Is fighting for election integrity and holding the Senate for the GOP an either/or proposition? Apparently, Georgia attorney Lin Wood believes so, or at least that’s what he seems to want a percentage of Republican voters in Georgia to think.
Republican Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, in the fight of their lives against an entire Democratic Party establishment hellbent and laser-focused on taking those two seats and seizing control of the U.S. Senate, are apparently supposed to get “out of their basements to demand that action must be taken” on the November elections,” Wood says, or Republicans should “threaten to withhold your votes & money.”
“Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election?” asks this former Democrat turned MAGA-hat-wearing-Trump-
Wood’s Twitter account is a veritable dumpster fire. At one point, he says Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp should “confess & ask for forgiveness” for taking money from “people working for Communist China” because of financial troubles. In another, he said Kemp is “clearly afraid of going to jail or threats of harm by Communists.” Elsewhere, Wood writes that “only a moron would vote in a rigged election.” And while there are certainly plenty of critics on his Twitter feed, there seem to be many more who follow his every word.
Thankfully, plenty of conservatives have pushed back on the insanity.
“Con artists in Georgia are telling Republicans not to vote,” wrote Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. “When the Democrats win, the same con artists will say they stole it. Then they'll ask you to give them money so they can keep ‘fighting for our Republic.’ The scam is so obvious. How do people not see it?”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was also having none of it, writing: “Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are totally destructive. Every Georgia conservative who cares about America MUST vote in the runoff. Their don’t vote strategy will cripple America.”
Townhall’s own Kurt Schlichter posted this gem right above a gif of Kermit the Frog turning his head to the word “dumbass.”
“I want Trump to get a second term and my plan for doing that is to not vote for the GA GOP senators and to ensure Trump is paralyzed by a Democrat Senate during said second term because I am an idiot,” Schlichter wrote.
The Twitter account “Trump War Room” even tweeted out a Breitbart piece documenting Wood’s decades-long support of Democratic candidates, including former President Barack Obama.
Fox News personalities from Laura Ingraham to Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have also stressed the importance of the Georgia runoffs and condemned the ridiculous notion of handing the Senate gavel to Chuck Schumer to somehow teach the GOP Establishment a lesson. And President Trump himself, while still expressing plenty of frustration at how the election went, did campaign on Loeffler & Perdue’s behalf Saturday night urging voters to support them.
So you’d think that would be the end of that, right? Not so fast! Sure, some conservatives are speaking out, but far too many, particularly in Trump’s orbit, are not. And if you want to get the mood of many in the base, click on any of the tweets I linked to above and get a load of some of the responses. Granted, some are probably leftist trolls. Frankly, I’d prefer to think MOST of them are leftist trolls and that so-called conservatives and/or Trump-supporters aren’t this thick-headed. But sadly, not all appear to be.
There is still a sense among far too many who voted for Trump in November that the GOP leaders MUST, against all conceivable odds, somehow “stop the steal” and win this election for Trump, or ALL is lost. And Perdue and Loeffler, instead of trying to save their seats, are apparently supposed to spearhead the effort, or else these folks insist they’re going to stay home and hand the seats to Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. It’s a great plan, if you’re a Democrat, and the brilliance is it only takes fooling a small percentage of Trump supporters to pull it off.
Ironically, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have absolutely nothing to do with changing Georgia law. And those who do, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the GOP legislative leaders, have acknowledged the need for changes but also recognized that even if they were to pass something tomorrow, it wouldn’t take effect until the NEXT election AND STILL would be tied up in courts for years. Lin Wood, a lawyer, doubtless knows this, but yet has chosen to, for some explicable reason, attempt to sabotage the Senate for Republicans.
Yes, EVERYONE KNOWS that election shenanigans took place in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and plenty of other places. Yes, they should all be investigated and litigated from every possible angle. Even the losses in court - of which there have been many - are small steps toward achieving meaningful long-term change and at the very least possibly making would-be cheaters think about their actions the next time around.
There’s a way to push for election integrity and also to do our part to win elections going forward. But not voting ourselves as some sort of nonsensical protest is NOT the answer. Don’t get me wrong. There IS a time to teach the GOP establishment a lesson for a variety of longtime sins, but that comes in the primaries, not a general election, especially one with so much at stake.
People act like election fraud is something new, but the sad reality is it’s been going on for years. In fact, it’s common knowledge that in order for Republicans to win in ‘certain’ areas they have to win convincingly enough to make sure the inevitable cheating isn’t a factor. It’s sad, but it’s also a reality that will be with us until conservatives can complete the long, slow process of making things right using GOP-held legislatures and the courts. It took years to get in this mess, and it’ll take years to get out of it. Indeed, despite Lin Wood’s lofty expectations, it won’t happen overnight, and it certainly won’t happen before January 5. In the meantime, Republicans must win by a large enough margin to overcome the cheating, or America as we know it is lost. It can be done. Why else would the GOP have gained seats in the House and won the Senate seats it managed to win?
Will Democrats cheat in Georgia? Is grass green? Is Joe Biden old? Of course they will! The thing is, if Georgia Republicans decide to sit this one out, Democrats won’t even have to cheat to win. And if they win, they’ll take steps to ensure no Republican ever wins national office again. Good luck fixing our broken election system THEN. As Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy famously said last week while encouraging Georgia voters to show up, “If dead people can do it, so can you.”
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