Rep. Elise Stefanik gave a speech that was authentically Trumpian while standing in front of a crowded audience at the Trump campaign headquarters downtown. The audience erupted in applause as she said, “We need to build the wall.” She made fun of “Bidenomics.” Additionally, she restated the assertions made by Donald Trump on a militarized justice system.
To her fans, she proclaimed, “Witch hunt after witch hunt,” referring to the efforts to disqualify President Trump from voting in several states. “It’s because they have complete confidence in Donald J. Trump’s (President Trump) victory over Joe Biden,” they said.
As “VP” concluded her words, one individual applauded. Stefanik repeated Trump’s words when she spoke to the press, saying, “Trump supporters, are we ready to take questions from the fake media?” With Trump and his supporters aiming for a resounding victory on Tuesday to swiftly conclude the Republican nomination process, Stefanik made his second public engagement in New Hampshire in under twenty-four hours.
As the number four Republican in the House, Stefanik represents a change among GOP leaders throughout Trump’s presidency. Although Stefanik rose through the ranks of the Republican Party and came to completely support Trump, she was once a vocal opponent of the president, an opinion for which she was lauded by Republicans who had opposed his 2016 presidential campaign. Aside from the state’s primary, her visit to New Hampshire has sparked discussion about Trump’s potential vice presidential choice if he becomes the candidate, after the trips of Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
There was a personal cost to Stefanik’s rise to GOP leadership and his support of Trump.
Stefanik described Trump’s treatment of women as “offensive” and “just wrong” when campaigning for president in 2016, and she stated her intention to “absolutely oppose” his foreign policy positions. She disagreed with Trump’s intention to withdraw from the Paris climate pact and ran against his plans on many occasions, including her party’s tax reform package.
However, her perspective and dealings with Trump evolved. She went from being a moderate to a MAGA when Democrats tried to have him impeached for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to probe Biden, his opponent. Several Republican legislators and staffers who met with Stefanik said that she shared the Republican party’s view that the impeachment was a farce and that she was enraged by the way Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spearheaded the endeavor. Because of this, she became Trump’s staunchest ally in Congress and on conservative TV. Her status as a “Republican star” was recognized by Trump.
Stefanik said, “I’d be honored to serve in the Trump administration in any capacity,” while adding that she is “focused on being a surrogate” when questioned about the possibility of being chosen as vice president during a phone interview. “We are showing a full-court press,” Stefanik said, noting that she is acquainted with other surrogates whose names have been mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates.
It is “off the table” for Nikki Haley to be Trump’s vice president, according to her.
Trump seemed to hint at a potential vice presidential choice at an Iowa Fox News town hall, but his team has since put an end to rumors about who they have in mind.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s top priorities, according to senior advisor Jason Miller, are winning New Hampshire and gaining the Republican presidential nomination. Vice President conversations may and will take place at a later time; but, that time is not now. The news is not true when someone claims to have an “inside scoop.”
During her interview with The Washington Post, Stefanik reiterated her long-standing support for Trump and expressed her pride in being the “leading voice” during the first impeachment of the previous president. Mike Derrick, her Democratic opponent in 2016, ran commercials accusing her of being the “only Republican woman from the northeast to still support Trump” and citing other Republicans who had said they could not back him. She and her staff took notice of these claims. The other two women elected to the Senate from the Northeast at the time—Susan Collins (R) of Maine) and Kelly Ayotte (R) of New Hampshire—also said that they did not support Trump.
Following the removal of GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership position in 2021 due to her ongoing criticism of Trump and Republicans who supported him, House Republicans elected Stefanik to the position responsible for GOP messaging. Stefanik had become one of Trump’s most loyal supporters even after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
Cheney was removed from her leadership role despite having a more conservative voting record than Stefanik. This was due to her refusal to back Trump’s unfounded assertion that the 2020 election had been stolen.
Research is providing light on the causes of the extreme partisanship in American politics.
However, Stefanik has declined subsequent chances to seek leadership roles at a higher level. She knew there would be strong competition for the job of the whip, but she also calculated, according to those close to her, that holding a top leadership role with such a narrow majority would be politically perilous.
Her change of heart about Trump’s allegations of stolen elections coincided with Stefanik’s ascent to power. She stated her disagreement with Trump in 2016 when he expressed worry about “rigged” polls that showed he was behind Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. Trump went on to defeat Clinton. On the other hand, she backed Trump up on some of his baseless accusations when he claimed the 2020 election had been stolen.
Despite Georgia election authorities denying her assertion and The Post’s Fact Checker gave her four Pinocchios, she insisted that “more than 140,000 votes came from underage, deceased, and otherwise unauthorized voters in Fulton County alone” in Georgia. In an unsuccessful effort to overturn Biden’s presidential victories in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, she joined the attorney general of Texas in a lawsuit. The certification of Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania was voted down by her.
On a recent episode of “Meet the Press” on NBC, she continued to accuse Pennsylvania of “unconstitutional overreach” and stuck by her decision to not certify the results. The interviewer brought up Stefanik’s previous comment that the rioters of January 6 “must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Then, she questioned whether she agreed with Trump’s assertion that the day was “beautiful” and that some of the jailed individuals were “hostages.”
As a counterargument, she said that “Joe Biden will be found to be the most corrupt president in our nation’s history” and accused NBC of prejudice. She finally said, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages,” when pushed for answers. Two sources close to the Trump camp said that the interview was well-received.
‘Hostage’ remarks made on January 6th deepen GOP schism in a challenging election year
When asked about the 2024 election, Stefanik said that she would not guarantee that the results would be certified. It will be determined if this election is legitimate and lawful, she said.
Stefanik went on to say that she had “frequent” conversations with Trump and characterized her New York congressional district as “the story of the evolution of the Republican Party: and the growing support for President Trump that we are seeing from hard-working families” in an interview with The Post.
On Capitol Hill, Stefanik is widely believed by many to be trying to be promoted to vice president. Speaking anonymously to address the situation honestly, one susceptible Republican from New York said: “She’s auditioning.”
Stefanik, according to another vulnerable House member, must find a way to combine his leadership responsibilities with his aspirations for greater things.
“It can appear annoying for rank and file when you’re in leadership,” one person stated. “However, if you are running for a higher office and are in a leadership role, you must do what grabs people’s attention.”
More Republican women have been Stefanik’s electoral emphasis for the last four elections. She has also taken it upon herself to help re-elect Republicans in her state. According to her, endorsing Trump would inspire the Republican base, therefore she has been urging House Republicans to do just that.
Republicans who have not endorsed Trump
Conservatives have lately lauded Stefanik for her participation in a congressional hearing with the presidents of three universities on their responses to antisemitism on campus: Harvard, Penn, and MIT. Afterward, Stefanik claimed responsibility for Penn President Liz Magill’s and Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignations.
Harvard’s resignation is the most recent blow in the Republican assault on universities.
Trump complimented the New York Republican’s work on the committee at a campaign rally in Concord, New Hampshire, last week—a speech in which Stefanik also participated—but he pronounced her last name wrong: “That was such a beautiful delivery, did she destroy those three people.”
Attendees at Stefanik’s Saturday campaign event expressed their desire to see her, software entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and other congressional candidates run with Trump.
The 68-year-old Hampton, New Hampshire resident Marie Tontodonato characterized Stefanik as a “front-runner.”
In Tontodonato’s words, “She’s just like one of us,” referring to the woman who has been advocating for Trump in Congress and her home state. She expressed her preference for “either her or Kristi Noem” to be named vice president. A lady would be nice to see. Carson, too. My three choices are these.
Pingback: How accurate are Political Polls? - usavotey.com