Tepidly, Republicans Reject Trump's Ideas About Stealing The Election-- Too Tepidly... And Unconvincingly

 

I watched yesterday to see which Republicans would reject Trump's bullshit about a transfer of power. The first two I saw were Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) and then late in the day a half-assed whimper from Lindsey Graham. But luckily, Paul Kane and Rachel Bade watched the same thing more consistently and even wrote a story about it for the Washington Post last night: GOP senators reject Trump’s assertion about transfer of power-- with no direct criticism of the president. Of course with no direct criticism of Trumpanzee... they're all afraid of him. "Republicans," they reported, "with almost no direct criticism of Trump’s statements, uniformly asserted that if Joe Biden wins the election, they will support a peaceful transition to the Democrat’s inauguration in January." That's at least what they want the voting public to think... but can you trust them?

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tweeted early Thursday, following the president’s comments late Wednesday night.

He declined to further address the controversial statements. “Did you see my tweet? That pretty well sums it up,” McConnell told reporters in the Capitol.

Most Republicans tried to dodge how they would respond if the president refused to accept the results if he lost and stoked violence among his supporters, either calling it a hypothetical they would not contemplate or saying Trump just talks like that but does not follow through on such threats.

“The president says crazy stuff. We’ve always had a peaceful transition of power. It’s not going to change,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) credited the controversy to Trump’s tendency to speak in “very extreme manners occasionally” and dismissed the latest controversy as part of that trend.

A few Republicans, however, did pledge to stand up to Trump if Biden is the clear winner and the president refuses to accept the results.

“No question that all the people sworn to support the Constitution would assure that there would be a peaceful transition of power,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters.

“Well, Republicans believe in the rule of law, we believe in the Constitution, and that’s what dictates what happens,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD), McConnell’s deputy in the leadership team, told reporters.

The Tipping Point by Nancy Ohanian

...Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has reached out to GOP colleagues to encourage them to hold the line for democracy. Murphy said Republicans are in denial that the president would ever ignore the results of the election. But Democrats, he said, are trying to get them to acknowledge that every absentee ballot should be counted, fearful that the president could try to head off the results by contesting mail-in ballots.

“The president’s made very clear that he’s not going to acknowledge the results... His ability to get away with that will be largely dependent on whether the Republican Party goes with him, so you know a lot of what we’re doing now is just talking to our colleagues to make sure they’re ready for a potential transition,” Murphy said Thursday.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) offered a harsher assessment.

“Usually dictators don’t announce in advance what their plans are. He wants to be named a president for life, king to the contrary. That’s not how our democracy works. It is up to Democrats and Republicans, and independents, it is up to all Americans to make clear that we are a democracy,” she said.

In interviews, along with statements and social media posts, more than two dozen Senate Republicans pledged support for a peaceful transition should Biden win, yet Romney was the only one who, again without naming Trump, took on his statements.

Meanwhile, Colorado's fierce, 35 year old Secretary of State, Jena Griswold used Twitter to teach Señor Trumpanzee a little lesson in basic civics. Here it is as a couple of paragraphs:

39 days out from the most important election in my lifetime and yesterday, the President of the United States refused to commit to a “peaceful transfer of power.” As Colorado’s chief election official, let me set the record straight. [Donald] will not circumvent the law in Colorado. Under Colorado law, the presidential candidate that receives the most votes WILL receive our electoral votes. Colorado has enforced this law in the past and will enforce it again. Just a few months ago, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Colorado that a state can remove presidential electors who ignore state law & the vote of the people. Colorado took our case to the Supreme Court to stop bribery and political chaos from ensuing. That’s called planning ahead.

We’ve seen [Donald] use similar reprehensible tactics to undermine confidence in our elections: From telling his supporters to vote twice to attacking what historically has been the most trusted institution in America, the US Postal Service, for political gain. Instead of sowing doubt in our democracy and tasking the Department of Justice to try to help him steal the election, a real leader would ask voters to:

1. Double check your local voting deadlines
2. Register to vote
3. Make a plan to vote
4. Vote early

One of the reasons that I am proud to serve as Colorado's Secretary of State is that we have the best voting system in the nation. I’ll always fight so that all Americans can have their voice heard in safe, secure, and accessible elections.