OAFS OF ALLEGIANCE

MAGA Hatches Sinister Plot to Block Election Winners

Republicans may have a new plan if they are hit with a blue wave.

With Republicans fearing massive losses across the country next week, some in MAGA world are cooking up a new plot to block some Democrats from being seated.

There’s a little-known maneuver that’s been raised in conservative circles to keep duly elected members of the Democratic Socialists of America from being sworn into office, Fox News reported.

Three DSA-backed candidates ousted incumbents in Democratic Party primaries this year. In total, the number in Congress could jump from two to at least seven if polls prove correct.

They are being targeted in the MAGA plot to use a loophole to prevent them from joining Congress and, in theory, possibly stop the Democrats from reaching a House majority.

When members-elect officially join Congress, they swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, but the argument is that any member-elect can challenge another’s right to be sworn in if they compile evidence that the person would not uphold their oath.

Instead of administering the oath of office en masse to all 435 members of the House, the process would involve deliberations followed by a vote on whether a member-elect could be sworn in.

Texas MAGA Rep. Keith Self told Fox News that he could invoke the maneuver.

“You cannot swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution while actively working to destroy it. The oath of office is not just words you say at a ceremony. It is a belief. It is an oath to our country and our fellow countrymen,” Self said.

The argument is that because the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform calls for the drafting of a new constitution, its members cannot be trusted to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

“The House has both the authority and the duty to ensure that anyone who takes that oath does so in good faith, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion. As DSA candidates and the Red-Green Alliance gain ground, we must enforce the Constitution as written or risk allowing people committed to replacing it to take seats of power under false pretenses,” Self told Fox News Digital.

Self has been representing Texas’s third congressional district since 2023.

According to Self, “Anyone who has personally embraced the destruction of the Constitution has no business being sworn in to uphold it.”

It is a curious argument from a right-wing lawmaker who has so closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump, who himself called for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution in a 2022 Truth Social post and has also been found to have exceeded his constitutional authority by numerous courts when it comes to executive actions, authorities, and other policies since he entered office.

It comes after Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett also told the New York Post earlier this month that he would try and block Democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier from being seated as she’s as shoe-in as the nominee to win the election in her blue New York district next week.

Earlier this month, the Center for Renewing America, launched in 2021 by top Trump official Russ Vought and featuring fellows like conservative activist and election denier Ed Martin, also released an analysis of the procedure to block a member-elect from taking the oath of office.

It argued that the House is the right place to challenge a member-elect’s qualifications.

But there are several variables to factor into the potential outcome, and that has largely to do with who’s in charge and the size of the majority.

Democrats only need three seats to flip the majority from red to blue. The Cook Political Report estimates they’re likely to do so by flipping between 12 and 25 seats. That would give them as many as 240 seats in the House.

Should Democrats win, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the next Speaker, and he could potentially put the kibosh on the whole thing.

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The Daily Beast also asked Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for comment on the specific maneuver being floated, as the current speaker often touts his background as a constitutional lawyer, but did not receive an immediate response.

On the campaign trail, Johnson has repeatedly pushed back on concerns about not seating members. Speaking in Iowa earlier this month, he insisted they would “follow the law.”

At a campaign event in New York, Johnson vowed “of course we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power” no matter the outcome, but also claimed Republicans would hold the majority.

“The Constitution says when the state certifies the election of members of Congress, then they’re administered the oath. That’s what I’ll be doing on January 3rd to everybody who’s there,” Johnson said.

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