Monday’s Electoral College vote for Joe Biden has not ended the Republican Party’s dilemma over how to deal with President Trump’s election challenges, as he continues to assert an honest vote tally would show he won a second term.
Even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led congressional Republicans toward an acceptance of Biden as the next president following the constitutionally decisive electoral vote, the White House and a large number of rank-and-file GOP voters are continuing to dispute the outcome.
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"The president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election," press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Tuesday. Trump, as usual, was more direct. “Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud,” he tweeted. “There has never been anything like this in our Country!” He also retweeted attorney Lin Wood saying that the governor and secretary of state in Georgia, both Republicans, would soon be headed to jail for their complicity in the election theft.
Many Republicans publicly said the process should be allowed to play out, with some actively supporting the election challenges, while others waited patiently for Trump to exhaust his legal options, as Al Gore did during the 2000 Florida recount. But the Electoral College has now voted for Biden for president, and the Supreme Court has declined to hear any lawsuits that would overturn the results in the several states Trump is still contesting. Neither were sufficient to get Trump to back down.
“You will likely see a slow and steady move toward more members of Congress and other GOP leaders coming out and saying that Joe Biden won the election, that we have to follow the constitutional process for moving forward, and that we need to put all of this behind us,” said Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser. “At the same time, they will say that looking into voting irregularities was worth doing, but that without evidence of massive voter fraud, we cannot continue this fight."
“In November, you could stretch to say Trump’s candidacy was mostly dead, but now, it’s all dead,” said Rory Cooper, a political strategist who advised Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor when he was House majority leader. “Every remaining election hurdle is a fantasy or figment of the president’s imagination like GOP elector slates or Congress rejecting the will of the people."
“My guess is that most members will either puff their chests and beat the conspiracy drum because they only need to win a primary, or they will hide from the issue altogether because they clearly know this is wrong,” Cooper added.
McConnell will be under pressure to keep any Republican senators from joining House conservatives in an effort to block Congress from certifying Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. Vice President Mike Pence will preside. As vice president, Biden had to ward off such challenges from House liberals when Trump won in 2016 and Gore did the same after he lost to George W. Bush in 2000. McConnell warned fellow Republican senators in a Tuesday conference call to accept the results.
“The Electoral College has spoken,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
“I bet we’ll keep getting qualified quotes that include, ‘if Biden prevails,’ which are frankly embarrassing,” said Cooper. “Leader McConnell’s floor speech and phone call with the president-elect probably gave most senators an offramp from the circus, but a few will choose not to take it because the empty appearance of fighting is their entire personality.”
“Trump has to make a decision if he wants to run again or not,” said Republican strategist John Feehery. “If he decides to run again, he has to achieve a balance between grievance and responsibility. He needs the grievance for fundraising and base mobilization purposes. But if he acts irresponsibly, it all goes for naught. Lots of Republicans are ready to move on and won’t countenance a president who tries to burn the place down on the way out.”
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“If he chooses not to run, he probably should worry about his place in history,” Feehery continued. “He has plenty of great accomplishments to point to, but none of that matters if the country collapses in his wake.”
But segments of the base believe Trump has a big reveal up his sleeve that will prove the fraud before Inauguration Day. “I don't expect [GOP officials] to say anything negative about Trump, since the voters still love him and want to keep fighting, but they will take the wind out of his sails over the weeks to come,” Steinhauser said. "He will look more and more desperate until he accepts defeat. Most electeds in the party want to see him move on, but I doubt he will anytime soon.”
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