‘Political disaster.’ Some in GOP blame Trump as Democrats projected to win in Georgia
After the Rev. Raphael Warnock won his runoff against Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Tuesday, bringing Democrats closer to gaining control of the Senate, some GOP leaders have put the blame on President Donald Trump.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash are among the Republicans criticizing Trump for the party’s loss in Georgia.
Democrat Jon Ossoff won Georgia’s other runoff election against Republican Sen. David Perdue on Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press. Democrats will control the Senate, meaning they now have majority representation in both chambers of the 117th Congress.
Trump has made baseless allegations that Georgia’s electoral system is rigged in his attempt to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, which has divided the Republican party and put GOP lawmakers in the position of supporting him or accepting the results of the race.
Romney said, per a Politico reporter: “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.”
Romney has disagreed with Trump in the past and reaffirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory ahead of Congress convening Wednesday to certify the Electoral College vote.
After Trump accused Georgia on Tuesday of rigging a “voter dump” against the Republican candidates, Kinzinger responded on Twitter: “Stop this.”
“The emperor has no clothes everyone,” Kinzinger wrote. “These are the cries of a man desperate to blame anyone but himself for losing a winnable election. The ultimate self-victim ‘snowflake.’”
Amash tweeted Wednesday: “What have Republicans gained from Trump and Trumpism? We’re witnessing the collapse of a political party.”
Brendan Buck, who served in the offices of former House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner, tweeted on Wednesday:
“We don’t learn lessons very well, but what a political disaster Donald Trump is. Cost us the House, loses the White House by a big margin, and now cost Republicans the Senate. Maybe not the kind of guy to keep building the party around.”
Josh Holmes, who served as Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, blamed the QAnon conspiracy theory and its supporters for the GOP loss in Georgia.
“Suburbs, my friends, the suburbs,” Holmes wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “I feel like a one trick pony but here we are again. We went from talking about jobs and the economy to QAnon election conspiracies in 4 short years and — as it turns out— they were listening!”
The QAnon conspiracy theory originated in 2017 and its supporters believe Trump and his administration are battling “deep state saboteurs” engaged in child sex trafficking and worshiping Satan, The Washington Post reported.
Gabriel Sterling, a top Georgia election official, told CNN on Tuesday that if Republicans lose the runoffs, the blame “will fall squarely on the shoulders of President Trump.”
“When you tell people, your vote doesn’t count and has been stolen, and people start to believe that, then you go to the two senators and ask the secretary of state to resign and trigger a civil war in the Republican Party when we need to unite, all of that stems with his decision-making since the Nov. 3 election,” Sterling said.
In a phone call released Sunday by The Washington Post, Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” needed for him to win the state and overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 8:49 AM with the headline "‘Political disaster.’ Some in GOP blame Trump as Democrats projected to win in Georgia."