David Fahrenthold: Why GOP is ‘indulging Trump’s baseless fantasy’

With President Trump continuing his push to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the Republican Party has divided itself over supporting that effort. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold spoke to KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross about how and why that schism has played out.

On Wednesday, Congress will convene to finalize Joe Biden’s electoral victory in a process that is largely considered to be a clerical operation. Despite that fact, President Trump has insisted that Vice President Mike Pence — who will preside over the proceedings in a ministerial capacity — has the power to reject electoral votes in several key battleground states.

That has Congressional Republicans at odds with each other. On one side, 14 senators and at least 140 representatives have vowed to object to the electoral tally, while others have emphasized the need to affirm the certified results of the election.

WA GOP lawmakers (mostly) quiet on Trump’s final bid to overturn election

For the former, some Republicans could very well be acting in support of the president with eyes toward the next presidential election.

“I think that that’s the calculation being made by these people, that they could get Trump’s voters [in 2024] by indulging Trump’s baseless fantasy now,” Fahrenthold said. “But a lot of Republicans have taken the opposite tack and said, ‘Look, we’re not going to throw out American democracy just to please Donald Trump.'”

That said, there’s doubt among some as to whether any Republican lawmakers truly believe widespread voter fraud actually occurred, with Fahrenthold opining that their current stance is largely performative.

“I don’t think that any of them actually really believe that these things happened or that there was electoral fraud on that scale, but they’re indulging it because their voters believe it,” he noted.

You can listen to Dave Ross’s full interview with Fahrenthold here:

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Fahrenthold joins KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross every Tuesday on Seattle’s Morning News. Listen to Seattle’s Morning News weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest