Get Ready: Republicans in Congress Lay the Groundwork for 2024 Election Denial
Plus: MTG goes full Joker mode.
Trump and his coterie of vice-presidential hopefuls are refusing to commit to honoring the results of the next election. This is not surprising either on Trump’s part or on the part of those vying to become his right-hand man (or woman): The former president is incapable of acknowledging the possibility that most American voters rejected him, let alone that they could do it a second time, and anyone who desires his favor knows that affirming this delusion is the best way to get it.
But the Big Lie goes beyond Trump’s habitual rhetoric and the Republican supporting cast’s attempts to position themselves around him. Plans for the next big lie are being carefully crafted by top lawmakers who want to use it to improve Trump’s chances of taking power this fall. Reporters got a glimpse of these plans during a press conference Wednesday.
A group of Republicans led by Speaker Mike Johnson gathered on the steps of the Capitol yesterday afternoon for the event. No stranger to controversial company, Johnson was flanked by former Trump White House functionaries Stephen Miller and Hogan Gidley, as well as Cleta Mitchell, the Republican lawyer who worked to overturn the 2020 election results and participated in the infamous Raffensperger call. Together, this mixed group of establishment normies and MAGA outliers unveiled a proposal they claim would prevent illegal immigrants from voting in elections.
The bill, spearheaded by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require voters to present proof of citizenship before receiving a ballot, force states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, and add federal penalties for registering a noncitizen to vote. This wouldn’t actually accomplish anything of substance: It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, and there isn’t any concrete evidence it actually occurs in significant numbers. But plugging a real gap in voting law isn’t the goal that Roy, Lee, and their confreres have in mind.