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Taking a hiatus from my Twitter hiatus to say it amazes me that these senators who want to have an “audit” of the election and plan to press the matter next week have evidently not considered that this scuppers all GOP arguments, forever, about getting the feds out of elections.
A secondary point is that they obviously haven’t considered the question of “what’s next,” which I was told to ALWAYS be asking as a young lawyer. Who does the audit? What happens when the audit inevitably comes back clean? What’s next?
Also, for those that are running in 2024– let’s assume Trump himself also does. How do you stand on stage and run against him when you’ve gone this far to the mat to keep him around? Elections are about contrasts and GOP voters generally don’t like followers.
How do you plausibly show you’re a leader, distinguish yourself from him, and make the case that you’d be better and you’re a better fighter? I think that’s an awfully difficult needle to thread. Also, all these guys signing on now look like they’re following *Josh Hawley.*
Ted Cruz looking like he’s *following Josh Hawley* is not a good set of optics for Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz putting himself in a position where he can’t say “yeah, but you lost” on the 2024 debate stage and then pivot to making his own case, if Trump shows up, seems even trickier.
And I say all this as someone who still *likes* Ted Cruz. Set aside all the substance here, I just think the politics of this are considerably more fraught long term than pro-Trump forces are making out.
