Never mind the threat of undermining democracy.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was swiftly roasted by Twitter users on Monday after his statement the day before, which opposes the GOP pressure campaign led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to delegitimize President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, offered a frank admission of his party’s worst fears: slimmer odds of another GOP presidency.
Days before Biden’s Electoral College victory is set for ratification during a joint session of Congress, Massie and six of his Republican colleagues decried the Cruz-led vow to challenge the President-elect’s legitimate win in a statement initially issued Sunday.
In the statement, Massie and other GOP lawmakers lamented that objecting to the Electoral College certification would “strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant.”
Massie then argued the quiet part aloud by admitting that President Trump’s presidency wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the Electoral College. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million.
Massie cited that Republican presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once in the last 32 years, and that the party has had to rely on the Electoral College for nearly all presidential victories in the last generation, before arguing that the delegitimization of the system that handed Trump his victory in 2016 would endanger Republicans’ odds of a presidential win in 2024.
“If we perpetuate the notion that Congress may disregard certified electoral votes—based solely on its own assessment that one or more states mishandled the presidential election—we will be delegitimizing the very system that led Donald Trump to victory in 2016, and that could provide the only path to victory in 2024,” Massie said.
Shortly after Rutgers Law professor David Noll zeroed in on Massie’s frank admission in a Monday tweet, Twitter users blasted the Kentucky Republican for his self-serving rationale behind dismissing his GOP colleague’s efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the Electoral College:
Unsurprising but still wild to see a GOP rep admit that even with four years to start appealing to a majority of voters, they have already thrown in the towel. https://t.co/dTOdv9STFS
— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) January 4, 2021
Here is a Republican member of the House acknowledging that his party is incapable of winning a true majority vote of the American people. 'So, friends, don't shit on the Electoral College system because it's our only hope at regaining minority rule.' https://t.co/27NGroUSxp
— 5 Calls ?? (@make5calls) January 4, 2021
Screaming the quiet part at the top of your lungs https://t.co/28oUfR6GxW
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 4, 2021
Even the "good" Republicans hate democracy. https://t.co/Vq7Dz0pcyY
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) January 4, 2021
Oh wow https://t.co/AbZBIODWEm
— Molly Jong-Fast? (@MollyJongFast) January 4, 2021
Holy shit. https://t.co/VbtVpCLdfk
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) January 4, 2021
I have been amazed that so few Republican lawmakers have realized the Pandora's Box they are opening regarding the Electoral College. It's just about the only thing that will allow the GOP to win presidential elections in the future. https://t.co/nLqOAhOzt8
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 4, 2021
It's wild that this is being said out loud, but there is some truth to the fact that consistently losing the popular vote and then also undermining the electoral college makes absolutely no sense for Republicans, in addition to all of the ways in which this scheme is nonsensical. https://t.co/aVIegW4XB0
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 4, 2021
We can’t steal the election, because then we might not be able to continue winning despite receiving fewer votes than our opponents in the future. https://t.co/uQI2XbD41i
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) January 4, 2021
