Arizona Republican Party stokes violence as it seeks to overturn election results

The Arizona Republican Party used violent rhetoric in a series of Monday night tweets, as the party seeks to gin up its supporters to help steal the election for Donald Trump.

In the most troubling tweet, the @AZGOP retweeted a user who proclaimed “I am willing to give my life for this fight.”

In response, the Arizona Republican Party replied “He is. Are you?”

In a subsequent tweet, the @AZGOP account retweeted a clip from the 2008 “Rambo” film, in which the lead character of the film — a Vietnam War veteran who is fighting mercenaries in Myanmar — says, “This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something.”

The party is attempting to coerce GOP state lawmakers to decertify the state’s results, in which Biden defeated Trump by more than 10,000 votes.

The party’s chair, Kelli Ward, also filed multiple lawsuits. One seeking to overturn the state’s results already failed, according to the Arizona Republic, though Ward appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

A second lawsuit from Ward cites multiple debunked lies about voter fraud in the state. The case is set to be heard by a judge Tuesday morning.

The violent rhetoric — which appears to call for ab uprising to help aid in Trump’s coup attempt — comes as Trump supporters across the country are growing more threatening.

On Saturday night, armed protesters gathered outside the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, demanding that she give Michigan’s Electoral College votes to Trump. President-elect Joe Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes, or 3%.

“I have always been an energetic advocate for the right and importance of peaceful protest as enshrined in the United States Constitution, however there is a line crossed when gatherings are done with the primary purpose of intimidation of public officials who are carrying out the oath of office they solemnly took as elected officials,” Benson said in a statement.

“Through threats of violence, intimidation, and bullying, the armed people outside my home and their political allies seek to undermine and silence the will and voices of every voter in this state, no matter who they voted for,” Benson added.

Ultimately, Trump’s effort to steal the election has failed. Courts across the country have thrown out lawsuits from his campaign, as well as from GOP allies, with some judges slamming the effort as an antidemocratic effort.

Trump’s pressure campaign on GOP-run legislatures to simply ignore their state’s election results to give their Electoral College electors to Trump is also failing, as Republican elected officials and legislators refuse to acquiesce to his demands.

Ultimately, Tuesday marks the “Safe Harbor” deadline, in which states must resolve all disputes over the results. Once the day is over, Trump’s legal options will have run out.

Trump himself seems to understand and accept that reality, at least privately, as he’s already planning to counter-program Biden’s inauguration.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.