A common demand from conservative circles is complete and total loyalty to former President Donald Trump and his agenda. Republicans who step out of line—like Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming—become pariahs in the party if they don't embrace Trump's lies or follow his orders.
Now, higher-ups at the Republican National Committee (RNC) are learning this the hard way after the Washington Post published emails from its top lawyer, Justin Riemer.
In November, when Trump and his team's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election were just ramping up, Riemer wrote:
"What Rudy and Jenna are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court.They are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing."
Riemer was referring to Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, the foremost faces defending Trump's lies about the validity of the election—the same lies which culminated in a deadly siege of the United States Capitol.
Sure enough, as Riemer warned, Giuliani and Ellis lost dozens of cases in their attempt to promote the election lies.
Ellis, who now works for far-right disinformation outlet Newsmax, was none too happy about the emails, and announced her resignation from the Republican Party live on air, claiming it no longer held conservative values.
She also claimed that none of the $220 million raised by the Republican National Committee during Trump's lame duck period went to his legal expenses. Ellis demanded the resignation of RNC executives, including its Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, for not sufficiently backing the effort to overturn the election.
Watch below.
Ellis said, in part:
"All of them, including Ronna McDaniel, should resign now. Until they do, as of today, I am resigning from the party. I am changing my voter registration and I'm no longer a Republican until the party decides that it wants to be conservative again. Even if I stand alone for the truth, I will stand for the truth."
Never mind that Ellis' notoriety came from spewing the big lie that the election was stolen, despite constant debunking by experts, by state election officials, and by Trump's own Justice Department.
Critics of the Republican party, however, enjoyed the infighting.
There was no sympathy for either side.
Time will only tell if Republicans will heed Ellis' calls to abandon the party for even more blatant denials of reality.
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