GOP Senator James Lankford hits the panic button as Donald Trump crashes and burns
James Lankford of Oklahoma is arguably one of the less deranged Republican Senators, but he still rather loudly pushed Donald Trump’s lies about a “rigged” election. Now that Trump is crashing and burning and threatening to take the entire GOP down with him, Lankford is scrambling and frankly panicking.
Lankford is now acknowledging that by repeating Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election supposedly having been rigged in heavily Black cities like Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta, he was disenfranchising Black voters everywhere. Lankford is going so far as to apologize to his Black constituents in Oklahoma. Of course he’s also claiming to have been too naive to realize the racist intent behind Trump’s lies until now, which makes the whole thing feel highly disingenuous.
But whether he’s being honest about it or not, it’s notable that Senator Lankford is scrambling to this extent. It means he’s truly afraid that his support of Trump’s racist and violent election lies could end up costing him his own seat when he’s up for reelection – even in a red state like Oklahoma. It’s also the latest sign that Trump is truly radioactive, and that even some Republicans are more interested in distancing themselves from him than they are in trying to court what’s left of his depraved base.
