Raffensperger said that, as a conservative Republican, he was disappointed in the results in his state, and that if there was a special session of the general assembly to change the outcome, it would be the wrong thing to do.
But at the end of the day, what they're really trying to say is if they did, they would be then nullifying the will of the people... really, at the end of the day, the voice of the people were spoken.
We’ve had death threats. My wife has had sexualized texts and things like that, and now they've actually gone after people, been following, you know, some of -- you know, young poll workers and election workers in Gwinnett County and also our folks at one of our offices. And so, you're seeing just irrational, angry behavior. It's unpatriotic. People shouldn't be doing that.
And for the Republicans who refuse to accept the results?
... at the end of the day we, as Republicans, didn't turn out enough voters. Our office, as secretary of state, is really just to look at what those vote totals were, and we report the results. And that's why it gets back to the state party didn't do their job, didn't raise enough money and didn't turn out enough people.
Sen. Braun was asked if he accepts that Joe Biden is the President-elect. Here's his 204-word answer.
Well, we've got a process that I think we've been going through since the election, and it's going to play itself out. I think that we've got a threshold coming on December 14th that -- when the electoral college meets. I think, George, what is at play is, when you look at what was talked about earlier with the secretary of state in Georgia, I think when you talk -- reflexively dismiss that maybe nothing has happened at all, versus the other side of the spectrum, systemic fraud, widespread, it's a wide gulf. And I think that, for places like Indiana, where I built my business, here in my hometown here today, when I was trying to help weigh in on these Georgia races from right after the election, nobody wanted to talk about even the Georgia races that are still pivotal. They wanted to come back, were uncertain about what happened in the election.
So whether we dismiss it reflexively, whether we would find widespread fraud, there's a wide gulf in between. And I think that, when you just say that there's nothing there, you're going to have half of the country uncertain about what just happened and disgruntled going into the future.
George pointed out that the certification process has played out, with audits and recounts in some states, numerous lawsuits filed and dismissed, and even the AG announced there's no evidence of widespread fraud. And when he asked Braun "why can't you accept the results," Braun didn't answer that question either.
All I can tell you is, if you don't at least give a perfunctory kind of investigation into it, whether it's December 14th and what happens beyond, you're going to have a good part of the country -- it's over 50% -- that view that something is amiss. And that's going to carry forward in terms of undermining a democracy. I just don't think that if you say -- if you don't pursue it, overturn every stone, this is going to linger into the future. And it's going to be to the disadvantage of whoever is there trying to run the country.
There was some additional back and forth between the two, which ended in the same place as the first two questions: without coming right out and saying it in so many words, Braun does not accept that Biden won.
Georgia's top election official, Gabriel Sterling (he's the man in that scathing video) talked with Chuck on Meet the Press. Todd played a tape of Trump carrying on about the "lying, cheating, stealing that's gone on," and more - his usual ran. Sterling debunked that.
At this point, it’s a game of whack-a-mole, as we’ve been saying. The president's statements are false. They're disinformation. They are stoking anger and fear among his supporters. And hell, I voted for him. The situation’s getting much worse and it’s an environment that’s been built out over years, and it's not just -- you know, Republicans and this side this time. But even in polling up to 2019, up to 50% of Democrats think Russians flipped votes on machines. So this is going both ways. It undermines democracy. We've got to get to a point where responsible people act responsibly.
And, when asked, he said he stands by his comment that the two Republicans in next month's runoff - Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue - were forced by Trump to call for Raffensperger's resignation in order to prevent Trump from killing their campaigns by tweet.
There's nothing else that makes sense. Because even their staff were surprised when they put that out. You know, it had been about a week and a half, I guess, since the election had been over. And it's safe to say, it's one of the things they said is that we were not transparent, we were literally doing two press conferences a day and sending out hourly press releases on the count. Nobody has any specific allegation. They just want to keep the Trump supporters whipped up because they think that's the best path to win the Senate races. I personally think by doing what I had asked and stepping up and saying, "This disinformation has to stop. These potential intimidations and violence has to stop," they would get more votes rather than less. And I'm still supporting it. I'm a Republican. We need to hold on to the Senate. So I'm still going to vote for them. But I'm not happy with how they conducted themselves in this particular situation.
And, he thinks that Trump is doing damage to the Rs in Georgia "by continuing to stir this pot" and that it could cost Loeffler and Perdue their seats.
When he and his lawyers and even his former lawyers -- some of his former lawyers are literally saying, "Don't vote." It's mixed messaging, it's confusing and if you're telling people don't trust the election system, why would they bother to show up? I mean, the best argument for some people is if you think they're stealing it, show up and vote to make it at least a little bit harder for them to steal.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has said publicly that Biden won, talked with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. On that, Wallace asked if Trump's refusal to accept the results damages our democracy. Cassidy said that by ordering the GSA to get the transition going, he basically conceded.
Now, if you want to speak about how things are undermined, I think the president -- by the way, if there's fraud, it should be uncovered. But it should be uncovered in a way which a judge agrees. If the president is able to show that, then that's important. If they can't show, that's also important. I'm hoping the American people would look and say, proven in a court of law, no, the court of law threw it out, and use that to base their faith in how the elections go. And so that's -- it's incumbent upon the president and his legal team to establish that.
All I can say is that we are one nation. And many we become one. And so at the end of this, if the legal challenges are exhausted, ideal -- and by the way, if it goes as it's currently going, which appears likely -- then, ideally, the American people say, hey, we're first Americans, let's work together for the future of our country as opposed to continue to harbor grievances. We don't want to be a nation which fights another nation for a thousand years. We want to recognize that we are the American people. And we are going to work for each other. And yes, have your day in court, and if it's fraud, uncover that fraud, and if not, we move on. That's where we are. I'm hopeful that we would move on whichever direction that falls out.
Last but not least, Georgia's Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan talked with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. Tapper asked about the call from Trump to Gov. Brian Kemp, which was reported to be Trump looking for help in overturning the election, and whether Trump crossed a line.
Duncan said he wasn't on the call, suggested it would be a bad idea to have a special session, and doesn't believe there'll be one. Not only that, but.
...calling the General Assembly back in at this point would almost be along the lines of a solution trying to find a problem. And we're certainly not going to move the goalposts at this point in the election. We are going to continue to follow the letter of the law, which gives us a very clear- cut direction as to how to execute an election. And we're going to continue to take that on.
The second message was concerning to me. I worry that this continuous fanning of the flames around misinformation puts us in a negative position with regards to the January 5 run-off. The mountains of misinformation are not helping the process. They're only hurting it. And, Jake, I worry that it's -- we're handing off a playbook to the Democrats for January 5. And, certainly, I can't think of a worse playbook to hand off over the last four or five weeks to the Democrats.
Like the other Georgians in the classrooms, he voted for Trump, and wishes that the outcome was different, but he said Biden is the President-elect and that it was a clean election.
If I had a chance to spend five minutes with every single person in Georgia that doubted the election results, I think I'd be able to win their hearts over, show them the facts and figures, separate fact from fiction. But, certainly, I don't have that opportunity. And so, yes, on January 20, Joe Biden's going to be sworn in as the 46th president. And the Constitution is still in place. This is still America. I can disagree vehemently with what I think are bad ideas... I still have that opportunity. All Republicans still have that opportunity. But, as the lieutenant governor, and as a Georgian, I'm proud that we're able to look up after three recounts and watch and be able to see that this election was fair. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. I don't know if any election was perfect in the history of this country. But, certainly, it's only been nominal changes since we have had three recounts.
So, based on today's unscientific sampling, four out of five Republicans know the answer to the question, "who won the 2020 Presidential Election?" That's a good thing, I guess.
See you around the virtual campus. Wear your mask. You know the drill.
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