Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed the "little secret" suggested by former President Donald Trump at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, saying it's merely seeking to increase voter turnout ahead of election day.
Trump said on Sunday that the "little secret" could have a "big impact" on Republicans' chances of maintaining control of the Lower House. "We can take the Senate pretty easily, and I think with our little secret, we're going to take the House, right?" Trump said. "Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over."
Speaking at a rally to support GOP congressional candidate Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania, Johnson said Republicans are having fun with the concept because of media reactions and speculation that it referred to a plan to reject electoral college results if Trump loses the election next Tuesday.
"It's nothing scandalous, but we're having a ball with this. The media, their heads are exploding. 'What is the secret? It's a get-out-the-vote. It's one of our tactics on get-out-the-vote," Johnson explained. He went on to say media outlets are "convinced" otherwise, rubbing his hands as if he was concocting an evil plan.
Some Democrats have indeed claimed the concept referred to an effort to overturn the elections, with New York Rep. Dan Goldman saying on CNN he suspected that Trump would "try to go to the House to throw out the Electoral College and have the House under Mike Johnson overturn this election."
The speaker, however, called the theory "absolute, utter nonsense." "I'm a lifelong constitutional law attorney. We're going to respect the law. We're going to follow the constitution to a T," Johnson told The Hill.
"I've proven that over and over and over. So all this conjecture is actually hilarious to us, that people are apoplectic about this. It's a — it's one of our get out the vote strategies. That's what we're talking about. And it's almost a tongue-in-cheek thing."
Despite Johnson's assurances, many voters are restless about the possibility of another violent attempt to overturn the election's results. A new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that about four in 10 registered voters say they are fearful of a new attempt to overturn the election's results, with a similar share worried about legal efforts to do so. Moreover, about one in three also said they are "extremely" or "very" concerned about attempts by local or state election officials to stop the results from being tallied.
Nearly 90% of respondents said the loser of the presidential election is obligated to concede once every state has finished counting its votes, but that number slightly decreases among Republicans, with about eight in every 10 voters saying so.
Democrats and Republicans have different views on whether Trump will do so if he loses, with two-thirds of Republican voters thinking that will be the case, compared to only about one in 10 Democrats.
Overall, only about a third of voters expect former President Trump to accept the results and concede if he loses, compared to nearly eight in 10 voters who believe Harris will accept the results and concede in case she loses the election.
