On Wednesday, in the wake of apparent losses for Georgia’s two incumbent Republican U.S. Senators, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) spoke out about outgoing President Donald Trump’s destructive impact on the United States at large. Speaking rather forcefully, Romney insisted that Trump has “disgraced the office of the presidency” with his post-election behavior. In the weeks since the November election, Trump has just about endlessly publicly insisted that the process was rigged against him, despite the total lack of meaningful supporting evidence. Predictably, Trump has also already raised imaginary fraud claims regarding the Georgia Senate elections.
Meanwhile, Romney commented as follows:
‘it turns out telling voters the election is rigged is not a good way to turn out your voters… President Trump has disrespected the American voters, has dishonored the election system and has disgraced the office of the presidency… I’m confident we’ll proceed as the Constitution demands and tell our supporters the truth whether or not they want to hear it.’
“I’m confident we’ll proceed as the Constituion demands and tell our supporters the truth whether or not they want to hear it,” he adds of today’s GOP election challenge
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) January 6, 2021
On Wednesday, Congress was scheduled to meet to confirm the electoral college outcome, and an array of Republican members of both the House and Senate announced prior plans to challenge the certification of those numbers. Separately, Trump himself claimed — falsely — that Vice President Mike Pence, who was set to preside over the Congressional proceedings handling the electoral college numbers, could throw out certain electoral votes of his own accord. In fact, under federal law, majorities in both houses of Congress must agree in order to set aside any electoral vote. Considering some Republican opposition to the objection plan and Democratic control of the House, the challenge won’t come anywhere near majorities in either chamber.
Romney has previously spoken out against the Republican plan to object to certain electoral votes, which featured the support of Kelly Loeffler, one of the two Georgia Republican Senators who apparently lost on Tuesday (although her time in the Senate was not immediately over). He commented, in part, as follows:
‘The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice… Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has kept his distance from the objection plan, as have other Republican Senators like John Thune (S.D.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Pat Toomey (Pa.). Notably, Republican members of Congress have not objected to their own seating, despite the fact that many were elected and re-elected on the same ballots that they falsely claim were fraudulently adjusted for Biden.
Featured Image (edited): via Gage Skidmore on Wikimedia Commons, Available Under a Creative Commons License
