Trump forces a fissure in the Republican Party over election defeat – 9News

Two years ago Georgia Governor Brian Kemp ran a campaign commercial bragging of rounding up illegal immigrants, showing off his gun collection and declaring himself a "politically incorrect conservative".But according to President Donald Trump, Mr Kemp is a "disaster" and an "obstructionist" who should resign as governor.

Mr Trump and Mr Kemp are members of the same party.

Little more than a fortnight before Mr Trump leaves the White House, a deep fissure has developed in the Republican Party.

The fissure isn't over policy or style or partisan ideology. It's about the election result.

Since November, the simple act of admitting Joe Biden won the presidential election is apostasy to not only Mr Trump, but to his legions of supporters, who now account for the vast majority of Republican voters.

"I'll be here in about a year-and-a-half campaigning against your governor, I guarantee you," Mr Trump told voters at a rally in Georgia today.

Mr Kemp may have a reputation as one of the brashest, most conservative, even Trumpiest governors in America.

"I love the Great State of Georgia, but the people who run it, from the Governor, Brian Kemp, to the Secretary of State, are a complete disaster and don't have a clue, or worse," Mr Trump tweeted earlier.

"Nobody can be this stupid."

And tomorrow every Republican in Congress has to make an unpleasant choice deny reality or incur Mr Trump's wrath.

What happens on January 6?

Congress's election certification process is typically a ceremonial procedure. The representatives and senators meet to verify the results of the presidential election with what is usually a straight up-or-down vote.

But if a representative and a senator object to a state's results, then both chambers of Congress meet separately for a two-hour debate. If both the House of Representatives and the Senate decide not to certify a state, its votes are not counted.

Vice President Mike Pence is tasked with presiding over the procedure, but has no power to change the outcome.

But speaking at a rally in Georgia today, Mr Trump appeared to think otherwise.

"I hope Mike Pence comes through for us," he said.

"If he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much," he said, tongue-in-cheek.

Trump supporters don't have the votes to overturn the election via Congress. But they do have the votes to delay certification for up to 100 hours, and in the process, make their colleagues look bad.

And that's exactly what Josh Hawley is planning on doing.

Over the weekend Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced he would challenge the results of the presidential election.

The move drew the ire of his colleagues, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who challenged him in a conference call soon afterwards.

The objection appears to be an effort to raise his profile in the party ahead of a long-rumoured presidential run in 2024.

But the editorial board of his state's largest newspaper, the St Louis Post-Dispatch, was not impressed.

"Hawley plans a manoeuvre on the Senate floor Wednesday to stomp on democracy and throw millions of American votes into the waste bin just to satisfy his selfish political ambitions," a scathing editorial published today read.

"He's the walking definition of a phony."

Who is opposing Biden's election win?

Since Mr Hawley announced his objection, 11 other senators have jumped on board, all conservative Republicans.

One of those Republicans is Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is in a neck-and-neck contest in a run-off election to be held in Georgia tomorrow.

Her predicament is an unenviable one. Her decision would seek to overturn the choice of voters in her own state while she simultaneously tries to get them to support her.

But if she didn't push to overturn the results, she would anger her voter base, which consists almost entirely of Trump supporters.

When Republican senators Pat Toomey, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski all said they wouldn't object to Mr Biden's victory, Mr Trump called for them to be replaced.

He also took a swing more broadly at others unwilling to overturn the election results.

"The 'Surrender Caucus' within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective 'guardians' of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!" Mr Trump tweeted.

Unless a substantial number of Democrats in the House of Representatives decide to vote to overturn the election results, Mr Biden will be sworn in as president on January 20.

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Trump forces a fissure in the Republican Party over election defeat - 9News