It’s been three years since the 2020 election and some Republicans still haven’t acknowledged what actually happened. To recap: Joe Biden won. Donald Trump lost. Even now, and even after a violent failed coup, some cronies won’t accept his failure, at least publicly. One of those is Steve Scalise. Hot off a failed bid for House Speaker (which went to some generic guy who seems made by AI), the MAGA lawmaker went on TV and managed to dodge a question about the results so many times the host gave up on him.
Wow. Stephanopoulos presses Scalise four or five times to affirm that the 2020 election was not stolen, and Scalise repeatedly dodges by changing the topic. pic.twitter.com/V5viywZHtp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 5, 2023
Per Mediaite, during Scalise’s appearance on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked him, straight-up, “Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”
A simple question! And yet Stephanopoulos got five word salad responses that entirely ducked the question.
“There are states that didn’t follow their laws,” Scalise argued. “That is what the state constitution, the U.S. Constitution requires. You know, I’ve seen in my own state where we had to send our elections commissioner to jail years ago for fraud and corruption, and we cleaned up our act in our state. Every state ought to follow the laws that are on their books. That’s what the U.S. Constitution says.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Stephanopoulos shot back. “Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”
That didn’t work either. “Look, Joe Biden’s president,” Scalise said. “I know you and others want to talk about 2020. We’re focused on the future. We’ve talked about 2020 a lot.”
“I’m asking you a different question,” Stephanopoulos charged. “Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?”
“You want to keep rehashing 2020,” Scalise replied
“I just want an answer to the question!” a visibly annoyed Stephanopoulos said. “Yes or no?”
Scalise tried to turn the tables on him, asking, “Will you acknowledge that there were states that didn’t follow the actual state legislative enacted laws on their books, which the US Constitution says they’re supposed to do?”
Stephanopoulos responded by mentioning the many, many court decisions rejecting such allegations. But he wasn’t done just yet. “I asked you a very, very simple question,” Stephanopoulos said. “Now I’ve asked it, I think the fifth time that you can’t appear to answer. Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”
Scalise once again stated that Biden is president, thus ducking the question a fifth time. That was one too many. Stephanopoulos gave Scalise a curt, “Thanks for your time.”
After the exchange turned heads, the White House put out a statement condemning Scalise’s refusal to accept reality:
“Election denial is a dangerous conspiracy theory that has done unprecedented harm to the country and has been comprehensively debunked by over 80 federal judges, as well as the Trump Administration’s national security officials. Like President Biden said when House Republicans won their majority, when Speaker McCarthy was elected, and when Speaker Johnson was elected, this is a moment for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together in good faith to find common ground on behalf of the American people and address the shared challenges families grapple with every day. It is not a time to perpetuate long-discredited conspiracy theories that fueled an assault on the Capitol and tear Americans apart.”
You can watch Stephanopoulos attempt to be the adult in the room in the vide above. The fruitless 2020 election business begins around the five-minute mark.
(Via Mediaite)