Trump's effort to overturn election results 'would go down like a shot dog', says GOP Senate Whip John Thune
President Donald Trump has less than a month remaining in office but he is in no mood to concede defeat against President-elect Joe Biden. His legal efforts to overturn the results of the November 3 election have failed to meet success but that hasn’t stopped the incumbent president’s tirade on Twitter. On Monday, the 74-year-old maverick leader tweeted a letter from the conservatives seeking to reverse the election outcome to show that he has not given up hope yet.
“Conservatives Call on State Legislators to Appoint New Electors, in Accordance with the Constitution”https://t.co/V2akcgvlHD
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2020
However, his party is increasingly getting away from him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already accepted Biden as the president-elect and Trump slammed him for the act. And now, the GOP’s No 2 leader in the chamber has also chosen to go McConnell’s way.
On Monday, December 21, Senate Majority Whip John Thune told CNN that Trump's efforts to overturn the outcome of the November 3 election will achieve little. Manu Raju, the network's senior Congressional reporter asked Thune about the challenges thrown at the election results, and to that, the South Dakota senator said: “I think the thing they got to remember is, it's not going anywhere. I mean in the Senate, it would go down like a shot dog.”
Thune to me: “I think the thing they got to remember is, it’s not going anywhere. I mean in the Senate, it would go down like a shot dog. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 22, 2020
“I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be,” the 59-year-old Thune said.
A number of Trump loyalists in the House of Representatives are still planning to disrupt the Electoral College (EC) results that backed Biden as the president-elect. The Congress is scheduled to count the EC votes on January 6 and those still backing Trump are plotting to change the outcome in favor of the outgoing president. Alabama GOP Representative Mo Brooks and other House conservatives met Trump privately on Monday, December 21, over their plan to challenge the EC results that confirmed Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
“The discussion focused on Trump's baseless claims and conspiracies that the election was stolen from him, participants said, and lawmakers emerged confident that there were would be a contingent of House and Senate Republicans who would join the effort and prompt a marathon debate on the floor on January 6 that would spill into January 7,” the report said.
Thune objected to Trump acceptance speech from White House
Thune’s latest objection to Trump’s efforts doesn’t make the first instance of his disagreement with the top leader. In August, the senator found himself at odds with Trump on whether the latter’s acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention should have been delivered from the White House. He eventually did it despite critics accusing him of violating the Hatch Act.
Thune said on the occasion that although Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are barred from the act which restricts partisan activity vy federal employees, those employees must stop short of participating in such political activity. The Republican said anything done “on federal property would seem to be problematic.”
The Republican Party is under immense pressure ahead of the crucial Senate runoff elections in Georgia to be held on January 5. While on one hand, it is being forced by Trump to not concede the result of the 2020 elections, it also has a massive challenge to meet the Democratic challenge in the twin elections in the Peach State.