Convincing voters that elections are “rigged” could have disastrous effects for their political party’s electoral chances. Two run-off elections, covering both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats, are slated for early January. In the meantime, President Donald Trump and his allies have pushed lies about supposed fraud that supposedly plagued the recently concluded presidential election — and many Republican voters are, by all appearances, taking these messages to heart. At a weekend event in Georgia, someone shouted out the question to Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel of why Republicans should even vote in the run-offs if the outcome is already “decided.” In other words — the GOP strategy of convincing their base that elections are rigged seems to be backfiring!
On Saturday, McDaniel held a meet and greet event at a Cobb County GOP office in Marietta, Georgia. Based on shouted questions, attendees clearly seemed highly concerned with the baselessly alleged fraud that top Republicans have claimed plagued the presidential election — and perhaps less concerned with the reason that McDaniel was in Georgia in the first place: the Senate run-offs. According to CNN reporter DJ Judd, who was on the scene, “four different people… interrupted… McDaniel on vote counts.” One event attendee asked about voting machines potentially switching votes, and other supporters asked about “the status of ongoing recount efforts across the country.”
Four different people have interrupted RNC Chair McDaniel on vote counts. “I guess it’s a Q&A now!” A voter asks McDaniel about voting machines switching votes. “We haven’t seen evidence of that,” McDaniel says. pic.twitter.com/4BFKT9IhMD
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) November 28, 2020
Then came the real zinger. According to Judd, one of the Republicans on the premises asked, “Why should we trust this election when it’s already been decided?” McDaniel exclaimed in response: “It hasn’t been decided!” The problem is: Republicans have planted the conspiracy theory among their voters that some secretive operatives are pulling the strings of the election. No matter the utter falsity of this conspiracy theory, Republicans can’t put the water back into the faucet. The conspiracy is out there, and the debacle may come back to haunt them during the run-offs, when the GOP will be relying on party faithfuls to turn out to the polls in support of Purdue and Loeffler. What if these party faithfuls believe that there’s no real point in turning out to the polls at all?
An exasperated voter in Marietta asks RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, “Why should we trust this election when it’s already been decided?” McDaniel says, “It hasn’t been decided!” Another voter shouts out that Republican Governor Brian Kemp is corrupt.
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) November 28, 2020
At another point during the same weekend event in Georgia, McDaniel insisted that she’s focused on re-electing Purdue and Loeffler — at which point an audience member shouted: “and Donald Trump!” Trump, of course, will leave the White House in January, but the GOP’s capitulation to his just about every whim could entail serious political consequences. The Georgia Senate run-offs will determine which political party controls the Senate. If Democrats win both seats — which seems possible considering Biden’s recent win in the state — then the chamber will be 50-50, but vice presidents are tasked with breaking ties. With Biden in the White House, the vice president will be, of course, Kamala Harris.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel says, “I talked to [the president] yesterday, and I talked to him on Thanksgiving, I talk to him pretty much every day, if he were here right now, he would say please, get out, and keep working for me, but get out and elect David Perdue & Kelly Loeffler.” pic.twitter.com/5ZuhXWdJQC
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) November 28, 2020