Chuck Schumer: GOP Objection to Election an ‘Attempted Coup,’ ‘Insurrection’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Monday on the Senate floor that Republicans’ objection to the 2020 election certification amounts to an attempted “coup” and an “insurrection.”

Schumer said that objecting to some states’ election results amounts to an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Senate Democrat leader referred to the Republican movement as an “insurrection.”

Schumer said:

It’s a very sad comment on our times that merely accepting the results of an election is considered an act of political courage. Sadder and more dangerous still is the fact an element of the Republican Party believes their political viability hinges on the endorsement of an attempted coup. That anyone, much less an elected official would be willing to tarnish our democracy to varnish to their personal political fortunes.

“This insurrection was fortunately discouraged by the leadership of the majority party. But it was not quelled. It is a very sad commentary on our times that merely accepting the results of an election is considered an act of political courage,” Schumer said.

Referring to the Republican objectors, including conservatives such as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), Schumer said, “They will embarrass themselves. They will embarrass their party. And worst of all, they will embarrass their country.”

Schumer also praised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for discouraging Republicans from objecting to the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

McConnell said that objecting to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory would result in a “death spiral” for the United States.

“If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” he said. “We’d never see our country accept an election again.”

“We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken. They’ve all spoken. If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever,” McConnell added.