ORLANDO, Florida — Former President Donald Trump is not the only Republican who refuses to stop talking about 2020 and make a full pivot to November’s midterm elections.
In conversations with congressional Republicans and party activists attending this weekend’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference, support for keeping the spotlight on supposed misdeeds that occurred in the last presidential election reigned supreme. Amid some anxiety on the Right that looking backward could undermine GOP opportunities to maximize gains in the House and Senate in 2022, Republicans here said it would be a mistake to focus exclusively on the next election and voters’ current priorities.
“I think we need to talk about both, because if we don’t clean up the issues and the concerns associated with the 2020 election, we’re going to have similar concerns arise in 2022,” Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee told the Washington Examiner.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and chief CPAC organizer, is similarly rejecting suggestions that Republicans need to stop discussing what allegedly happened in the 2020 presidential election to ensure the party wins majorities on Capitol Hill in 2022. Schlapp, in the immediate aftermath of the last election, traveled the country on Trump’s behalf attempting to uncover the irregularities he believes occurred.
“When you have that level of wrongdoing, it’s really important to let the other side know you’re going to hold them accountable in the future and that we made a mistake in not doing everything we could have to stop it in 2020,” Schlapp said. “I don’t think it’s the central focus of the election … But I think the culprits want us to not talk about it so they can just do it again.”
TRUMP ALL BUT DECLARES INTENTION TO SEEK WHITE HOUSE IN 2024
Almost daily since President Joe Biden ousted Trump nearly 16 months ago, the 45th president, his party’s loudest voice, has claimed that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump delivered more of the same Saturday evening multiple times during a 90-minute speech to an overflow hotel ballroom packed with approximately 6,000 conservative activists. Indeed, he blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his so-called fraudulent defeat.
“This horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged and I was president,” Trump said.
Many Republicans, including Trump supporters and alumni of his administration, are wringing their hands over the former president’s apparent unwillingness to let it go and shift his gaze to the future. Some do not necessarily disagree with Trump’s assessment of what happened in 2020, and they fret that his fixation on the past could hamper the GOP this year, and possibly even 2024, despite the party’s bright prospects in the midterm elections.
Robert C. O’Brien, Trump’s former national security adviser, said “election integrity” is an important issue (“election integrity” is the term preferred by most Republicans.) And O’Brien said he sympathizes with Republicans who, after what they witnessed in 2020, worry about the integrity of American elections. But he believes it would be more productive for Republicans to focus on Trump’s successes should they feel compelled to look over their shoulder as Election Day draws near.
“There’s a great record of accomplishments to discuss in the past — if you want to look back,” O’Brien said. “We’ve got a great story to tell about our record and what we’re going to do in the future to save America again.”
Prominent Trump ally Nigel Farage, a British conservative and political celebrity on the Right, was more unequivocal than O’Brien. In a speech from the main stage at CPAC, Farage told activists they need to shut up about 2020 and offer voters a future-oriented pitch about righting the wrongs of the Biden administration — or risk turning them off and squandering a chance to win big in the fall.
“Remember, most voters are busy with their lives, busy with their mortgages, busy with their kid, worried about their jobs, worried about the price of gas,” Farage said. “You’ve got to offer the voters of this country the shining city on the hill.”
But the overwhelming sentiment here in Central Florida, as conservative activists and Republican politicians gathered to mobilize for November, was to stick with complaints about 2020 as a core bullet point of the party’s 2022 political message. Fundraising appears to be a factor.
Online contributions constitute a significant percentage of Republican resources. Party strategists say that digital appeals to grassroots donors who give in small amounts are most responsive to emails that highlight the fraud and irregularities conservatives believe occurred in 2020 and promise to efforts to strengthen the integrity of American elections.
“What I would tell people is, do everything you can to make sure people know you’re going to fight to make sure elections are fair,” said Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, although he added that it is equally important to make sure voters know “what we’re going to do to fight the Biden agenda.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Eric Schmitt, the Missouri attorney general running for the Republican nomination for Senate in his state, agreed. He said Republicans running for office this year should raise concerns about problems with the last election, vowing to correct them while talking to voters about the future and addressing inflation, rising crime, overseas crises, and other priorities in the heat of the current campaign.
“I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Schmitt said.
Emily Brooks contributed to this report.
