Republicans Deny Election Results And Whitewash January 6

Plus: A preview of Liz Cheney's sit-down interview with The Dispatch.

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Good afternoon and happy Friday.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik won a secret-ballot election this morning to replace Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney as House GOP conference chair. While it’s not a hugely important role in practice, and much of the drama won’t have any real impact for the vast majority of Americans, we may look back on this week as a decisive moment for the trajectory of the Republican Party ahead of the 2024 presidential election. By ousting Cheney and installing Stefanik, members chose once again to embrace Donald Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories for the sake of political convenience. 

Election Denialism Rampant Among Hill GOP

As House Republicans continue to prop up former President Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 election, they’re increasingly adopting another revisionist view—that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was no attack at all. 

Just hours after the insurrection at the Capitol, 147 Republicans voted to reject Electoral College results from either Arizona, Pennsylvania, or both. More than half of the conference had already signed onto an amicus brief for the state of Texas’s attempt to overturn the election by throwing out millions of ballots in states Trump lost, so voting to throw out the electoral votes of a couple key states was a natural progression.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    This was a great installment of Uphill. I’m unsurprised by the tenor of the comments section. Apparently some people don’t want to hear facts if those facts either remind them of something they don’t want to think about or if those facts don’t conform to their pet narrative. People get offended by the mere mention of facts they don’t like.

    Perhaps some of the most foolish complaints are the ones that say you should “move on” and not cover this stuff, when the removal of Liz Cheney from leadership is the most newsworthy event in Congress this week and any newsletter focused on Congress is only doing due diligence to cover it.

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    Linda Rodante

    Your title is misleading, and you should know better. If you wanted to say, Many Republicans or Congressional Republicans then fine, but do not lump me with that title or many other Republicans. I think when the 2022 elections come, many on the far right (and those on the left) might be surprised by how a large number of Republicans vote. Hopefully, and prayerfully, we'll have some good Republican candidates up there! Right now, Republicans in Congress don't know what to say or who to follow and so they're letting the piper lead. I think things will change.

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  3. Allen Brooks

    It is unfortunate to see the GOP use the CNN tactic regarding the BLM/Antifa riots this summer where over 30 people lost their lives, thousands were injured and hundreds of million in property damage occurred as "mostly peaceful" for the capitol riot. The GOP like CNN is correct in that most of the people on any given day last summer or Jan 6th did protest and not riot, but violence and trouble requires more attention. I also must say, I am disappointed the Dispatch does not call for the same reckoning for the left regarding the BLM/Antifa riots last summer, especially given the fact the current VP set up a bail fund that supported people committing violent crimes (a quick web search returns disturbing articles on the people helped by VP Harris https://dailycaller.com/2020/09/22/minnesota-freedom-fund-bail-charity-kamala-harris-domestic-abusers/ ). The pandemic and a country coming together should have been the story of 2020; instead the story is of critical race theory and political tribalism where the golden calves of wokeism and trumpism have filled the gap once filled by religion. It is a story that is just getting started and we must now find a way to work through whether we are being subjected to racism under the guise of "anti-racism" or are being called unpatriotic for not supporting a man incapable of putting anyone else first. Economic insecurity and general uncertainty due to the high food and energy inflation has led to increased political tribalism and violence as many American's look for an answer and security in a country where God is largely absent from daily life. It is too bad that The Dispatch is not looking at the bigger issues and finding policy and means of communicating that will improve, it is all currently too much about trump here at The Dispatch. I am hopeful the situation will improve, you are a bright group and I have enjoined the writing and updates in general until around last September when the tone changed to a bitterness, but you need to refocus on those lasting things that will matter and endure versus the petty matters. Hold Trump and Harris accountable, but those are the small stories right now that will age about as well as a Gore Vidal novel.

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  4. Allen Brooks

    "By ousting Cheney and installing Stefanik, members chose once again to embrace Donald Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories for the sake of political convenience." The Dispatch seems to only see this as a binary issue. There are people in general who do not like Liz or Dick Cheney as they do not think they are really conservatives. Liz and her Father Dick are big government types who have undermined the conservative movement long before Trump exposed the party as being nothing more than a vehicle to gain elective office while stringing together platitudes.

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      cheerio

      Really? Who believes they "undermined the Conservative movement"? Buchanan types? Paleocons?

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  5. Anthony Pasquini

    With all due respect, Rep Cheney, the GOP is morally and intellectually bankrupt. Sine the moment Trump got the nomination the GOP went from a conservative party to a populist, ignorant, Dem-lite party not worthy of you and others (Romney, Sasse, etc). LEAVE the GOP. Start a viable and national Conservative party.

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    Jason Gibson

    Idea:

    Maybe you can add a bullet point summary at the end of the article that just kind of briefly in one sentence describes current status of bills

    I’m being selfish as I’m wanting this to be my one stop shopping for legislative news (it already is this would just make it even more awesome)

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  7. Avatar photo
    Jerry Masters

    Legislating to ensure election integrity is political: fair game for constitutional combatants. Voters will sort out.

    Violent interference in certifying election results is criminal: fair game for law enforcement. Perpetrators must be held responsible, if only to honor peaceful protesting.

    Elected officials who deny election results, which have been challenged, unsuccessfully, in court are traitors: fair game for both voters and law enforcement. Dishonorable Republicans, afraid to face voters without Trump, should be retired or impeached.

    And all of us can be justifiably ashamed of the whole mess.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Jen

    So Liz Cheney admits she voted for Trump in 2020 yet Ben Sasse - who didn’t (in ‘16 or ‘20) - still gets grief from some in the NeverTrump crowd. Just last week Matt Lewis labeled Sasse as one who wanted to have it both ways re:Trump. So unfair.

    In this interview Cheney refuses to say if she’ll remain a Republican if Trump is the nominee in ‘24. Sorry Liz if you’re putting yourself out there like this you need to go all the way. No being wishy washy.

    https://twitter.com/thisweekabc/status/1393294075877527555?s=21

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  9. Kenneth Feneley


    "House GOP leaders. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.)" Those are what are cryptically called "empty suits" in common parlance.

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    Dennis Lundy

    Heck, Haley, I could have watched CNN and gotten your take rather than subscribing to the Dispatch. DT disgusts me also and I have never voted for him. The Dem Leadership disgusts me too. In my opinion, Mitch McConnell models the right behaviors in regard to this situation. Republicans really need to focus on winning 2022 by looking forward. Let the idiot in Mar-a-logo rant and but ignore him. Winning back the House in 2020 and especially those seats of the Reps that voted to impeach will start getting us past this embarrassment and maybe stop the current disaster of the Biden administration.

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    1. Richard Fulmer

      This is little more than an attempt to gaslight TD readers. Trump supporters run the RNCC. Trump has positioned himself as the GOP gatekeeper; Republicans who want to run for office must get his blessing. Trump is actively trying to unseat GOP leaders at both the national and state levels whom he believes were disloyal - not to the nation, to the Constitution, or to the GOP - but to him, personally. The claim that we can just ignore his rants and start "looking forward" is ludicrous. Trump is the party's past, present, and future. Cheney's ouster has cemented that in place. Moreover, we've made Trump's big lie that the election was stolen part of the party's permanent platform.

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    2. Tim Johnson

      One way for the GOP to get past Trumpism is getting passed the Trumpist rhetoric - I have problems with the Biden administration but really, a disaster?

      That's akin to the 'disaster' rhetoric around the 8 years of Obama: most Americans did quite well, thank you.

      A little less hyperbole will go a long way toward righting the GOP's perception as a bunch of Chicken-Little hyperventilators.

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    3. Avatar photo
      Aylene Wright

      As I have mentioned before I do hope she gets back to more coverage of actual legislative issues. But I think the CNN comparison is a tad off (though to be as fair as possible, I will note Haley used to work there).

      However, I noticed that Rep. Massie wasn't listed as a 1/6 Truther here and a certain interview that he's now alleging he was misquoted wasn't mentioned. That's where he's quoted by some media outlets as saying "I didn't see any violence" (as in, he didn't see any violence on 1/6), and he's claiming he actually said "I don't see any violence" (as in, he doesn't think there's any political violence going on *now*).

      Now, "I didn't see any violence" certainly WOULD be a lie as Massie actually reported such violence on 1/6 to TD itself, & I assume other outlets. But there's enough wiggle room with "I don't see any violence" that I do commend Haley for not including it (assuming she knew of it).

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      1. Avatar photo
        Devin H

        As I recall, Massie had a gun out prepared to defend his colleagues during the riot. Or am I misremembering?

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        Dennis Lundy

        Aylene, you are right. The CNN reference was a bit of hyperbole. The WP is probably a more apt comparison. I think Jonah Goldberg's take is pretty much on target.

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        Haley Byrd Wilt vertical-nib Author

        Yeah, that Massie quote very much sounded like “don’t” and not “didn’t” to me. Also given his record in being one of the few House Republicans who publicly pushed back on the Electoral College objections before January 6 (and of course the content of his interview with me the day after) I don’t think the CNN characterization of what he said was fair. I saw they updated the description of the video on their website to make it more accurate, which was good. And as for covering more policy instead of the House GOP chaos — Tuesday’s Uphill was pretty focused on various bills being considered. I’d love to not have to pay any attention to election conspiracy theories! House Republicans would have to stop brazenly embracing them for that to happen though :)

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        1. Avatar photo
          Aylene Wright

          Thanks for the feedback. I find Massie to be rather, um, eccentric but he has been pretty consistent. And I can understand why he might think from a libertarian(ish) perspective that *current* perceptions of the risk of recurrent political violence are overblown and could be used as an excuse to crackdown on liberty.

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    4. koira

      I get how you have that opinion, but I disagree with it so strongly, and I think it just doesn't account for all the evidence demonstrating how the R's themselves (ESPECIALLY the base) are doing their best to keep Trump front and center.

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      1. Richard Fulmer

        Disagree with what? That Trump's people run the RNC? That Trump is the GOP's gatekeeper? That Trump is trying to unseat GOP leaders who were disloyal to him? That Trump controls the Republican Party? That Trump's claim that the election was stolen from him is a lie?

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        1. koira

          I disagreed with Dennis, I agree that Trump is deeply entrenched in the GOP and won’t just fade away.

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        Dennis Lundy

        I make no excuse for the cultist general population base Trump'ers or the similar minded GOP representatives. But I think Trump's days are numbered and I prefer a1000 times more the GOP sans Trump than Biden's band of miscreants. We will just have to disagree.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Rochejaquelein

          I will take Biden and Klobuchar over Hawley and Johnson and Cruz, to say nothing of the majority of the GOP house delegation that voted to strip my parents of their votes in a valid and fair Pennsylvania election based on what almost all of the cowards knew was a lie.

          There is nothing conservative about lying to the American people and undermining the core of our democracy. Nor is there is anything conservative in the mindless populism and demagoguery that Trump's party (and make no mistake, it IS Trump's party) has sunk to. What is the threat that the left poses? Spending? Were you paying attention in the Trump years? Attacking the free market? Have you heard Rubio mau mau American companies recently? The rule of law? TrumpGOP thinks Jenna Ellis, Lin Wood and Rudi after his morning flask are lawyers.

          You think Trump's days are numbered like I think I'll fit into my pre-pandemic suits by July. Its at best wishful thinking, at worst willful denial of reality.

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            Dennis Lundy

            Andy, maybe just take a deep breath and relax a little. I understand but don't agree with your position which seems similar to the CNN/WP/MSNBC crowd. I choose not to listen to CNN/WP/MSNBC crowd or the FOX/FOX wannabes crowd but typically read/listen to The Dispatch daily not only because of my respect for Jonah, Steve and Sarah but for their thought provoking challenge to my belief system.

            I have no desire to convince you to change your opinion. As noted in my prior posts, I too think the Trump gang is disgusting and a stain on our history as a nation. We just have a different opinion on how to move forward and the degree of acceptance or lack of acceptance of the current out-of-control Dem regime. My thoughts are that the only near term hope to remove this band of incompetent Dems currently in the Presidency, House and Senate is to build a fragile coalition of the remnants of the GOP. And, yes, as you passionately state above, there are incompetent GOP Senators and Representatives who will, I optimistically hope, be weeded out over time by their state voters. That's how our system of government is intended to work.

            Let's just agree to disagree.

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    5. Curtis C

      Just curious. If DT disgusts you and you never voted him, why are you so mad at those 10 representatives who voted to impeach Donald Trump? Other than Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, I haven’t heard a single one of them say another word about Trump since Biden took office.

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        Dennis Lundy

        Curtis : My sentence must be confusing. I sincerely hope each one of the Reps voting to impeach are reelected. I respect their vote. We need them all to retake the House and stop the ongoing nonsense.

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          Wes

          The ongoing nonsense from which side? Even if the Republicans retake the house, it will be a continuation of the nonsense from Trump.

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        2. Curtis C

          Thanks for the clarification. That makes way more sense! Sorry I read it wrong the first time.

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