Trump Praises Loeffler and Perdue for Pledging to Vote Against Certifying Biden’s Election Win

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:27 pm

The Georgia Senate runoffs, which will determine which party will have control over Congress‘s upper chamber, are today. For weeks, President Donald Trump has been criticized for apparently undermining the Republican Party’s chances of winning by attacking Republicans who have not backed his call for overturning the results of an election that President-elect Joe Biden won decisively.

Earlier this morning, he praised Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, whose seats are up for grabs today, for being the latest to announce they would join a group of Republicans who have pledged to vote against certifying Biden’s win.

The president took to Twitter to announce that Loeffler and Perdue “have just joined our great #StopTheSteal group of Senators.”

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They will fight the ridiculous Electoral College Certification of Biden,” he wrote. “How do you certify numbers that have now proven to be wrong and, in many cases, fraudulent!”

The president’s claim was flagged under Twitter’s civic integrity policy, which tags outright falsehoods about the election on its platform.

Yesterday, Trump declared the Republican Party is “weak and ineffective” for not backing his attempts to overturn the election result. His comments come as several prominent Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, face heavy criticism for announcing they will oppose certifying the election results for Biden on January 6, the day Congress will convene to finalize the process.

But not every Republican is on board.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has broken with his fellow conservatives, saying it is up to the states and the court system to handle election laws.

“The Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states — not Congress. They entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College — not Congress. And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts — not Congress,” he said in a statement released last night.

“Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the state,” he added.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has also indicated he will not support his colleagues in opposing electoral certification, calling it “a political dodge.”

“Proposing a commission at this late date — which has zero chance of becoming reality — is not effectively fighting for President Trump. It appears to be more of a political dodge than an effective remedy,” he said.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.