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On Saturday, Axios reported that outgoing President Donald Trump's efforts to steal the election were "premeditated" before any of the ballots were reported — and that he planned ahead of time to declare premature victory if it looked like he was ahead in enough states.
"As Trump prepared for Election Day, he was focused on the so-called red mirage. This was the idea that early vote counts would look better for Republicans than the final tallies because Democrats feared COVID-19 more and would disproportionately cast absentee votes that would take longer to count," reported Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu. "Trump intended to exploit this — to weaponize it for his vast base of followers."
<p>Ultimately, his bizarre dead-morning speech <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmoH3C0Ruho" target="_blank">proclaiming himself the winner</a> was something rehearsed and practiced beforehand.</p><p>"His former chief of staff Reince Priebus told a friend he was stunned when Trump called him around that time and acted out his script, including walking up to a podium and prematurely declaring victory on election night if it looked like he was ahead," said the report. "White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller's speechwriting team had prepared three skeleton speeches for election night for all the possible scenarios: a clear victory, a clear loss, and an indeterminate result. But the speechwriters knew that if Trump was facing anything other than a resounding victory, the words would be his alone. This president would never admit defeat or urge patience."</p><p>"His preparations were deliberate, strategic and deeply cynical. Trump wanted Americans to believe a falsehood that there were two elections — a legitimate election composed of in-person voting, and a separate, fraudulent election involving bogus mail-in ballots for Democrats," said the report. "In the initial hours after returns closed, it looked like his plan could work. Trump was on track for easy wins in Florida and Ohio, and held huge — though deceptive — early leads in Pennsylvania and Michigan."</p><p>Ultimately, the big monkey wrench in this plan was Arizona, where Biden took an early lead and where Fox News projected him the winner. Previous reports <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/furious-trump-called-rupert-murdoch-and-screamed-about-fox-news-calling-arizona/" target="_blank">revealed</a> Trump called News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch and yelled at him to get his Fox anchors to reverse the call.</p><p><br/></p>
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The last four years under President Donald Trump's leadership have been tumultuous for politics but the end of Trump's reign has dealt a hefty blow to the Republican Party.
After months of Trump's post-election antics, falsehoods, and conspiracies being circulated with the help of Republican lawmakers, many Americans, and major corporations reached their breaking point after an angry mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
<p>With the loss of the White House, the Senate, and a major party split between real staunch Republicans and fierce Trump supporters, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/16/957281673/republicans-wonder-how-and-if-they-can-pull-the-party-back-together" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the ailing political party is left wondering how and if it can ever recover from Trumpism</a>, according to NPR. </p><p>Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz weighed in on the latest intraparty battle between Republicans. While he admitted that intraparty disagreements are relatively common, he noted the distinct difference the Republican Party is now facing. </p><p>"This one is so deep and so polarizing — and people are so passionate about it — I don't know how you heal it," Luntz admitted. "I don't know how you bring these people together."</p><p>According to Luntz, the latest divide is between those who supported Trump's impeachment as opposed to those who did not. Luntz's research also revealed a pattern that may be a foreshadow for the future of the Republican Party. On Jan. 12, Luntz took to Twitter with highlights from his research as he noted that approximately "<a href="https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/status/1349070337602854913/photo/1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">43% of Trump voters say they would definitely vote against </a>any lawmaker who supports impeachment."</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4ac0bba7a50485a2a88df62d4f61d4cb" id="7dc12"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1349059557515960320"><div style="margin:1em 0">𝟲𝟱% of Trump voters say they are angry with the U.S. political system.
𝟲𝟲% say they have little or no trust in the… https://t.co/NZZztdhCvf</div> — Frank Luntz (@Frank Luntz)<a href="https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/statuses/1349059557515960320">1610475837.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p><p>If this were to happen in the upcoming 2022 primary election, there is a strong possibility even more Republicans could lose Congressional seats, which would make the party's recovery even more difficult. <br/></p><p>"That makes it impossible for Republicans to put together a majority by 2022, and in fact, that's a direct threat to the existence of the Republican Party overall," Luntz said.</p><p>During Trump's "Save America" rally that subsequently led to the U.S. Capitol riots, his son, Donald Trump Jr. identified the greatest distinction the Republican Party is currently facing. "This isn't their Republican Party anymore," Trump Jr., said. "This is Donald Trump's Republican Party."</p><p>That distinction could impact the Republican Party for many years to come. From the looks of it, it may also lead to the party's demise. Stuart Stevens, a current adviser for the anti-Trump political action committee, The Lincoln Project, and a former Republican consultant, also broke down the true meaning of how Trump's Republican Party has distorted the rule of law. In a nutshell, democracy is only to be upheld if they win.</p><p>"I think it's just a straight-up red line," said Stevens. "This is so much greater than any differences over tax policy or trade policy. It's a fundamental belief in whether or not you want to continue the American experiment. A large portion of the Republican Party has decided they are for democracy if that means they win, and they're against it if it means they lose. Which is to say, you don't believe in democracy."</p><p>Despite Trump and Republican lawmakers' efforts to invalidate the results of the presidential election, he will be leaving the White House on Jan. 20.</p>
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On Saturday, POLITICO reported that Kirk Adams, former GOP Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and ex-chief of staff to Gov. Doug Ducey, slammed the "craziness" of the Arizona Republican Party, calling it "embarrassing."
"The craziness from the state Republican Party … it's pretty embarrassing," said Adams. "We have been fed a steady diet of conspiracy theories and stolen election rhetoric and, really, QAnon theories from the state Republican Party since before the election, but certainly after."
<p>"The Trump era did more damage to the Republican Party in Arizona than almost anywhere else," reported David Siders and James Arkin. "Over the past two years, Republicans lost both Senate seats. In November, the state flipped Democratic in a presidential race for the first time since 1996. The GOP state party chair is currently at war with the governor. President Donald Trump's fingerprints are on all of it, yet the state party will likely pass a resolution next week to officially 'support & thank' the president. It'll also vote on measures to [censure] three prominent Republicans who were deemed insufficiently beholden to Trump: Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the wife of the late senator."</p><p>Such censure resolutions punishing perceived disloyalty within the party have become common in recent years; in 2014, the Arizona GOP <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/26/mccain-gop-arizona-censure/4909683/" target="_blank">censured</a> Sen. John McCain himself for his "disastrous" record — a measure decidedly out of step with the state electorate, which re-elected him overwhelmingly two years later.</p><p>The losses for the Arizona GOP could worsen on their current path. In 2022, Ducey is term-limited from running again, raising the possibility of an even harder-right nominee, and Democrats could also make a play for the state house. Moreover, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who only won a special election, will stand for a full term that year.</p>
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