CNN’s Harwood: Republicans would ‘go smack their moms in the face’ if Trump ordered them to

CNN White House correspondent John Harwood on Friday attempted to describe GOP loyalty to President Trump, saying Republicans would “go smack their moms in the face” if Trump ordered them to.

Harwood and his network colleague Kate Bolduan were discussing a Texas lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court attempting block election results in four battleground states being finalized for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

On Thursday, 106 House Republicans signed on to an amicus brief in support of the suit, claiming “unconstitutional irregularities involved in the 2020 presidential election cast doubt upon its outcome and the integrity of the American system of elections.”

Bolduan noted that there are lawmakers supporting the lawsuit from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — the states baselessly accused of having widespread voter fraud.

“They’re not questioning their own election wins though,” she added.

“What we’re seeing Kate is a demonstration by House Republicans of the extent of the rot inside the Republican Party right now,” Harwood responded.

He noted that many of Trump’s most fervent supporters in 2020 have criticized him in the past.

“These people know what Donald Trump is, as [Sen.] Ted Cruz [R-Texas] said in 2016, he’s a pathological liar,” Harwood said, referring to Trump’s GOP presidential primary opponents four years ago. “[Sen.] Marco Rubio [R-Fla.] called him a con artist.”

Harwood suggested Republicans are scared of facing the president’s wrath and only signed on to the “preposterous lawsuit” because they want their party to maintain power in the White House.

“These are people who if Donald Trump said, ‘I’m going to trash you on Twitter unless you go smack your mom in the face,’ they would go smack their moms in the face and try to explain it to them afterward,” Harwood added. “In reality, what they’re doing is smacking American democracy in the face.”

The daily Harwood-ism: If Trump said ‘go smack your mom in the face,’ “The [GOP] would go smack their moms in the face and try to explain it to them afterwards. In reality what they’re doing is smacking American democracy in the face.” @johnjharwood pic.twitter.com/Mh3H2e3XnM

— Kate Bolduan (@KateBolduan) December 11, 2020

The lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) seeks to void the vote certifications of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Michigan, arguing the states’ mail-in voting efforts during the pandemic were unconstitutional.

Attorneys general from 18 other red states agreed, signing on to that lawsuit this week.  

The suit has caused tensions within the GOP as senior lawmakers question its legal standing.