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It was shocking, attracting nationwide attention, because it could fairly be viewed as incitement to violence.

But in a way the tweets cloud what鈥檚 really going on in the effort to wrest Arizona electors away from Biden and give them to Trump. The party is pursuing a long-shot, multi-pronged strategy to overturn the election results, and could win money and legislation even as they pile up political and legal losses.

The tweets, though: You really have to see them to believe the party went there.

First, the party鈥檚 Twitter account retweeted a post by a pro-Trump activist named Ali Alexander in which he said, 鈥淚 am willing to give my life for this fight.鈥�

The Arizona GOP added this comment: 鈥淗e is. Are you?鈥�

Later, the party linked to a scene from a Rambo movie in which the Sylvester Stallone character is in a standoff, amid a group of men with their weapons drawn. The GOP鈥檚 tweet quotes Stallone saying, 鈥淭his is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something.鈥�

The party deleted the latter tweet but kept the former. When asked about it, it put out a statement saying, 鈥淭he Republican Party of Arizona condemns all forms of violence in the strongest terms. Fictional movie scenes should be weighed in their proper context.鈥�

The party, chaired by Kelli Ward, is leading a substantial contingent of hardcore Trump supporters over a cliff. First they pursued legal strategies to try to overturn Trump鈥檚 loss of Arizona to Biden. Now they鈥檙e pursuing political ones.

But in the process, they鈥檙e narrowing their appeal through demanding greater and greater demonstrations of belief from followers. Rep. Mark Finchem, the Oro Valley Republican, claimed on Steve Bannon鈥檚 internet show Dec. 4 that 鈥渂etween 62 and 67 percent of Arizonans voted for the president.鈥�

Any Republican who peels off from the rush toward the cliff, like Gov. Doug Ducey or House Speaker Russell Bowers, is deemed a turncoat or Deep State operative 鈥� the catchall category for people who don鈥檛 do what Trump wants.

These politicians wouldn鈥檛 matter so much to the GOP strategy, though, if the party鈥檚 legal strategy hadn鈥檛 flopped completely, punctuated by a loss in the Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday night. The state party, Ward herself, the Trump campaign and other entities have sued seven times over the election.

So far, they have lost convincingly six times. The seventh case is still before U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa, who expressed skepticism about it on Tuesday.

The one thing Ward has been able to show is that there were a handful of errors in counting the ballots that needed to be duplicated in order to be tabulated. That led nowhere further.

Paul Weich, who has followed all the election lawsuits for his blog, Arizona鈥檚 Law, said even that 鈥渨asn鈥檛 a victory.

鈥淪he got a first down in order to keep alive the Hail Mary,鈥� Weich said.

Two lawsuits were filed as a result of what Trump-supporting attorney Sidney Powell called her 鈥渞elease the Kraken鈥� strategy 鈥� a reference to a mythical giant sea creature. But the last 鈥淜raken鈥� lawsuit 鈥� Weich called it the 鈥淏ride of Krakenstein鈥� 鈥� was withdrawn before a court even heard it.

In essence, the legal strategy is cooked. But a political strategy has been launched to try to get around the officeholders who aren鈥檛 willing to go down the conspiracist rabbit hole.

Finchem is one of the leaders of that effort, and his seatmate in Legislative District 11, Bret Roberts, is also committed.

Their current claim is that they can call themselves into a special session and, by simple majority, withdraw the state鈥檚 electors.

The governor, the House speaker and the Senate president have all declined to call a special session. Under state law, if the governor doesn鈥檛 call a session, it takes a two-thirds vote of each chamber to call one.

Roberts explained they met with a conservative constitutional scholar, Rob Natelson, who assured them they have the power to meet on the election question and overturn the system for assigning electors that is established in state law 鈥� both by simple majority.

鈥淯ntil I learned that the constitution has a remedy and a method for this, I was questioning it myself,鈥� Roberts said.

Although he favors this move, he also is seeking a 鈥渇orensic audit鈥� of voting machines to test whether they were or could be tampered with.

鈥淭he overarching issue is to get the questions answered and audit the vote,鈥� he said.

The likelihood, of course, is that none of their urgent efforts will result in any change in the outcome.

But they appear to be raising lots of money in this fight. The Trump campaign reported raising $207.5 million after the election. Their fundraising appeal has centered on claiming to want money to fight the election results while actually channeling the money to a new political action committee he runs.

The Arizona GOP, which had problems raising money under Ward鈥檚 leadership, is also sending out regular appeals for money, saying it will help them 鈥渇ight for Election Integrity.鈥�

Beyond Jan. 20, when Biden takes office, you can expect big proposed changes to election laws in the next legislative session.

Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, the Republican who chairs the elections committee, told me she plans to hold a hearing on the 2020 election, and from there proceed to entertain bills that would address any problems brought up.

She expects to see bills dealing with issues such as:

• Stopping voters from dropping off mail-in ballots on Election Day;
• Signature verification procedures by the county recorders鈥� offices;
• Allowing recounts in more situations, instigated by candidates or others.

鈥淭he more transparency there is around the process of voting, the more people understand it, I think the more people will have confidence in the outcome,鈥� she said.

So even if Republicans decide not to give their lives for the Trump cause, even if the party loses all its legal and political battles to throw out the election, even if the party is viciously divided, they still could win by selling 鈥渇raud鈥� allegations to hardcore partisans and others.

They raise money, and they might win changes to election law that benefit them.