President Donald Trump spent much of Saturday morning railing against officials including the Republican governors of Georgia and Arizona, claiming they allowed the presidential election to be "stolen."
Trump responded to the Supreme Court Friday rejection of Texas' bid to overturn the November 3 election in favor of President-elect Joe Biden by lashing out at several top Republicans. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey drew the ire of the president on Twitter, as he labeled them "RINO" members of their party, meaning "Republicans in name only."
"Who is a worse governor,@BrianKempGA of Georgia or@dougducey of Arizona??? These are two RINO Republicans who fought against me and the Republican Party harder than any Democrat. They allowed states that I won easily to be stolen. Never forget, vote them out of office!" the president tweeted Saturday morning, blasting a wide range of some of his closest political allies.
"You can't rely on @BrianKempGA. Unlike other governors for the many states I won, he lost total control. Signature verification???" Trump wrote earlier Saturday.
Who is a worse governor, @BrianKempGA of Georgia or @dougducey of Arizona??? These are two RINO Republicans who fought against me and the Republican Party harder than any Democrat. They allowed states that I won easily to be stolen. Never forget, vote them out of office!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020
Trump has been threatening Kemp with a primary challenge in 2022 after he rejected to overturn the result of the November election. Kemp was elected in 2018 after he closely aligned himself with the president and has largely touted Trump throughout much of his tenure. But now, after he and Ducey declined to take overt action to dismiss hundreds of thousands of votes, Trump is hoping their shared base will oust the two governors.
"Hey Doug [Collins], you want to run for governor in two years?" Trump said at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, last week, adding that Collins would "be a good-looking governor." Collins, a GOP congressman in Georgia, has been one of Trump's most ardent supporters and has criticized Kemp for not doing more to help the president overturn the election results.
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld Biden's victory last week, rebuking Republican challenges to the state's "safe harbor" deadline ahead of the official Electoral College vote. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes, and he won Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes.
Trump highlighted several lower ranking Republicans in both Georgia and Arizona for continuing to pursue any and all legal challenges which could somehow change the outcome of the November election results. He praised the Georgia GOP chair for saying "we are trusting no one" ahead of the state's senate runoff elections on January 5.
Trump claimed Saturday morning that many GOP lawmakers, but not Kemp and Ducey, are in agreement that he was "screwed" out of winning.
The president also accused his attorney general, Bill Barr, and several Supreme Court justices whom he nominated to their roles, for having "ZERO interest" in pursuing the "greatest voter fraud ever perpetuated," a claim for which he provided zero evidence.
Newsweek reached out to the White House as well as Ducey and Kemp's offices Saturday.
