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.
BREAKING: @JennaEllisEsq announces she is leaving the Republican Party.\n\n\u201cEven if I stand alone for the Truth, I will stand for the Truth.\u201d - Jenna Ellis\n\nWatch the full segment here: https://americasvoice.news/video/Q5cBFKXoORCaREM\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/Kv29y1tyQI— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@Real America's Voice (RAV)) 1626133944
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.
Filing this under: Grifters Grifting For Grifter Griftedhttps://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— Shetalksblue (@Shetalksblue) 1626134674
Imagine how horrible a human being you\u2019d have to be to think the Republican Party wasn\u2019t horrible enough for you. Jenna Ellis level horrible.pic.twitter.com/DsaXEUu1t7— Sgt Joker (@Sgt Joker) 1626178986
Lol, when the grifters are grifted.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— *you're (@*you're) 1626169809
The GOP is descending into its own Civil War. Heh.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— John Aravosis \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@John Aravosis \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1626177762
Awesome. They can all sue each other now.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— Sue McCord (@Sue McCord) 1626151656
This could be a really really great thing if they split the GQP.https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— TinaM1013 (@TinaM1013) 1626131467
There was no sympathy for either side.
If liars who push conspiracy theories about the 2020 election in an effort to overthrow US Constitutional democracy are fighting with liars who use conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to con people out of money, that is let-them-fight-dot-gif ok by me.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— Nicholas Grossman (@Nicholas Grossman) 1626179207
in the fight between Jenna Ellis and Ronna Romney McDaniel I\u2019m rooting for an asteroidpic.twitter.com/6ota8lFV5y— shauna (@shauna) 1626156995
Let them eat each otherhttps://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1414714368047132673\u00a0\u2026— recovering from post covid ARDS (@recovering from post covid ARDS) 1626146821
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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AMC