Representative Peter Meijer, a Republican freshman who voted for the indictment against Mr. Trump, said in an interview with The Daily, the New York Times audio podcast, that the spread of false information in the base of “two worlds” among the Republicans of Congress – one based on reality and another based on conspiracy.
“The world that said this was actually a landslide victory for Donald Trump, but everything has been stolen and changed and the votes have been flipped and the Dominion voting systems,” Meijer said, describing what he called the “fever swamp of conspiracy theories.”
In a video press conference on Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina appealed directly to the still dubious Republicans. “Biden actually won,” he said. “The election was not rigged.”
Your words, contrary to Mr. Trump’s own message and that of many supporters, underscore a challenge to the Republican Party. The rioters targeted police officers, members of Congress and even Vice President Mike Pence. However, much of the party’s base and many of its leaders at the local and state levels remain loyal to Mr Trump.
Another Republican who backed the impeachment, South Carolina representative Tom Rice, admitted in an interview with The Associated Press that in his re-election efforts in 2022, his vote would likely make him face a major opponent of the GOP – a threat to the another nine Republicans who voted for impeachment will likely face too.
“FIRST GOP Primary Challenger Announces Run in Michigan Against Freshman Rep. Meijer – One of 10 GOP Turncoats,” read a headline on Gateway Pundit, the right-wing and often conspiratorial news agency that influences Mr. Trump’s grassroots.
Reached by email, the website’s founder, Jim Hoft, did not respond to questions but sent in several of his own news articles relating to allegations that Antifa was involved in the Capitol attack – citing the case of one Man named John Sullivan, who has the right-wing media named an “antifa leader” to prove his infiltration theory. He was the same man quoted by Mr Giuliani in tweets threatening to “blame John and the 226 members of Antifa who started the Capitol’s” uprising. “
