Just one day after a bizarre tweet asking whether President-elect Joe Biden—the winner of the 2020 election—would attend outgoing President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2021, the rhetoric spewing from the Arizona Republican Party's official Twitter account has only gotten more sinister.
Trump and his legal team have deployed a variety of tactics to overturn the results of the recent presidential election—spouting disinformation and outright lies, filing frivolous lawsuits, and using the power of the presidency to pressure state legislators into illegally subverting their state's results.
These efforts haven't gotten Trump any closer to another four years in office, but they have succeeded in radicalizing Trump supporters across the nation based on lies that widespread voter fraud coordinated by Democrats tipped the election to Biden.
The Arizona GOP, run by chairwoman Kelli Ward, has thrown its support behind the effort, and even called on supporters to sacrifice their lives if necessary to secure another four years of Trump in office.
He is. Are you? https://t.co/OY8qxNMPxm
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) December 8, 2020
The official Twitter account of the state's Republican party retweeted a post from one of the founders of "Stop the Steal," who said he was ready to "give my life for this fight."
The party then asked if its other supporters were willing to do the same.
Shortly after, the account tweeted a since-removed clip from the fourth Rambo movie, with the caption:
"This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something."
The increasingly militant rhetoric alarmed Twitter users.
There are not enough words in the English language to describe how wrong and embarrassing this is. https://t.co/QAayJI1iiy
— Carly Friday (@friday_carly) December 8, 2020
Shameful behavior from my state's GOP. What happened to the party of Jon Kyl and John McCain? People like to talk about changing demos in AZ moving the state purple, but the reality is it is nonsense like this pushing moderate Republicans to vote for moderate Dems https://t.co/LncH5dblmW
— Firstname Bunchanumbers (@fnamebunchanum) December 8, 2020
GOP is becoming quite open about radicalizing people into domestic terrorism. Cool! https://t.co/snVdUBaEth
— Dan Cohen (@BirdofGay) December 8, 2020
I cannot think of a more unamerican and unpatriotic call to arms...
Elections have consequences and Trump lost. He will not be installed against the will of the people and those who try will find their betrayal severely punished.@GOP https://t.co/DAmYrw4v8R
— Jeff P (@JP1958S) December 8, 2020
This is just insane. A state political party is encouraging violence. I have enjoyed laughing at the @AZGOP meltdown over losing this election as much as anyone but this is dangerous. https://t.co/lO2qVFWEXm
— Steven Slugocki (@Slugocki) December 8, 2020
How the F#CK is this allowed!?! https://t.co/KvaLsIyj3f
— Pantalaimon Silvertongue 🏳️🌈💙🌊 (@PantalaimonSil1) December 8, 2020
People called out Kelli Ward for overseeing the dangerous rhetoric.
If some random yahoo in AZ kills somebody in the name of Trump staying in office, will Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward be charged as an accessory?
— Will Bunch Sign Up For My Newsletter (@Will_Bunch) December 8, 2020
Kelli Ward's Arizona GOP is full of bluster on Twitter, hinting at armed insurrection.
If you know anything about Kelli Ward or the AZ GOP, this is not surprising.
Insanely dangerous, however.
— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@NickKnudsenUS) December 8, 2020
In a country with healthy political parties, these tweets alone would get Kelli Ward pelted off the public stage, never mind fecal-canistered from her job running the @AZGOP. On the other hand, if you're willing to give your life on her say so, I can't say it'd be a huge loss. pic.twitter.com/unVOWZAwdA
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 8, 2020
Thanks to lies like those from the Arizona GOP, Trump supporters across the country think of the 2020 election as a coup, insinuating widespread violence is in store if Trump is not inaugurated.
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