What Happened This Week In Washington — And Georgia

I’m still pretty torn on this, Sarah. It feels like two weeks from now we could be back to near-total rhetorical fealty to Trump — or that the break will be big and lasting. Right now, it feels like the momentum is behind the break being lasting. But it’s felt that way at a few moments over the last four years. Of course, now we’re at a point where Trump will be out of office in two weeks either way.

I want to return to something Micah brought up earlier — this idea that if the GOP turns on Trump, it’ll happen all at once. Hawley most certainly has not backed down from his objection, whereas others — such as Loeffler, Lankford and Blackburn — have.

It’s notable that Hawley didn’t back down, and maybe Cruz and Johnson won’t either. But originally as many as 14 GOP senators were going to object, that number looks like it will be a lot smaller now. Is it possible that even if not every GOP member backs down, we’re still seeing a break with Trump and maybe Trumpism? Or is it still too soon to tell?

Hawley is rather … creatively … trying to spin his objection the Electoral College vote as an alternative to violence, saying that Congress is the right forum for it. It certainly doesn’t sound as though he’s likely to rescind his objections to Arizona, which is what’s being debated now. But he’s also talking about Pennsylvania, which maybe implies he won’t delay things further by also objecting to Pennsylvania later.