A disturbing number of Republican lawmakers are backing outgoing President Donald Trump's attempts to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which saw him defeated by President-elect Joe Biden six weeks ago.
The continued support signals that, despite Trump's election loss, Republicans believe Trump's political strategy remains a viable one.
The state of Georgia went blue in the election for the first time since 1992, prompting an all-out assault from the Trump sphere on the Peach state's election integrity.
But Georgia's two incumbent Republican Senators—Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue—are gearing up for runoff elections in the state that will determine whether or not Republicans hold a Senate majority.
The two are in the unenviable position of backing Trump's lies about widespread voter fraud in the state while simultaneously encouraging its residents to vote for them in the election.
That dissonance was laid bare when Loeffler—who's facing off against Democratic opponent Reverend Raphael Warnock—was asked multiple times whether she acknowledged Biden's victory as President, a victory that's only been reinforced by the courts and multiple recounts in Georgia alone.
What followed was awkward, to say the least.
In this 2m clip @KLoeffler is asked about Biden's win six different times.
She refuses to directly answer even one of the very specific questions.
This is a small sample of the full presser where she refused to answer several simple questions.
(Examples on this thread) pic.twitter.com/vRSXqAWO39
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) December 16, 2020
When asked about Biden's victory Loeffler gave non-answers like:
"January 6 is a long way off there's a lot to play out between now and then."
And:
"My focus is on winning this race right now."
And:
"The President has a right to every legal recourse. That's what's playing out right now."
The cringeworthy video did her no favors.
This is just an amazing clip. Not just because she dodges the questions but because Loeffler offers zero — zero — personal flavor or words. She is a walking talking points memo. https://t.co/8hloeffpYs
— Amy Gardner (@AmyEGardner) December 16, 2020
Swap out "Biden will be the president" for another factual statement and it's just so damned weird.
Reporter: Have you acknowledged that owls exist?
Loeffler: Look I don't have time for that I'm just focused on winning this election. https://t.co/uy1wKDkIBe
— Seth Masket (@smotus) December 16, 2020
This is disqualifying. Nothing is more anti-American than lying about a free and fair election. https://t.co/hZzcLHca7P
— G Pahl Shipley (@nuAZrez18) December 16, 2020
This well-dressed robot is garbage. I might have mentioned that before. https://t.co/vODJ2ZaRSE
— Lisa Birnbach (@LisaBirnbach) December 16, 2020
Oh God, this is painful to watch. This is Marco Rubio-level painful or Alison Lundergan-Grimes on Obama-level painful. She keeps saying the same thing over and over again. https://t.co/u8z5bKUgzv
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) December 16, 2020
How hard can it be? Unbelievable 👎🏼 https://t.co/uiKZxeMHML
— Kerstin Becker (@Schrullenweib) December 16, 2020
A small but unignorable faction of Trump supporters, led by pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, are refusing to vote in the Georgia runoffs because they don't believe Loeffler and Perdue advocated heavily enough for Trump's attempts to overturn the state's results.
Why did masterminds of GA election rig votes for @KLoeffler win? Why does Loeffler fight for herself & not @realDonaldTrump?
Maybe Loeffler “allowed" to win runoff to argue no fraud.
Maybe Loeffler & @ossoff are members of same party.
Does this give you pause for concern?
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 16, 2020
You deserve NO support from MAGA voters unless you #StopTheSteaI! #boycottGArunoff
— David Isakson (@isakson_david) December 14, 2020
Boycotting the GA runoffs is the only way Trump-supporters can force the GOP to fight for a 2nd Trump term
The GOP only responds to threats to its power
To force them to back-Trump, his supporters MUST boycott to prove the GOP'll lose every election unless Trump gets 4 more yrs pic.twitter.com/Z6nJ4EtNZq
— UGA Dawgs for Trump Stop the Steal= Write in Trump (@TeleprompTrump9) December 15, 2020
The Georgia runoffs are on January 5th.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC