantial irregularities,” he said. “I don’t believe that 10 hours of debate on that subject would impair the union.”
Asked if he considers the election over on December 14, Rep. Andy Biggs, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, said: “I’m exhausting every option before I consider that.”
… “I dispute the presidential election results,” arguing it’s “almost inexplainable” since Republicans were successful in key races across the board in Arizona other than for the White House, though they lost a Senate race too.
“What you have is the very top of the ticket — that’s where the problems were,” he said.
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“What I’ve said all along is there’s a legal process that President Trump has been following, and that’s what the law allows and let’s let the process run through,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, the House GOP whip, sidestepping questions on whether Republicans should challenge state election results on the House floor.
Asked if he views December 14 as the end of the race, Scalise said: “Let’s let the legal process work through.”
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Asked last week if he considers Biden the President-elect, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican in the chamber, said: “Two weeks from today he will be,” referring to December 14.
“It’ll all be decided on the 14th,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who sits on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s leadership team.
The report notes:
It is not unusual for a losing candidate’s most fervent supporters to take their case to the House floor — something that occurred after the 2016, 2004 and 2000 presidential races. But it is unusual for the losing candidate to mount a weeks-long public campaign aimed at sowing discord and distrust over a pillar of democracy, something that Trump has done relentlessly since losing the race.
Anyway, I don’t think Republicans are going to have to work too hard to convince the President. Not when one considers today’s comments about the election:
.@johnrobertsfox asks Trump whether he's trying to overturn the election.
Trump rambles about the election being rigged.
(It was not.) pic.twitter.com/jqMhmav5sf
— The Recount (@therecount) December 7, 2020
For the record, as of two days ago, only 27 Congressional Republicans have acknowledged that Joe Biden won the election.
–Dana