Republican Buddy Carter tells Trump it is time to MOVE ON from discussing election fraud

GOP Rep. Buddy Carter, a staunch Trump ally, said it would be ‘beneficial’ to both himself and the Republican Party if Trump would drop his focus on election fraud. 

‘I think it would be beneficial for the party and mostly for Donald Trump,’ the Georgia Republican said of shifting the focus away from 2020 election fraud claims in an interview with DailyMail.com. 

‘I think if Donald Trump is serious about running in 2024 – and I hope he is – if he will concentrate on his record, as the president, then I think if he’s got a really good chance,’ Carter said. 

‘In fact, I think he he would win in 2024. But he needs to focus on 2024 and not on the election of 2020. He needs to concentrate on his record, he’s got a great record.’

Carter continued: ‘He was the one who was responsible for Operation Warp Speed that gave us three vaccines in unprecedented time. He left this administration with a with a peaceful world and a recovering economy. And now look at it – the world’s on fire right now.’ 

Even after the riot on the Capitol, Carter was one of 147 Republicans who voted against certifying President Biden’s win on Jan. 6. Trump endorsed Carter’s reelection campaign in 2019.

Asked what he thinks the party’s relationship should be with Trump heading into the midterms, Carter said: ‘Well, first of all, during the midterms, I my focus is on the midterms. You know, Donald Trump, I think has a great record run in 2024. And I hope he does.’ 

But he suggested that Republicans should keep their focus on the midterms. ‘We’ve got to focus on 2022 and not 2024. We got to focus on taking the House and the Senate back.’

A Politico poll out Wednesday found that over 50% now want Trump to stop talking about election fraud. 

Fifty percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters want their party to move on from Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen, according to the new survey from Politico and Morning Consult. Just 35 percent said it should still be a focus of the party.

However, a majority of those same voters supported rebuking Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for working with the Democrat-led Capitol riot committee.

The Republican National Committee voted to censure the Trump critics earlier this month for their work with the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection as well as the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Establishment Republican lawmakers like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Utah Senator Mitt Romney criticized the move, while pro-Trump members of Congress, particularly in the House, applauded it.

Of the GOP voters surveyed, 40 percent said they agreed with the RNC’s censure compared to 32 percent who don’t support it.

An even greater number, 44 percent, agreed with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel characterizing the Capitol attack as ‘legitimate political discourse.’ 

However when asked whether they themselves branded it ‘legitimate or ‘illegitimate,’ a majority said it was not — suggesting some right-leaning voters’ willingness to fall in line behind political authority despite holding a different opinion on an issue themselves.

Thirty-seven percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said the Capitol attack was an ‘illegitimate’ form of political discourse while just 33 percent said the opposite. 

The lack of a consensus among Republican voters about election fraud is a sign that Trump’s iron grip on the party may be weakening.

While previous polls have indicated that he’s still the favorite potential 2024 candidate, Wednesday’s data showing voters are fatigued by Trump’s constant complaints about the past. It’s in line with some longtime lawmakers warning that the GOP could give up its opportunity to take back Congress in November’s elections unless they look forward. 

In Wednesday’s poll a 46 percent majority of Republican voters said they wanted a candidate for federal office to focus on the economy. 

Earlier this week, Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham sent a public message to the former president that he is ‘hurting his chances’ of winning in 2024 should he run if he keeps re-litigating the 2020 race.  

‘I am not contesting the 2020 election. I’d like to reform the system. The problems we found in 2020 need to be addressed. But the 2020 election is over for me,’ the South Carolina Republican senator said on ABC News’ This Week.

‘He has a great chance of being president again in 2024, if he’ll start comparing what he did as president versus what’s going on now and how to fix the mess we’re in. If he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances.’

GOP Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota invoked Trump’s rage last month when he said there were no voting irregularities found of the 2020 election count that could have changed the outcome.  

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