On accepting election results, RNC chair pushes problematic line - MSNBC

It was conscionable past week erstwhile Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin hedged erstwhile asked whether he’d judge the results of his ain re-election bid. It’s portion of the caller normal successful his party: Too galore Republicans headed into Election Day by suggesting the lone elections they spot arsenic morganatic are the ones successful which they win.

CNN’s Dana Bash asked Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel whether she agrees with Johnson’s approach. The enactment person made it dependable arsenic if questioning the integrity of ballot counts is simply a mean portion of the process. From the web transcript:

“Listen, you should person a recount. You should person a canvass. And it’ll spell to the courts, and past everybody should judge the results. That’s what it should be.”

Soon after, successful the aforesaid interview, McDaniel went connected to accidental that Republicans “will judge the results” aft the entirety of the process plays out.

Part of the occupation with the RNC chair’s enactment is practical. The mode the process has traditionally worked, astatine slightest successful the United States, is that there’s an election, votes are tallied, results are announced, and winners are fixed the accidental to govern. McDaniel seemingly envisions a revised exemplary successful which there’s an election, votes are tallies, results are announced, recounts are held, canvasses are besides held, lawsuits are filed, tribunal hearings are held, judicial rulings are issued, and eventually, if we’re each precise lucky, the applicable parties “should” grant the eventual outcome.

There are 535 U.S. House seats connected the enactment today, arsenic good arsenic 34 U.S. Senate seats, 36 gubernatorial offices, and thousands of down-ballot contests crossed the country. As acold arsenic the Republican National Committee is concerned, however galore of these contests should instrumentality to her needlessly lengthy, multi-step, multi-branch process?

The different portion of the problem, however, is the concluding presumption of McDaniel’s pitch: Everybody “should” judge the results, the RNC seat argued, aft the counts, recounts, canvasses, lawsuits, and tribunal rulings. But what if they don’t? A Washington Post analysis explained yesterday:

One crushed for normalizing this arsenic portion of the process is that McDaniel’s 2nd measurement — everybody accepts the results — simply doesn’t happen. Trump challenged his 2020 nonaccomplishment six ways from Sunday and the effect was that helium built up uncertainty and skepticism among his supporters alternatively of resolving it. Part of this is simply however Trump approached it (with unrelenting dishonesty) but portion of it is the quality of the challenges. If you importune that you’re going to tribunal to support ideology against a strategy of biased elites, your astir die-hard allies are not apt to spot an adverse tribunal ruling arsenic proving you wrong. They’re going to deliberation the biased elites won yet again.

Quite right. It mightiness beryllium tempting for reality-based observers to simply relent and springiness Republicans the counts, recounts, canvasses, lawsuits, and tribunal rulings they’re seeking. “At that point,” immoderate mightiness beryllium tempted to say, “even Republican conspiracy theorists could determination guardant with afloat assurance successful the integrity of the outcome.”

And if the counts, recounts, canvasses, lawsuits, and tribunal rulings produced specified an outcome, the surrender mightiness beryllium worthy it — but nary specified result would ever arise. Trump’s conspiracy theories person been thoroughly and repeatedly discredited, but (a) helium continues to propulsion them arsenic if they were real; (b) astir GOP voters proceed to judge them; and (c) the erstwhile president occasionally comes up with caller conspiracy theories to supplement the aged ones.

No magnitude of impervious is ever enough. No modular tin ever beryllium met. No conspiracy mentation tin ever beryllium debunked to the restitution of those who privation to judge the lies that marque them consciousness better.

Even if McDaniel’s dragged retired process weren’t logistically impossible, it wouldn’t enactment — due to the fact that her partisan allies inactive wouldn’t judge it.