The Republican Party really has the tiger by the tail. It seems pretty obvious now that Mitch McConnell had hoped to keep Trump engaged in the Georgia runoff elections by humouring Trump’s claims that he won the election. No doubt he anticipated that Trump’s recounts & legal challenges would fail and Trump would then retaliate by calling on his voters to make sure Biden faces a hostile Senate. McConnell probably salivated at the prospect of Trump holding multiple rallies every day in Georgia right up to 5 January. Trump could have energised his supporters by telling them he’d run again in 2024 and the Georgia runoffs would be the 1st step in this run.
This may still happen, but I’m sure McConnell is worried. His Senators are starting to speak up against Trump’s attempts to strong arm State Republican lawmakers and officials into ignoring the vote in their States. Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania defended the judge who threw out Rudy’s case, called on Trump to concede and congratulated Biden on his election to the Presidency. Trump has gone to war against the Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, a Trump supporter, for dismissing his complaints about election fraud and that has led to death threats directed at his family and him. If his attempts to enlist State lawmakers in Michigan come to nothing, he’ll probably blame them for his loss too.
There’s every chance Trump will end up blaming Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere for deserting him. In that case, McConnell will probably have to forget about Trump helping Loeffler and Purdue. He’d just have to hope Trump doesn’t call on his supporters to vote against them. Continual tirades on Twitter would be a real problem for the GOP.
Already, Trump’s claims of electoral fraud are creating problems down in Georgia. There’s a new MAGA-friendly social media network Parler and there are reports of angry conservatives saying that there’s no point voting as the Dominion electoral software will change the votes. Some are calling for voters to boycott the runoff elections. This is on top of Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting which Raffensperger blamed for depressing the GOP vote in Georgia.
Remember that some Trump voters aren’t committed Republicans. With Trump off the ballot, they may not bother to vote, And the more traditional Republican voters may not be impressed by Trump’s banana republic manoeuvres.
This may still happen, but I’m sure McConnell is worried. His Senators are starting to speak up against Trump’s attempts to strong arm State Republican lawmakers and officials into ignoring the vote in their States. Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania defended the judge who threw out Rudy’s case, called on Trump to concede and congratulated Biden on his election to the Presidency. Trump has gone to war against the Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, a Trump supporter, for dismissing his complaints about election fraud and that has led to death threats directed at his family and him. If his attempts to enlist State lawmakers in Michigan come to nothing, he’ll probably blame them for his loss too.
There’s every chance Trump will end up blaming Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere for deserting him. In that case, McConnell will probably have to forget about Trump helping Loeffler and Purdue. He’d just have to hope Trump doesn’t call on his supporters to vote against them. Continual tirades on Twitter would be a real problem for the GOP.
Already, Trump’s claims of electoral fraud are creating problems down in Georgia. There’s a new MAGA-friendly social media network Parler and there are reports of angry conservatives saying that there’s no point voting as the Dominion electoral software will change the votes. Some are calling for voters to boycott the runoff elections. This is on top of Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting which Raffensperger blamed for depressing the GOP vote in Georgia.
Remember that some Trump voters aren’t committed Republicans. With Trump off the ballot, they may not bother to vote, And the more traditional Republican voters may not be impressed by Trump’s banana republic manoeuvres.