Trumps False Election Fraud Claims Fuel Michigan Gop Meltdown
The ex-presidents refusal to accept defeat is taking a toll on the party in a key battleground state.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel a former Michigan GOP chair herself speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee in Washington. | AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 150,000 votes in Michigan last November.
Trump and the Michigan Republican Party still arent over it.
The outcome and the former presidents obsessive efforts to dispute it has left the state party in disarray, raising questions about the GOPs focus as it looks to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a top battleground state next year.
From a staff and leadership perspective, I dont know that top-notch professionals would want to go into this quagmire, said Jeff Timmer, a former Michigan GOP executive director who opposed Trump. Unless youre going to talk crazy talk, they dont want you there.
Much of the trouble can be traced to the 2020 presidential election results, which Trump and his allies have alleged were marked by fraud without providing evidence.
But some party officials and conservative activists continue to press for a forensic audit of the election results, encouraged by Trump, who has called on American Republican Patriots to run primary challenges against RINO State Senators in Michigan who refuse to properly look into the election irregularities and fraud.
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Other Potential Gop Hopefuls: Rubio Hawley Tim Scott
Republicans are also talking up potential candidacies of other senators, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a 2016 candidate who recently made a trip to Iowa Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who backed Trump’s election protest right before the Jan. 6 insurrection and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the party’s highest-ranking Black lawmaker.
At least one House Republican is also in the speculative mix: Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
One of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 riot, Cheney is being challenged in a Republican primary by a Trump-backed candidate. As she campaigns for her job, Cheney is giving national speeches on the need for the GOP to move past Trump.
More: Liz Cheney’s anti-Trump crusade will end her career or make her a White House contender
May 201: Trump As Presumptive Nominee
142 delegates were awarded between the Indiana primary and the final primaries in June however, with Trump the only candidate remaining, Washington, Oregon, West Virginia and Nebraska became essentially uncontested, although Cruz and Kasich remained on the ballot. Trump won handily in West Virginia, Nebraska and Oregon, although Kasich received one delegate from West Virginia and five in Oregon, while Cruz took five in Oregon as well. The next week, Trump won decisively in Washington State, taking 76% of the vote and 41 of 44 delegates, with the other three uncommitted.
May 1024 results| 11% |
After becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump said regarding the Republican primaries: “You’ve been hearing me say it’s a rigged system, but now I don’t say it anymore because I won. It’s true. Now I don’t care.”
On May 26, 2016, the Associated Press announced that Trump had passed the threshold of 1,237 delegates required to guarantee his nomination, thanks to unbound delegates from North Dakota who declared their support for Trump.
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How Biden Won: Ramping Up The Base And Expanding Margins In The Suburbs
It brings the number of states Biden flipped from Trumps 2016 column to five, including Arizona, which last voted Democratic in a presidential race when it backed Clinton in 1996.
Biden also flipped Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, three key northern industrial states that ultimately delivered the White House to Trump four years ago. Biden also won a single electoral vote in Nebraskas 2nd Congressional District, which last voted Democratic for former President Barack Obama in 2008.
Electors from each state and the District of Columbia are expected to vote on Dec. 14. The new Congress will then count the votes and certify Bidens victory on Jan. 6, two weeks before the inauguration.
But Georgias political activity is far from over. The state will hold two runoff elections on Jan. 5 for both its U.S. Senate seats, which are currently held by Republicans.
House Republicans Visited Trump After Fbi Raid To Urge Him To Announce Run For President
House Republicans, including Rep. Jim Banks , the chair of far-right Republican Study Committee, traveled to Donald Trumps Bedminster, New Jersey golf resort one day after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home to urge him to announce his 2024 run for president.
Congressman Banks is a far-right Republican who spread Trumps Big Lie, the false claims about the 2020 election, objected to the certification of the election results, and falsely claimed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was to blame for the January 6 insurrection.
Tuesday night Rep. Banks posted a photo of himself and other members of the House Republican Study Committee at Bedminster, tweeting, House conservatives are united in standing with President Trump. We will Make America Great Again!
House conservatives are united in standing with President Trump.
We will Make America Great Again!
Jim Banks
CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa writes, Conservative House Republicans have publicly and privately rallied behind Trump in the past 24 hours, including the visit below to Bedminster, where several GOP lawmakers encouraged him to jump into the 2024 race.
READ MORE: He Was Going to Sacrifice You: Pence Mocked for Rushing to Support Trump After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid
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The Five Republicans Who Could Challenge Trump In 2024
Former President Trump has hinted repeatedly that hes weighing another bid for the White House in 2024.
And while hes made clear that, if he does so, the nomination should be his for the taking, he could still face some competition. A number of Republicans have begun maneuvering toward presidential campaigns of their own, some more overtly than others.
Of course, theres a political risk that comes with challenging Trump. But that doesnt appear to be deterring some prospective candidates.
Here are the five Republicans who could challenge Trump for the partys 2024 presidential nod.
Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has brushed off suggestions that he will mount a presidential campaign in 2024, saying that his No. 1 priority is winning a second term in the governors mansion.
But he also hasnt explicitly ruled out the possibility, and unlike several other prospective GOP presidential contenders, he hasnt committed to forgoing a White House bid if Trump launches a comeback campaign.
And with his clout among Republicans on the rise, its possible that, if DeSantis ultimately decides to run in 2024, he may not be deterred by the former president.
Early polling shows him as the heavy favorite for the Republican presidential nomination if Trump doesnt run again. There are even a few recent surveys that show him topping Trump in a hypothetical primary match-up.
Mike Pence
Mike Pompeo
Larry Hogan
Ted Cruz
Us Sen Marco Rubio Of Florida
Rubio, who came in third place during Iowa’s 2016 GOP caucuses, returned for events in Mason City and Ames in August. He told reporters hes focused on helping the friends he made in the first-in-the-nation caucus state while gearing up for his own reelection Senate bid.
Having done this once, there’s no purpose of being coy about it, I’m running for reelection in Florida to serve in the United States Senate, he said. I’m not having any conversations about running for president, but I have friends here.
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More: Trump Told Rnc Chair He Was Leaving Gop To Create New Party Says New Book
“I don’t think there’s been any effort” by the RNC to remain neutral, longtime Republican donor and Canary LLC CEO Dan Eberhart told ABC News. “This is a symbiotic relationship.”
“The RNC needs Trump or Trump surrogates or Trump’s likeness to raise money, and Trump wants them to continue paying his bills and be as pro-Trump as possible,” Eberhart said. “So neither is in a hurry to cut the umbilical cord.”
The RNC has continued to fundraise off of Trump’s name in its emails to supporters, touting a so-called “Trump Life Membership,” boosting his social media platform, and, most recently, promoting Trump’s first visit to Washington, D.C., since January of last year. Other potential 2024 presidential candidates and key party figures like former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have not received the same spotlight as Trump, experts say.
Eberhart said the current relationship between Trump and the RNC is putting other potential 2024 presidential candidates at an “absolute disadvantage.”
“Other Republican candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president have good reason to worry that the party apparatus is rigged against them in its unwavering support for Trump,” echoed Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the progressive government-watchdog group Public Citizen.
Eberhart said “it’s an open secret” within the Republican Party that “nobody wants Trump to announce his candidacy until after the midterms.”
A Bunch Of New Yorkers In Addition To George Soros: Greg Abbott Accused Of Antisemitism
Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott is facing a challenging re-election fight against Beto ORourke, the popular and charismatic former U.S,. Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate who is now his partys gubernatorial nominee.
Texas voters have had to face mismanagement of the states electric grid, with hundreds of Texans dying in winter after the snowstorm that sent Senator Ted Cruz to Cancun, the horrific elementary school mass shooting in Uvalde, and Abbott spending millions of taxpayer dollars on anti-immigrant programs, including bussing migrants to Democratic-controlled cities like Washington, D.C. and New York City. Not to mention his support of the vigilante abortion ban and a Dont Say Gay bill, his failed promise to end rape, and the fact that Texas leads the nation in mass shootings.
But none of that has stopped the 64-year old from doubling down on his conservative bonafides.
On Wednesday over at Fox News, Abbott engaged in what many are calling some old-fashioned antisemitism.
We will explain to our fellow Texans that the Beto campaign is being aided by a bunch of New Yorkers in addition to George Soros, and that will do nothing but harm his campaign, Abbott told Fox News host Harris Faulkner.
READ MORE:Watch: Video of Beto ORourke Confronting Texas GOP Governor and Lt. Gov. Goes Viral
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The 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate Wild Cards
The first Democratic debate back in 2019 had 20 TWENTY! candidates, so dont be surprised if the Republican field is just as large or larger. We could have some more governors or representatives run, or even other nontraditional candidates, like a Trump family member, a Fox News host or a celebrity, like Dwayne The Rock Johnson, whos said hes seriously considering a run. Stranger things have happened.
No Evidence Election Was Compromised Cybersecurity Agency Says
The dust-up in Wayne County unfolded amid a nationwide effort by Trump and many of his GOP allies to push back on the results of the election. The outgoing president has claimed widespread voting fraud, without evidence, in the several of the states that he lost, including Michigan.
On Wednesday, the president reiterated his claim that a giant scam robbed him of a victory in the state. I win Michigan! .
He and his allies, however, have repeatedly failed to produce evidence supporting their allegations of election fraud.
That failure has spelled trouble in court for his campaign to get the election results overturned. In Michigan, an appeals court on Monday unanimously ruled against a Republican bid to invalidate the vote in Wayne County. The decision backed a lower-court ruling that found the allegations to be simply not credible.
And the legal setbacks for Trump havent been confined to Michigans borders, either. As NPRs Pam Fessler explains, similar efforts challenging the vote in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin have failed to gain traction.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference Wednesday in Atlanta.
Georgias secretary of state said Tuesday that some fellow Republicans have tried to pressure him into disqualifying legal ballots that may not have favored President Trump.
Failed candidate Doug Collins is a liar but whats new?Raffensperger wrote in a Facebook post.
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Disqualified From The The Gop Primary Ballot:
Donna Brandenburg: A Byron Center businesswoman, Brandenburg has founded multiple companies and is the CEO of Brandenburg Capital Management, an acquisition and management firm.
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She has called election security one of her top priorities, advocates for a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election and boasts an endorsement from Michael Flynn, former national security adviser under former President Donald Trump. Since she was disqualified from the Republican ballot, she announced she is now running for governor on the U.S. Taxpayers Party ticket.
Michael Brown: Brown is a former Berrien County commissioner and longtime law enforcement officer who is currently a captain with the Michigan State Police.
Brown says his professional background positions him to fix what he calls a crisis of leadership by “failed elites” in Lansing. He’s decried what he calls a full-on assault against the law enforcement profession” while criticizing Whitmers pandemic policies.
James Craig: Craig is a longtime law enforcement official who recently retired as chief of police in Detroit, where he’s touted his work to keep the peace during racial justice protests in 2020.
Related:
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A Good Analogy Here Is The Mafia
Gibbs, of course, has another important requirement: a professed belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He has described Trumps defeat as mathematically impossible because of Trumps strong performance in bellwether counties and the increase in the number of votes he received from 2016 to 2020.
HuffPost asked Gibbs why, if Trump won, his team failed to demonstrate enough fraud to successfully challenge the results in court.
Gibbs, sporting a business-casual look that included a massive crucifix necklace on top of his button-down shirt, said that outcome is evidence of just how sophisticated election tampering has become.
A good analogy here is the mafia, he said, standing outside his campaign office at a strip mall in the Grand Rapids suburb of Byron Center. For many years there, they were throwing guys off of roofs, but you couldnt prosecute them for it, so you had to get them for money laundering and tax evasion.
Gibbs, a computer scientist who served as a top deputy to former Housing Secretary Ben Carson, suggested that busting election officials for more minor crimes would be an important stopgap until the legal system adapts enough to uncover the hidden webs of election fraud.
With election integrity, its very similar, he said. Because of the way it works, its very difficult to get prosecutions.
He also wants to look at prohibiting electronic voting, and dramatically narrowing the criteria for obtaining an absentee ballot.
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Early March 201: Between Super Tuesdays
After Super Tuesday voting, but before winner-take-all voting was to begin, nine states, two territories and Washington, D.C. held their primaries and caucuses. During this period, 377 delegates were at stake. On March 3, 2016, the day before Carson dropped out of the race, Romney criticized Trump in a heavily publicized speech. Later that day, there was another GOP debate, which again featured Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich. Carson did not participate in the debate, as he announced the suspension of his campaign the next day, narrowing the field to four he subsequently endorsed Trump on March 10, 2016, the day after Fiorina endorsed Cruz. Meanwhile, as the prospect of a Trump nomination became more imminent, establishment Republicans pressured Romney or House Speaker Paul Ryan to enter the race Romney had already decided not to enter the race on January 30, 2015, while Ryan announced he would not enter on April 13, 2016.
In the Virgin Islands caucuses on March 10, a slate composed wholly of uncommitted delegates was initially elected. However, the entire slate was later disqualified by the territorial party and was replaced by the elected alternates two uncommitted, two for Rubio and one each for Cruz and Trump. The dispute later went to court. Also on March 10, there was a debate in Florida between the four surviving candidates, which was conducted in a more civil tone than prior debates.
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Former green beret Joe Kent has surged past a Republican who voted for Donald Trumps impeachment in a hotly-contested battle for a congressional seat.
Almost a week after voters in Washington third congressional district went to the polls, it was revealed that Mr Kent had now passed Jaime Herrera Beutler, and led her by 813 votes.
10-15k ballots remain to be counted in Clark County. Its still mathematically possible for JHB to retake the lead, but theres no reason to think she will, tweeted Phil Gardner, Chief of Staff for Washingtons Lieutenant Governor.
Mr Kent, who reveived the endorsement and encouragemet of Mr Trump, had 47,357 votes as of Monday evening, with Ms Herrera Beutler, on 46,544.
Washington state is one of two places that use an open, top-two primary system, in which the top two candidates proceed to the general election showdown regardless of party.
Ms Herrera Beutler was first elected to Washingtons third congressional district in 2010 and reelected five times.
Jaime Herrera Beutler was one of ten Republicans Trump pursued
But she was one of just 10 Republicans in the House who voted for Mr Trumps impeachment after the Jan 6 riots and the establishment of a committee to investigate what happened.
Mr Trump denounced the 10 as traitors and vowed to oust them all.
And last week, Michigan congressman Peter Meijer lost to challenger John Gibbs, who had the support of Mr Trump.
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