Category Archives: Republican

For a number of Republicans who have long been skeptical of Mr. Trump, the events of the last two months have been clarifying. From his initial refusal to concede defeat and his relentless attacks on Republican state officials, which undermined the partys hopes for winning the Georgia Senate seats, to savaging lawmakers and his own vice president just hours before the Capitol riot, Mr. Trump has proved himself a political arsonist.

Trump is a political David Koresh, said Billy Piper, a former chief of staff to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, referring to the cult leader who died with his followers during an F.B.I. siege in Waco, Texas. He sees the end coming and wants to burn it all down and take as many with him as possible.

The violence in Washington appeared to embolden an array of Republican lawmakers, including some who took office only days ago, to condemn Mr. Trumps political recklessness and urge the party toward a different course. The partys humiliating double losses in Georgia, the day after Mr. Trump appeared at a rally there, also served to punctuate the growing peril for Republicans in the fastest-growing, more culturally diverse parts of the country, which are on track to amass more political power in the coming decade.

The party faces a threat to its financial base, too. Several of the most powerful business federations in Washington denounced the chaos this week in stinging language, including an extraordinary statement from the normally nonpolitical National Association of Manufacturers that suggested Mr. Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

Representative Tom Reed of New York, who has emerged as a leader of more moderate Republicans in the House, said Thursday that the party needed to begin not worrying about base politics as much, and standing up to that base. He argued that Republicans should pursue compromise legislation with Mr. Biden on issues like climate change, and forecast that a sizable number of Republicans would take that path.

If that means standing up to the base in order to achieve something, theyll do it, Mr. Reed predicted.

Mr. Reed warned his party that the Democrats would depict the G.O.P. as a dangerous party in 2022 if they did not rebut that charge.

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Republicans Splinter Over Whether to Make a Full Break From Trump - The New York Times

More than a dozen Republican senators originally said they would object to at least one state's election results. After the violence that ensured Wednesday afternoon, that number was reduced by about half. Caroline Amenabar/NPR; Samuel Corum, Mandel Ngan, Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images hide caption

More than a dozen Republican senators originally said they would object to at least one state's election results. After the violence that ensured Wednesday afternoon, that number was reduced by about half.

Heading into Wednesday's joint session of Congress to tally the Electoral College vote results, lawmakers anticipated a long day peppered with objections hinged on baseless allegations of election fraud. More than a dozen Republican senators had said they would object to at least one state's election results.

They began with a debate over a challenge to Arizona's results. But after pro-Trump extremists brought violence and chaos to the Capitol, both chambers were forced into an emergency recess while the building was locked down.

When lawmakers reconvened hours later, a number of Senate Republicans abandoned their plan to cast objections.

Only six senators, all Republicans, sustained the Arizona objection.

Here's a look at those six senators who maintained their course.

Josh Hawley, Missouri

Hawley was the first senator to break ranks publicly last month and announce his plans to lodge objections during the joint session.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had reportedly urged Republicans not to do so.

After thanking the U.S. Capitol Police for their efforts during the insurrection, Hawley defended his decision to object.

"What we are doing here tonight is actually very important because for those who have concerns about the integrity of our elections, those who have concerns about what happened in November, this is the appropriate means, this is the lawful place where those objections and concerns should be raised," he said.

The purpose of Congress convening is to formally tally the votes of the Electoral College, not litigate election matters. Concerns about state elections were already raised and rejected in courts.

Ted Cruz, Texas

Once a primary rival of Trump's, who even declined to endorse him at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Cruz has since become a staunch defender of Trump's presidency.

"I want to speak to the Republicans who are considering voting against these objections," Cruz said Wednesday afternoon during the debate over Arizona's Electoral College results.

"I urge you to pause and think, what does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud in this election?"

Public opinion doesn't dictate who should win an election or if there should be additional investigations into fraud, an allegation that state election officials and Trump's own Justice Department have vehemently refuted.

Tommy Tuberville, Alabama

Tuberville fulfilled the pledge he made Tuesday to join Cruz in objecting to the results from Arizona. A retired football coach, Tuberville defeated Jeff Sessions, the former senator and attorney general, in the GOP primary and went on to win against Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in November.

Roger Marshall, Kansas

A former U.S. representative, Marshall defeated former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the Republican Senate primary earlier this year and went on to win the Senate seat vacated by Pat Roberts. He secured endorsements from prominent Republicans, including McConnell.

John Kennedy, Louisiana

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Kennedy has been a frequent defender of Trump.

On Thursday, Kennedy condemned the rioters and reiterated that his plans to raise objections during the proceedings were on behalf of his constituents.

"I came to the Capitol yesterday to give them a voice," he said in a statement. "I joined several Senate colleagues in calling for a bipartisan commission to inspect election issues raised across the country. Our proposal was not successful, but our goal to ensure full confidence and transparency in our elections for all Americans is a noble one, and I'll keep pursuing it."

Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi

Hyde-Smith won her runoff election in 2018, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate from Mississippi. She was widely criticized for comments she made that surfaced during the campaign, including one in which she told a supporter, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." She has been an ardent supporter of Trump while in office.

The Senate rejected the Arizona challenge 93-6. The House rejected it 303-121.

Here are the 121 House members who supported the objection:

Here are the 121 representatives who sustained the objection to Arizona's Electoral College results. Caroline Amenabar/clerk.house.gov hide caption

House members also objected in the cases of Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, but no senator joined in the objection, thereby preventing debate.

The only other state disputed with support from both chambers was Pennsylvania; 138 House members, all Republicans, supported the objection, as did seven senators: Cruz, R-Texas; Hawley, R-Mo.; Hyde Smith, R-Miss.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Marshall, R-Kan.; Tuberville, R-Ala.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla.

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Here Are The Republicans Who Objected To The Electoral College Count - NPR

EAST LAMPETER TOWNSHIP, Pa (WHTM) Following the fall out from the storming of the Capitol, three supervisors from East Lampeter Township have announced theyre leaving the Republican party.

This means that Republicans no longer hold a majority on that board, which is one of the largest townships by population in Lancaster County.

In a joint statement from Corey Meyer, John Blowers, and Ethan Demme said events since November have been difficult for everyone.

The statement addressed to Kurt Radanovic, the county GOP chairman said the denial of of 2020 election results by local Republicans is outrageous and those actions fomented the seeds of sedition, resulting in the violence in Washington.

Demme, a former Republican Chairman in the county, said the Republican Party party is no longer the best way to promote conservatism, good government, and the rule of law.

The Republican Party is now the party of Trump and its going to stay that way for a while. Demme said. Any true reform will have to come from outside of the party.

My values didnt change, the way I am going to vote in township meetings isnt going to change, the things I am going to advocate arent going to change, Demme added. I am just going to be doing it from a different platform.

Demme and the other two supervisors says theyre not switching their party affiliation to Democrat, all three will be registered Independents.

In a statement Radanoic said its convenient those who are leaving the party are doing so in a year when they dont face voters, who in the recent election gave Trump a majority of the vote in East Lampeter Township.

We stand ready to ensure that republican majorities continue in East Lampeter Township the statement said.

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Republicans in East Lampeter Township switching parties following Capitol Hill chaos - ABC27

There have always been people like Donald Trump: self-centered, self-aggrandizing, believing that the rules apply only to the little people and that what happens to the little people doesnt matter.

The modern G.O.P., however, isnt like anything weve seen before, at least in American history. If theres anyone who wasnt already persuaded that one of our two major political parties has become an enemy, not just of democracy, but of truth, events since the election should have ended their doubts.

Its not just that a majority of House Republicans and many Republican senators are backing Trumps efforts to overturn his election loss, even though there is no evidence of fraud or widespread irregularities. Look at the way David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are campaigning in the Senate runoffs in Georgia.

They arent running on issues, or even on real aspects of their opponents personal history. Instead theyre claiming, with no basis in fact, that their opponents are Marxists or involved in child abuse. That is, the campaigns to retain Republican control of the Senate are based on lies.

On Sunday Mitt Romney excoriated Ted Cruz and other congressional Republicans attempts to undo the presidential election, asking, Has ambition so eclipsed principle? But what principle does Romney think the G.O.P. has stood for in recent years? Its hard to see anything underlying recent Republican behavior beyond the pursuit of power by any means available.

So how did we get here? What happened to the Republican Party?

It didnt start with Trump. On the contrary, the partys degradation has been obvious, for those willing to see it, for many years.

Way back in 2003 I wrote that Republicans had become a radical force hostile to America as it is, potentially aiming for a one-party state in which elections are only a formality. In 2012 Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein warned that the G.O.P. was unmoved by conventional understanding of facts and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

If youre surprised by the eagerness of many in the party to overturn an election based on specious claims of fraud, you werent paying attention.

But what is driving the Republican descent into darkness?

Is it a populist backlash against elites? Its true that theres resentment over a changing economy that has boosted highly educated metropolitan areas at the expense of rural and small-town America; Trump received 46 percent of the vote, but the counties he won represented only 29 percent of Americas economic output. Theres also a lot of white backlash over the nations growing racial diversity.

The past two months have, however, been an object lesson in the extent to which grass roots anger is actually being orchestrated from the top. If a large part of the Republican base believes, groundlessly, that the election was stolen, its because thats what leading figures in the party have been saying. Now politicians are citing widespread skepticism about the election results as a reason to reject the outcome but they themselves conjured that skepticism out of thin air.

And whats striking if you look into the background of the politicians stoking resentment against elites is how privileged many of them are. Josh Hawley, the first senator to declare that he would object to certification of the election results, rails against elites but is himself a graduate of Stanford and Yale Law School. Cruz, now leading the effort, has degrees from Princeton and Harvard.

The point isnt that theyre hypocrites; it is that these arent people who have been mistreated by the system. So why are they so eager to bring the system down?

I dont think its just cynical calculation, a matter of playing to the base. As I said, the base is in large part taking its cues from the party elite. And the craziness of that elite doesnt seem to be purely an act.

My best guess is that were looking at a party that has gone feral that has been cut off from the rest of society.

People have compared the modern G.O.P. to organized crime or a cult, but to me, Republicans look more like the lost boys in Lord of the Flies. They dont get news from the outside world, because they get their information from partisan sources that simply dont report inconvenient facts. They dont face adult supervision, because in a polarized political environment there are few competitive races.

So theyre increasingly inward-looking, engaged in ever more outlandish efforts to demonstrate their loyalty to the tribe. Their partisanship isnt about issues, although the party remains committed to cutting taxes on the rich and punishing the poor; its about asserting the dominance of the in-group and punishing outsiders.

The big question is how long America as we know it can survive in the face of this malevolent tribalism.

The current attempt to undo the presidential election wont succeed, but it has gone on far longer and attracted much more support than almost anyone predicted. And unless something happens to break the grip of anti-democratic, anti-truth forces on the G.O.P., one day they will succeed in killing the American experiment.

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Opinion | How the Republican Party Went Feral - The New York Times

Even after a mob of Trump supporters swarmed and entered the Capitol on Wednesday, a handful of Republican senators and more than 100 Republican representatives stood by their decisions to vote against certifying the results of the presidential election.

Congress certified the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, ending attempts to overturn the results in two states. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas and John Kennedy of Louisiana voted to overturn the results in Arizona, while 93 senators voted against. Mr. Hawley, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Tuberville, Ms. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Marshall and Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Rick Scott of Florida voted to overturn the results in Pennsylvania, while 92 voted against it.

The House rejected the Arizona challenge by a vote of 303 to 121 and rejected the Pennsylvania challenge by a vote of 282 to 138.

At least four Republican senators who had pledged to back the effort to throw out the election results reversed course after Wednesdays siege at the Capitol, saying the lawlessness and chaos had caused them to changed their minds.

Those included Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, who, after losing a special election on Tuesday, announced her reversal on the Senate floor late Wednesday. The events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now, in good conscience, object, she said.

Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, changed his position late Wednesday, releasing a joint statement with Senator Steve Daines of Montana that called on the entire Congress to come together and vote to certify the election results.

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington also condemned the actions of the mob of Trump loyalists and said she would no longer vote against the vote certifications.

Thugs assaulted Capitol Police officers, breached and defaced our Capitol building, put peoples lives in danger and disregarded the values we hold dear as Americans, Ms. McMorris Rodgers said in a statement, which she released a day after declaring she would object to the vote counts. To anyone involved, shame on you.

Congressmen including Representative Lance Gooden, Republican of Texas, said the violence did not change his mind.

While Im disgusted with what I saw today, mob riots dont suddenly make this election secure. YES, of course, Im still objecting, he said in a tweet.

Ms. Hyde-Smith of Mississippi said that she voted against the certification of the election because the people she represents do not believe the presidential election was constitutional. I cannot in good conscience support certification, she said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Here are the Republicans who objected to certifying the election results. - The New York Times

WASHINGTON More than a dozen Democrats representatives and at least one Republican representative are publicly calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and remove President Donald Trump from office just weeks before his term ends. A second Republican representative has said he would not oppose it, if it was invoked.

Its with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked, said Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger on Twitter. Its time to invoke the 25th Amendment and to end this nightmare.

Later Thursday, Republican Representative Steve Stivers said "if the cabinet decided to do that, I would not oppose it," referring to the 25th Amendment.

Kinzinger and Stivers' video statements come hours after a formal letter, signed by 17 Democratic Representatives on the House Judiciary Committee, was sent to Pence late Wednesday night.

"It is with great sadness that we write to you following the incidents that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol today. As you presided over the U.S. Senate, angry supporters of President Trump attempted an insurrection, illegally storming and breaching the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of President-elect Biden's victory," reads the statement.

The lawmakers statement says President Trump remained silent as the world watched aghast as insurrectionists, who had been egged on by the President, threatened the safety of elected officials and staff and destroyed public property as they stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

They point out that the president revealed he is not mentally sound and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election.

In order to invoke the 25th Amendment, a majority of the 15 Cabinet Secretaries and the Vice President would need to agree and send formal documents to Congress for consideration and approval.

The amendment reads, Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

A large number of Republicans would also have to agree in order to approve the request once it is sent to Congress. It is not clear if that is likely to happen.

For the sake of our democracy, we emphatically urge you to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from power. President Trump has shown time and again that he is unwilling to protect our Democracy and carry out the duties of the office, the lawmakers end their letter.

The formal letters and calls from lawmakers joins others who have expressed similar calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, and echo sentiments shared Thursday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer.

The National Association of Manufacturers released a statement Wednesday afternoon calling on Pence and others to consider the 25th Amendment.

"The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy," their statement reads.

The statement is notable, as the National Association of Manufacturers recognized Ivanka Trump last year with an industry award.

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Democrat and Republican representatives call on Pence to invoke 25th Amendment - The Denver Channel

The Senate and the House of Representatives convened on Wednesday to perform what is traditionally seen as a purely ceremonial vote: to certify each states presidential election results.

At a rally before the vote, Donald Trump continued to baselessly insist that the election results which he lost to Democrat challenger Joe Biden were rigged and the US president helped instigate a mob to storm the US Capitol building and halt the process.

The attack shocked many Americans but even after the pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol, a handful of Republican senators and more than a hundred Republican representatives continued to back Trumps false claims and objected to certifying the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The list of Republican lawmakers who objected to both results includes Texas senator Ted Cruz, who ran against Trump in 2016 presidential election only to have Trump suggest that Cruzs father was involved in president John F Kennedys assassination. It also include Missouri senator Josh Hawley who is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. And it includes the majority of Republican House members.

Heres the full list.

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The long list of Republicans who voted to reject election results - The Guardian

Just after 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, Representative Conor Lamb, Democrat of western Pennsylvania, rose on the floor of the House to defend the franchise of the people in his state. Even at that late hour, and even after a Trumpist mob urged on by the President had attacked the Capitol, a group of Republican House members, joined by Senator Josh Hawley, of Missouri, was trying to get the states electoral votes thrown out. Their objections, Lamb said, dont deserve an ounce of respectnot an ounce. His colleagues, he said, had to be clear about what had happened that day: Invaders came in for the first time since the war of 1812. They desecrated these halls. And, he added, for the most part, they walked in here free. A lot of them walked out free. And there wasnt a person watching at home who didnt know why that was: because of the way that they look.

Lamb was referring to the apparent leniency that the mostly white mob had been afforded by law-enforcement officers in the course of an attempt to violently undo the election. Many of the Trumpists had displayed, for the cameras, a thuggish air of territorialism, as if it hadnt occurred to them that battering through the windows of the Capitol; assaulting police officers; trying to hunt down the Vice-President, Mike Pence; physically threatening legislators; or vandalizing the Speakers office might carry with it legal liability. Its not known how many may have had guns or other weapons. There had been no effective effort to repel them and, in the immediate wake, few arrests. (A woman died after being shot by the Capitol police; three people died of what authorities described as medical emergencies.) Those circumstances will require an urgent and profound inquiry in the days to comehow much is attributable to a security failure, to the mis-deployment of law-enforcement, to a sense of impunity encouraged by Donald Trump, to a strain of violence in our political culture, or to, as Lamb suggested, racism? (Some of the rioters carried Confederate and white-supremacist symbols, as well as TRUMP flags.) But the immediate reaction to Lambs words was a low rumble of voices from the Republican side of the aisle.

Lamb, who had earlier debunked the conspiracy theories that Trump has pushed about the Pennsylvania vote, continued, We know that that attack today, it didnt materialize out of nowhere. It was inspired by lies, the same lies that youre hearing in this room tonight. And the members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves; their constituents should be ashamed of them. As he continued speaking, the Republican hubbub grew. Point of order, Representative Morgan Griffith, of Virginia, said, after Lamb got a few more sentences out. The gentleman said that there were lies, on this floor, here today, looking over in this direction. I ask that those words be taken down!

Members of Congress are not supposed to insult one another directly, but the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who was presiding, said that the complaint had come too late. (She added that she had been called the same thing on the floor.) Griffith and his cohort continued to try to shout down Lamb; as so often with Trumps allies, they appeared to imagine that they were the real victims. In an instant, members on both sides were leaving their seats in what became a near skirmish, before Pelosi restored order. Perhaps the events of the day had left some Republicans chastenedbut not all of them. The truth hurts, Lamb said. But the fact is this: we want this government to work more than they want it to fail.

All the elements that Lamb citedthe lies, the shame, the failure, and the determination to make our democracy workhad been on display in the preceding hours. It was a remarkable relief that, after such a tumultuous, bitter, dangerous day (chronicled by my colleagues John Cassidy, Evan Osnos, Susan Glasser, Masha Gessen, and Vinson Cunningham), both houses of Congress had reassembled in the same chambers to get the job of counting the electors done. If those halls had been desecrated, they were also, in part, reconsecrated. A little after 3:30 A.M., the electors for Wyoming, the final state alphabetically, were added to the tally, and, with that, the last box was checked in certifying Joe Bidens victory. Pence and the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, had broken with Trump on the question of whether he could stage a coup, if on nothing else. But there was no instant great awakening on the part of the Republican caucus. In the late-night session, the Partys pathologies and Trumpist distortions were still present.

Before the storming of the Capitol, thirteen Republican senators had said that they planned to object to the electors of various states, as did some hundred and forty representatives. Senator James Lankford, of Oklahoma, was in the middle of a speech urging the disenfranchisement of Arizonas voters, when the senators were told that the rioters were in the building. By the time that he and his colleagues returned, he had decided to withdraw his objection. But six senatorsTed Cruz, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, John Kennedy, Roger Marshall, and Tommy Tubervillestill voted to reject Arizonas electors and thus disenfranchise the states voters. (Before the assault on the Capitol began, Hawley had greeted the gathering mob with a fist-in-the-air salute.) So did a hundred and twenty-one representativesa majority of the Republican caucus in the Houseincluding the Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, of California.

The debate on Arizona, when it resumed, became a venue for senators to also address the violence. Michael Bennet, of Colorado, invoked the fall of the Roman Republic, with armed gangs who ran through the streets, and asked that the election results be received with the biggest bipartisan vote we can. He added, Every single member of this Senate knows this election wasnt stolen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, remembered Abraham Lincolns struggles, and his victories. Cory Booker, of New Jersey, noted that both during the War of 1812 and this week, the forces attacking the capital were waving flags to a sole sovereignone a British King and the other an American President who has forgotten what the limits on that office are, and has built a cult of personality.

Ron Wyden, of Oregon, called the mob domestic terrorists and noted that Donald Trump can do enormous damage to our country in the next two weeksas, indeed, he can. Wyden said that the use of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to remove a President who has become incapable of doing his job was being discussed, in some circles, in earnest. (There are reports that those talks are taking place within the Administration; some mid-level officials have already resigned. On Thursday morning, Trump said in a statement that there would be an orderly transition but continued to claim fraud.) Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, a combat veteran, described her shock at witnessing a domestic coup attempt. She said that she wasnt asking her Republican colleagues for any grand gestureshe was just asking them not to sacrifice American democracy to protect Trumps porcelain ego.

Those were the Democrats. On the Republican side, the responses to the attack ranged widely. Senator Mitt Romney said that he had been shaken to the core by what he called an insurrection. He bluntly told his fellow-Republicans that if they objected to the electors they would be complicit, and that the best way we can show respect for the voters who were upset is by telling them the truth; the truth is that President-elect Biden won the election; President Trump lost. Mike Lee said that he had struggled with the decision, but wouldnt object. Marco Rubio thought that politics had made everybody crazyan abdication of both personal and partisan responsibility. Pat Toomey defended the elections integrity, while assuring those listening to his speech that he had voted for Trump and had hoped that hed win. Senator Lindsey Graham embarked on a freewheeling ship-jumping riff: All I can say is count me outout of the coup attempt, presumablyenough is enough, Ive tried to be helpful. He has indeed triedto be helpful to Trump, including by stoking his efforts to undermine confidence in the election result and even donating money for the Presidents legal challenges.

It is, obviously, a good thing that Graham has had enough, that Pence did not try to rip up the electoral certifications, and that McConnell worked with Democratic leaders to quickly reconvene Congress and condemned what he called this failed insurrection. But they all supported Trump for far too long; their subservience has been pathetic, and they cannot be surprised by where Trump has taken them and the country. He has been openly calling for the sort of attempted putsch that we witnessed on Wednesday. He reportedly had to be pushed to tell the rioters to leave, and only did so in ambiguous statements that mixed incitement with an expression of love for them. What has changed is that Trump is now clearly on the losing side, and McConnell and Graham know it.

Other Republicans still havent given up. Over in the House, Matt Gaetz, of Florida, babbled about how some pretty compelling evidence from a facial-recognition company showed that people in the mob werent Trump supporters at all but members of the violent terrorist group Antifa. There had been some hope that the congressional Trumpists would not press on with objections about other states. (An objection requires the signature of at least one representative and one senator, and triggers two hours of debate.) Senator Kelly Loeffler, of Georgia, who lost her relection bid on Tuesday, announced that she would withdraw her objection to her states tally. And, when the conspiracy-minded Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, also of Georgia, lodged her objection to Michigans electors, she got no senatorial takers. But, after midnight, Hawley signed on for Pennsylvania. That meant another two-hour debate for his colleagues, many of whom had earlier been forced to barricade themselves in safe rooms or behind furniture. (Grace Meng, of New York, told CNN that she texted her family goodbye, thinking that she might not survive; other legislators had similar stories.)

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The Mob Is Gone, but the Crisis of the Republican Party Has Only Begun - The New Yorker

Editors note, January 6, 8:40 pm ET: This situation continues to evolve quickly after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), and James Lankford (R-OK) have indicated that they will no longer object to the vote certification. Additionally, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has indicated that there should be no more objections, but not all 11 remaining planned objectors have confirmed that. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available. For all of Voxs latest coverage of the situation at the Capitol, follow our storystream.

On January 6, Congress is scheduled to certify the Electoral College vote.

In defiance of all available evidence, the American constitutional process, and long-held democratic norms, 14 Republican senators have announced they will object to that certification.

These senators ultimately wont succeed, but its a definite escalation from what had largely been cheap talk from Republicans still backing the presidents repeated attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Though President Donald Trump had large swaths of the GOP backing him in his earlier efforts to cast doubt on President-elect Joe Bidens victory and litigate the results, the latest (and last-ditch) effort to focus on Congresss certification vote began with Sen. Josh Hawley. On December 30, Hawley released a statement saying he cannot vote to certify the electoral college results allegedly due to his belief that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws. He also accused Facebook and Twitter of having interfered in Bidens favor (Hawley has made a name for himself crusading against Big Tech).

Three days later, 11 other senators led by Sen. Ted Cruz announced that they would reject the electors from disputed states unless an emergency 10-day audit of the election results was completed. Their argument largely rests on the fact that lots of people have questions about the legitimacy of the election conveniently ignoring any role the president and prominent Republicans played in sowing doubt by peddling conspiracy theories that have been widely debunked.

The night before the Georgia Senate runoffs, within a minute of one another on Twitter, both Republican candidates announced their opposition to certification. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler declared that she would vote against certification as her colleague Sen. David Perdue tweeted out a clip from an interview where he says, I agree that I would [object] and urges his colleagues in the Senate to join the effort. Both Loeffler and Perdue have since lost their races.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) published an op-ed where he acknowledges that our Constitution and the law requires that I accept the states final decision on an election. However, he goes on to say that he is still prepared to oppose some electors.

As Cameron Peters explained for Vox, far from the whole GOP conference is on board with Hawley, Cruz, and the other senators plans to object to what is normally a perfunctory procedure.

Still, 14 Republican senators about a quarter of the conference isnt nothing. The current roster of objecting senators is:

In the House, more than 100 Republican members have announced their intention to object on January 6. While concerning, these numbers do not come close to the level necessary to actually reject the Electoral College vote.

Voxs Andrew Prokop has more on the procedural details of what will happen Wednesday, but briefly: Vice President Mike Pence will begin the process of counting the Electoral College votes, at which point if even one House member and one senator object, both chambers have to vote. As Prokop explains, for the objection to succeed both the House and the Senate must vote in favor of it. At the end of the day, there arent enough Republicans to actually reject the Electoral Colleges votes, but its an opportunity for potential 2024 hopefuls like Pence, Hawley, and Cruz to jockey for the limelight.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), another potential 2024 candidate, has objected to this latest attempt to nullify the results of the presidential election. This dividing line is likely to play a role in the 2024 Republican presidential primary as candidates situate themselves along the Trump axis that has realigned the party.

Cotton isnt the only Republican senator opposing this effort. Previous reporting has indicated that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Thune are both opposed to splintering the Republican caucus in a vote that will be seen as either defying Trump or fully rejecting the legitimacy of the election. As Cameron Peters wrote for Vox, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, and outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey all released fierce statements pushing back against the doomed but alarmingly undemocratic scheme to reject the Biden electors.

According to CBS News, the full list of Republican senators supporting certification is:

Toomeys statement castigated the objecting senators: A fundamental, defining feature of a democratic republic is the right of people to elect their own leaders. The effort by Senators Hawley, Cruz and others to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election ... directly undermines this right.

He goes on to reject the specious reasoning offered up by the offending senators, arguing that allegations of fraud by a losing campaign cannot justify overturning an election.

Hawley fired back at Toomey in an email to his colleagues telling the senior member to avoid putting words in each others mouths and wrote that instead of debating the issue by press release, perhaps we could have a debate on the Senate floor. Notably, Hawley was the first to issue a press release on the subject.

In a Monday tweet, President Donald Trump deemed the group supporting certification the Surrender Caucus, claiming they will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective. Trump also specifically called out Cotton, warning him that Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!

Its a clear shot across the bow to any other 2024 hopefuls considering speaking out in favor of certification. The message is clear: If a longtime Trump ally like Cotton can be dropped so easily, so can anyone else.

Correction, January 6: A previous version of this article mischaracterized Sen. James Lankfords position on the election certification. The wording of a recent op-ed by Lankford prompted some confusion, as he stated that the Constitution and the law requires him to accept the states final decision. But he said on Twitter on Wednesday that he is prepared to object if Democrats do not acquiesce to the creation of an electoral commission.

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Excerpt from:

Hawley, Cruz, and other Republican senators plan to reject the Electoral College election certification - Vox.com

When a mob of President Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday, they forced an emergency recess in the Congressional proceedings to officially certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. The disruption came shortly after some Republican lawmakers made the first of a planned series of highly unusual objections, based on spurious allegations of widespread voter fraud, to states election results. The chambers were separately debating an objection to Arizonas results when proceedings were halted and the Capitol was locked down.

When the Senate reconvened at 8 p.m., and the House of Representatives an hour later, the proceedings including the objection debates continued, although some lawmakers who had previously planned to vote with the objectors stood down following the occupation of the Capitol. Plans to challenge a number of states after Arizona were scrapped, as well but one other objection, to Pennsylvanias results, also advanced to a vote. Here are the eight senators and 139 representatives who voted to sustain one or both objections.

Tommy Tuberville, Ala.

Rick Scott, Fla.

Roger Marshall, Kan.

John Kennedy, La.

Cindy Hyde-Smith, Miss.

Josh Hawley, Mo.

Ted Cruz, Texas

Cynthia Lummis, Wyo.

Robert B. Aderholt, Ala.

Mo Brooks, Ala.

Jerry Carl, Ala.

Barry Moore, Ala.

Gary Palmer, Ala.

Mike Rogers, Ala.

Andy Biggs, Ariz.

Paul Gosar, Ariz.

Debbie Lesko, Ariz.

David Schweikert, Ariz.

Rick Crawford, Ark.

Ken Calvert, Calif.

Mike Garcia, Calif.

Darrell Issa, Calif.

Doug LaMalfa, Calif.

Kevin McCarthy, Calif.

Devin Nunes, Calif.

Jay Obernolte, Calif.

Lauren Boebert, Colo.

Doug Lamborn, Colo.

Kat Cammack, Fla.

Mario Diaz-Balart, Fla.

Byron Donalds, Fla.

Neal Dunn, Fla.

Scott Franklin, Fla.

Matt Gaetz, Fla.

Carlos Gimenez, Fla.

Brian Mast, Fla.

Bill Posey, Fla.

John Rutherford, Fla.

Greg Steube, Fla.

Daniel Webster, Fla.

Rick Allen, Ga.

Earl L. "Buddy" Carter, Ga.

Andrew Clyde, Ga.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ga.

Jody Hice, Ga.

Barry Loudermilk, Ga.

Russ Fulcher, Idaho

Mike Bost, Ill.

Mary Miller, Ill.

Jim Baird, Ind.

Jim Banks, Ind.

Greg Pence, Ind.

Jackie Walorski, Ind.

Ron Estes, Kan.

Jacob LaTurner, Kan.

Tracey Mann, Kan.

Harold Rogers, Ky.

Garret Graves, La.

Clay Higgins, La.

Mike Johnson, La.

Steve Scalise, La.

Andy Harris, Md.

Jack Bergman, Mich.

Lisa McClain, Mich.

Tim Walberg, Mich.

Michelle Fischbach, Minn.

Jim Hagedorn, Minn.

Michael Guest, Miss.

Trent Kelly, Miss.

Steven Palazzo, Miss.

Sam Graves, Mo.

Vicky Hartzler, Mo.

Billy Long, Mo.

Blaine Luetkemeyer, Mo.

Jason Smith, Mo.

Matt Rosendale, Mont.

Dan Bishop, N.C.

Ted Budd, N.C.

Madison Cawthorn, N.C.

Virginia Foxx, N.C.

Richard Hudson, N.C.

Gregory F. Murphy, N.C.

David Rouzer, N.C.

Jeff Van Drew, N.J.

Yvette Herrell, N.M.

Chris Jacobs, N.Y.

Nicole Malliotakis, N.Y.

Elise M. Stefanik, N.Y.

Lee Zeldin, N.Y.

Adrian Smith, Neb.

Steve Chabot, Ohio

Warren Davidson, Ohio

Bob Gibbs, Ohio

Bill Johnson, Ohio

Jim Jordan, Ohio

Stephanie Bice, Okla.

Tom Cole, Okla.

Kevin Hern, Okla.

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The 147 Republicans Who Voted to Overturn Election Results - The New York Times