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Tuesday saw perhaps the biggest criticism of Donald Trump’s crusade to deny the election, with Republican Georgian voters renaming Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger over Trump’s election and rejecting the overwhelming challenge. Camp
A reality check came on Wednesday: another reminder that Trump’s efforts to define his party by electoral refusal and purge those who were not loyal enough after the 2020 election are moving forward in many other ways.
According to Rosalind S. Helderman of The Post, a member of the party’s Wisconsin Electoral Commission who denounced Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud has come as a surprise resignation. And so he practically said that the false story of “stolen elections” had engulfed his party so much that he could no longer represent it in committee:
As a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Dean Knudson led the legislative drive to establish a six-member commission that issued guidelines to local county officials and helped administer local and federal elections in the state. But he told his colleagues in a public meeting Wednesday that his refusal to spread election lies had prompted him to be called RINO – a “Republican by name” – after a lifetime of conservative activism.
“Two of my core values are to practice service to myself and to show personal integrity,” he said. “For me, this integrity requires acknowledging the truth, even when the truth is painful. In this case, the painful truth is that President Trump lost the 2020 election. He lost the Wisconsin election in 2020. And the loss is not due to electoral fraud. “
Knudson said he was concerned that elected officials and candidates at the highest levels of the Republican Party “sold disinformation and perpetuated lies about the 2020 election.”
“It has now become clear to me that I cannot be effective in my role in representing Republicans in committee,” he said.
Knudson’s resignation came amid pressure from Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). The practical consequences of this will take some time to shake off completely.
As many have noted, his departure leaves fellow Republican Commissioner Robert F. Spindle Jr. as the only eligible chairman for an upcoming term that will include much of the 2024 election (Republicans and Democrats of the Republicans.) Spindel not only backed Trump’s line on allegations of widespread fraud in 2020, but he toured the state, imagining how the election was allegedly “rigged,” and he even served as a fake voter for Trump.
Given that the chairman of the commission is authorized to approve the state election and certify the results, the loyalist of the election in this role may have considerable power. (Wisconsin Republicans are currently trying to abolish the commission and pass such decisions on to elected officials.)
At the same time, it is not clear Spindel will ever get the job. Although the committee was due to elect its next chairman on Wednesday, it delayed the vote, with Spindel being the only “no” vote among six members. State Speaker Robin Voss (R) will elect Knudson’s deputy, who can run with Spindel for president. But Voss has also come under considerable pressure to follow Trump’s line, and he will certainly do so again.
There is also the issue of electing a president, which requires a majority of votes – that is, a vote of at least one Democrat. What happens if neither Spindell nor the GOP alternative is considered acceptable? We still don’t know.
All this aside, however, the circumstances surrounding Knudson’s departure reflect many other cases in which those who opposed Trump’s claims or attested Trump’s loss have been marginalized and pushed out of power. Not only did those loyal to the election win Republican support in key contests, such as the two candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State of Michigan and Pennsylvania Gov. Doug Magriano; there are also finer and lower profile specimens.
In Michigan, the state party refused to nominate again a US agitator, who confirmed the loss of Trump with three points in the state, Aaron Van Langevelde. His party deputy, who was to be approved by Democratic Gov. Gothen Whitmer, was Tony Downt.
Downt also turned out to be marginalized. He resigned from the Republican State Committee last month in a manner similar to Knudson’s. He condemned that “reckless, cowardly party” leaders “have conducted the election here in Michigan, a test of who is most obsessively loyal to Donald Trump and re-challenge the results of the 2020 cycle.”
Van Langevelde is not the only agitator to move forward under pressure or to be replaced. A review of Detroit News found that the party had nominated new campaigners in eight of Michigan’s 11 largest counties – with deputies in many cases loyal to the election. One of the replaced agitators, Michelle Wurheis, told NPR that any candidate nominated to replace her speaks out against voter fraud, although agitators do not have the power to resolve such issues.
In case the significance of this does not deepen, consider the time when two GOP agitators in the Detroit-based Wayne County for a moment refused to certify the results in November 2020. Eventually they did, but one of their new deputies , Robert Boyd did it, he said he wouldn’t.
- In Hood, Republican County, Texas, an election administrator was pushed out after a lengthy campaign against her. Officer Michel Carew was technically non-partisan, but says she has voted for a Republican for more than a decade.
- In Scott County, Iowa, a senior Democratic Democrat resigned amid another campaign of pressure, and the Republican-controlled supervisory board appointed a Republican deputy instead of holding special elections. Earlier, the chairman of the Republican Party in the same district resigned after criticizing Trump after January. 6.
- Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmid, the only Republican on the Philadelphia Electoral Board, drew Trump’s anger at debunking his allegations. He resigned early to join a monitoring group in late 2021, although he insisted that Trump did not play a role.
- A review of the AP in the summer of 2021 revealed a series of election officials leaving their jobs in key states in 2020.
Whether any of this will ultimately matter in future elections, including in 2024, is unclear. But it has become clear what the message is about who is welcome in the GOP to observe the election. For now, Raffensperger is largely an exception.
And when it is said that the elections in 2020 were validly decided, it is too inconsistent with the conservative movement for officials to continue to serve, that is quite the situation.
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