Joining me now, are Political Analyst of White House correspondent for The Griot, April Ryan, and CNN Political Commentator Republican strategist Alice Stewart. Alice, how worried are Republicans about this Tuesday?
They're concerned, that's why it's all hands on deck from now through Tuesday. Senators Tim Scott and also John Kennedy from Louisiana going in there and they're making the case more about the impetus on this.
Of course, Democrats will have control over the Senate, but making this a 50-50 Senate as opposed to a 51-49 Senate. And we've seen Brian Kemp, the very popular governor, making that case, that this is crucial for, as Diane said, making sure we have strong committee assignments as we move forward.
And we're seeing in Herschel Walker's final push, which I think is the right way to go about doing this, making this about policies, making this about the fact that Raphael Warnock is a rubber stamp for Joe Biden as opposed to what Warnock campaign is doing more personal attacks against Herschel Walker.
Look, this is going to be down to the wire and Republicans are cautiously optimistic. This boils down a lot, too, as we have heard from the very beginning, candidate quality, Hershel Walker wasn't the number one choice for many Republicans, but he's the person we have.
And I do encourage all of my fellow Georgians and the Georgia Bulldog fans to get out there and support him. Based on I see you in the Georgia Bulldog colors there. Yes, it makes us more about the policies as opposed to the personal attacks on the campaign.
In April, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling told CNN, we may not know who won the runoff on election day, not that anybody wants to hear that right now, but let's listen to what he had to say.
We're preparing for it being a very tight race. I anticipate we may not know on Tuesday night. It just really depends because it's up to the voters and they're showing up in droves. 1852,000 is a ridiculous number.
No consultant I've talked to, republican or Democrat or election official, though we see that many of us in early April, if. The results take a while, could we see another, you know, a breeding ground for election deniers and conspiracy theories?
What do you think? Most definitely. Most definitely. And they're already there. But you have to remember, 1.88 million are already in early voting. He said that was a ridiculous number. It's an extraordinary number for several reasons.
The fact that people are fired up, just like Alice said. But when you talk about early elections, well, early voting, it tends to be Democrats. But Republicans are prepared to go on election day at the end of the day.
It may take days, it may take hours, it may take minutes. We don't know. But we do know for sure people are fired up, not just Georgia but the nation because of the impact that Georgia has on everything in the Senate.
And not only that, I talked to some people in the civil rights community, and they said when it comes to Georgia, they said, look, if Hershey Walker gets it, civil rights will not be as relevant, they believe, as it could be if Warnock would make it.
They feel that civil rights, equity, and inclusion will be a problem for Herschel Walker, and it wouldn't be for Born. On Gotcha and Alice, let's turn to some other political news. Former President Trump, I'm sure you saw this one on Truth Social, called for the termination of the Constitution to facilitate either a new election against Joe Biden or an immediate return to office as the, quote, rifle winner.
Of course, we all know this is not going to happen, but here are some reactions from Republican members of Congress. So let's watch. Whoever the Republican picks, I'll fall behind. Because that's even if it's Donald Trump, I think he's called for suspending the Constitution.
Well, again, I think it's going to be a big field. I don't think Donald Trump's going to clear out the field like he did. That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking, if he's the nominee, will you support him?
I will support whoever the Republican nominee is. And I don't think that at this point he will be able to get there because I think there are a lot of other good quality candidates out there. All elected leaders swear to uphold the Constitution.
Does calling for suspension, is that disqualifying presidential candidates? It's certainly not consistent. I do. It's certainly not consistent with the oath that we all take. And let me read you how Liz Cheney reacted to all this.
Donald Trump believes we should terminate all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution, to overturn the 2020 election. That was his view on January 6 and remains his view today.
No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution. Are we going to see the party get twisted into a pretzel by Trump once again on these kinds of questions? I mean, what do you think? we're.
Seeing now that there's a choice? Back in Access Hollywood, donald Trump was the nominee. And crisis after crisis and not smart statement on Trump's behalf, he has been the only choice. Now we have other choices.
Now he is going against a big field of Republicans in 2024 that are consistent conservatives. There are rational conservatives, there are commonsense conservatives, and they are not as divisive as him.
And I hate to inform the former president, but the Constitution is not like a spouse. You can't just get rid of it when it no longer suits your purposes. The Constitution is here to protect the rights of all Americans.
It is not there to change the past election's self-serving serving Americans. And he is about wrong on this. Tlutely ludicrous. And I guarantee, Jim, the more you ask conservatives and Republicans about this statement, they will say this is not right, and they're going to separate themselves from these kinds of statements.
Yeah, Alice, the comment Constitution is not like the buffet at Mara Lago. You can't skip past the items that you don't like. No, I'm sorry. April. April, let me ask you that. The Constitution is not like the Marlago buffet.
You can't just get past the items you don't like. What do you think? April? April, can you hear me? Oh, looks like we might have lost April's audio there. But, Alice, I mean, this is going to be a problem for the House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.
It's not clear yet whether or not he's going to have the votes to become the next speaker of the House. He has said he plans to read the entire Constitution from the House floor on the first day of the new Congress.
But yet McCart has to condemn Trump for calling to terminate the Constitution. This is a problem. It is. And, look, a lot of people are not going to be proactive and come out and denounce this ludicrous statement.
But if asked, I guarantee you, Jim, they're going to make it clear that there's no space in American politics for this. Kevin McCarthy is in a very tough battle, maybe the battle of his life, in terms of trying to get the votes necessary for him to be speaker.
And he's going against other Republicans who appro-Trump Trump. So he threads that needle in terms of standing up for the Constitution for the American people without poking the bear and poking against the people that are speaking out against him as speaker.
So I guarantee if he was asked, he would denounce this statement, but he's trying to do what he can to maintain his attempt to get the necessary votes to be the speaker. Yeah, April, I think we've got you back.
Your link is back, I think now Trump calling for the termination of the Constitution, it's extraordinary. I know that he does this from time to time to try to gin up press coverage for what appears to be a falter and run for the presidency one more time, but at the same time, you can't it ignore.
What is essentially a threat to the Constitution that he is expressing? Jim, you and I covered a former President of the United States. He factually is known to have broken the rule of law while in office.
He is now being investigated by the State of Georgia, the state of New York, January 6, and others because he has broken the rule of law. He is going into this attempt to be the President of the United States again in his 2024 efforts as a weakened candidate because of the past, because of all of these investigations.
This is not a surprise. This President is going again to try to win by any means neceanywayany way he can. I mean, look at what he did. Once again, let's talk about Georgia. He tried to have the numbers changed in Georgia when it came to the final count of how many people voted.
This is not a surprise. It's just yet again, another news story about Donald Trump trying to win the Oval Office by any means necessary. And Alice is right. There are a lot of Republicans who do not have the stomach for this.