OK, I thought that the collapse of Trump’s lawsuits and the flight of his top lawyers was going to do in his coup attempt. But we now see a far more desperate effort going on, although with Trump still trying to stay at least marginally within legal boundaries, although not by much, and clearly trying every single thing he can do to block Biden’s victory. It is getting down to blocking certification of results in enough states so that even if he cannot get legislatures to approve pro-Trump electors, highly unlikely as illegal in all the swing states actually, but to have the situation undecided so that nobody goes from enough states so that when Electoral College votes on Dec. 14, Biden falls short of the necessary 270, which would then throw it to the House of Representatives, where Trump would win because a majority of the states have majority GOP representation, and the voting is by state. The last time the House determined the outcome was in 1824, when second-place John Quincy Adams defeated first place in both popular and electoral votes, Andrew Jackson, as Henry Clay threw his support to Adams in return for being appointed Secretary of State.
The sign of how desperate Trump has become is that even though GOP Sec of State in Georgia Raffensperger has certified that Biden won Georgia, in the face of calls for his resignation and death threats, that needs to be signed by the GOP Governor Kemp, whom apparently Trump is calling and pressuring not to sign off, again, the effort to simply have things unresolved as of Dec. 14.
Needless to say, the conspiracy theory pushed by Guiliani and Sidney Powell in yesterday’s insane press conference is completely off the wall, that there has been a nationwide conspiracy to use Dominion machines to add votes for Biden in certain major cities, with the program coming from Venezuela via some Antifa people where it was written originally to help keep Hugo Chavez in power. Wow. But only two GOP senators have stepped forward to denounce this nonsense: Romney and Sasse, with supposedly 70% of GOP voters still buying the story that the election was “stolen” from Trump, with this wild Venezuela theory the latest to support that, even as nearly all the legal cases have collapsed due to a total lack of any evidence.
The immediate focus of this new coup effort has been on Michigan, where Trump is encouraging the militias who have threatened to take over the state house and start executing “tyrants” on TV, most certainly including Gov. Whitmer. For the first time in US history ever we nearly had a Board of Canvassers not certify a clear electoral outcome, this in Wayne County, which includes Detroit. The two Republicans initially blocking the certification then backed off after pressure arrived, but with Trump calling them on the phone, they apparently want to go back to non-certifying. But too late, all counties have now certified. Which puts it up to the state board, which must act on Monday, Nov. 23, but one of the two GOP members there is talking about non-certifying, and Trump is meeting right now with the GOP leaders of the legislature, presumably about trying to get them to appoint pro-Trump electors in any case, in clear violation of existing law. The only good thing there, aside from Biden having a 157,000 vote lead, is that apparently Gov. Whitmer has the legal authority to replace a member of the State Board of Canvassers, so hopefully if they do try to refuse to certify, she will act to make sure there is a certification. But the hard fact is that Trump is throwing everything he has to block Biden from getting the 16 electoral votes from Michigan.
He has called for a recount in the two most Dem counties in Wisconsin, which is going on now and will probably not change Biden’s 20,000 plus lead much. But also he is playing to the state legislature and the Board of Canvassers to block Biden. Apparently, the legislature has no authority to do anything other than support the certified winner. The positive there is that ultimately it is the Chair of that board who certifies, and she is a Dem. It is astounding that we are getting down to this.
He is making efforts in AZ and NV, but they do not look like they are going anywhere, although in AZ GOP is in control of the state machinery, so cannot yet be ruled out.
Which brings us to the big prize of PA, where Trump has been throwing more efforts, both legal and political, than anywhere else, well, with the possible exception of MI. Biden has a more than 50,000 vote lead, but the effort has been to block certification in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (Allegany County). He did get one of his few legal victories there, leading to over 2,000 absentee ballots in Allegany City not getting counted. But that will not overturn things there. The gov and AG are Dem, but I am not sure who is in charge of certification at the state level, and Trump has been playing to legislators. There are more suits there still ongoing, with apparently 18 still nationwide, including at least one in NV, also trying to block certification.
It may be that MI and PA are Trump’s best shots unless he can get Gov. Kemp in GA not to sign off on the certification that has already happened there. If he can keep MI and PA from sending electors, Biden would still win with just barely 270, PA having 20 and MI having 16, with Biden currently leading with 306. So if it is just those two, Biden will squeak in, although at this point I am now worrying that indeed Trump is so desperate he may yet try something else. But he needs a third state, and I do not think it will be Wisconsin, with its good government traditions, despite some bad GOP actors there. We may still be back to the He who wins Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, wins the White House, but maybe only by a hair against a wildly extra-constitutional coup-like effort.
Barkley Rosser
He’s hysterical
Trump is secure from prosecution by his well established insanity defense.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a34726577/trump-impeach-lame-duck/
Trump May Need to Be Impeached and Removed Before Inauguration Day
The president will not stop trying to steal the election. At the very least, he will do untold damage to the country leading up to January 20.
By Jack Holmes
Nov 19, 2020
Now that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, is personally “reaching out” to members of a Michigan election board as part of a larger plot to simply throw out the results of an election he lost by a comfortable margin, maybe we can stop pretending this is just a public tantrum we can allow to burn out until he falls into a fevered nap. That his allies believe the president must be approached like a spoiled toddler is itself an indication of our national decline, and an indictment of all the lackeys who’ve worked so hard to make this state of affairs possible. But his campaign is also in court asking a judge to simply nix the election in Pennsylvania and give him the Electoral Votes. This is not just another meltdown to be managed, as we all try to dodge the toys he’s throwing out of the crib. He should be removed from office for crimes against the American republic.
I have said in private for some time that I believe Trump, if he is to actually leave office, may have to be impeached in the lame duck period. It’s often been met with eye-rolls, but there are a number of reasons to believe he simply will not leave willingly, even if it’s useful and necessary to call on him to resign. The first is that he may well face criminal jeopardy in multiple jurisdictions once he loses the immunity protections of the presidency. This guy has been crooked for a long time, and while a staggering number of the people around him have faced prison time, he has yet to see any real consequences. He does not intend to. He also owes a lot of people a lot of money, and it’s not clear he could make good even if he wanted to. (He does not.) Beyond the practical, there is the specter of his towering ego and his crippling fear of humiliation. His impulsive and shameless behavior, often bordering on nihilism, is driven in no small part by a primal urge to avoid paying the piper. It’s worked for him his whole life. This guy never pays his bills—to contractors or to the bank—and nothing ever comes of it. Why should that stop now?…
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/what-happens-american-president-refuses-leave-office/
Here’s what happens if a U.S. president refuses to leave office
No American head of state has refused to relinquish power at term’s end—even in a contested election. Here’s why it’s unlikely to happen now.
5 Minute Read
By Amy McKeever
PUBLISHED November 19, 2020
*
[My opinion is that anyone worried should go to the link and read the entire article linked above. The short version that we get is a little scary, but there are parts left out that matter a lot to the likely outcome. Question is whether the Donald’s advisors know all the details and whether they really want to see the Donald taken out in chains or shot by the Secret Service or military.]
Ask yourself what would happen to Donald Trump if Nancy Pelosi were “king,” even if just for a day?
The apprentice POTUS could not hire a lot of replacements without the Senate, but the power to fire would give her a way to whittle down the “acting” replacements to those that would meet her needs. Trump SHOULD know all about the Apprentice, but “You’re fired” worked in the other direction on his show.
@Ron,
“if Nancy Pelosi were “king,” even if just for a day?”
Don’t make me wet my panties.
With deepest respect and regard for the genuine concerns of so many of my fellow citizens, I would ask that we all refrain from “clutching pearls” too soon.
True, the current president is not behaving within traditional etiquette. But when have Boomers (myself included) ever gone along with accepted norms.
Despite all the judiciary nominations pushed through over the last four years, the president’s people do not seem to be making much headway in court.
Let’s wait until December 14th. Then we can evaluate the situation and panic if appropriate.
I just saw on TV that if by the time the electoral college vote, neither side can come up with 270 votes, that the election would go to the House of Representatives — where the Republican delegations have 26 to 24 edge.
Everyone assumes that means curtains for Biden. But the Michigan legislature coming to Washington to lecture The Donald that they won’t overturn legit results gives me an idea. Considering the nature of the stolen election attempt — I would not be surprised if a lot more than two delegations switched sides and voted for democracy (especially with tens of millions of folks marches descending on DC and every state capital).
if they’re thinking coup, they’re going about it in a strange way…Mnuchin has moved to shutter a number of Fed emergency-lending facilities that relied on Treasury backing, and the Fed agreed to return unused funds meant to backstop five of those emergency lending programs…you don’t burn down the house if you’re expecting to live in it at some point in the future…
don’t burn down the house if you’re expecting to live in it at some point in the future…
”
~~Rjs~
predictions are less accurate when the prediction refers to the Future. yet every time I see the cue ball rolling towards the corner pocket in a straight line, a line unoccupied by any other ball, I get this feeling that I’m about to scratch. over the past two weeks this is the way the ball has been rolling, rolling towards a monarchy. What are our thoughts on what such a monarchy would be like? What is our consensus? What will our country look like
?
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You can’t make this up.
” After appearing to acquit themselves rationally after a controversial White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday, Michigan’s lawmakers were photographed celebrating maskless and downing pricey Dom Perignon champagne in the Trump International Hotel.
Voters erupted, and “Dom Perignon” was quickly trending on Twitter. The bottles go for $500 to $950 each at the hotel, and if it was a treat from Trump, they were likely on an expense account paid for by taxpayers — state, or federal….
Neither Chatfield nor Shirkey have yet responded to the uproar, and could not immediately be reached by HuffPost to comment. Shirkey refused to answer reporters’ questions when he landed back in Michigan Saturday. He sang a hymm, ignoring queries about who paid for his trip.”
https://www.huffpost.com/en…
So, “Onward Christian Soldiers” is my guess.
There is a process and structure to moving from a campaign to determining the President and it is good to understand the details. But there is a superprocess also at work. Whoever thinks they’ll be President the afternoon of January 20, 2021, can’t be someone the nation believes, on the morning of that day, worked to steal the election to that office.
Guiliani and Powell have done a huge favor for Joe Biden. They have provided a beautiful opportunity for the nation’s attention to be focused exclusively on one over-the-top mega-allegation. If they provide compelling evidence that it is correct, well about 99.97% of the country will reject Joe Biden. There is no downside to the nation of them being correct. But there is a huge potential downside to Trump if they are wrong, because it will deeply tarnish every other claim made. For example, is the Washington Post sending their very good reporters to Milwaukee to look at the charges that institutionalized adults with developmental challenges were being pressured by staff to vote Biden or even had their absentee ballots prepared by others as Biden votes? Would that seem to be a story of more importance than Roy Moore’s dating habits of 30 years ago? In the rush to generate tens of millions of mail-in votes, thousands of people pointed out that this was going to paint a target on the back of very vulnerable citizens, whose vote would no longer have voting booth protections.
I have not seen clear evidence that Biden (or Trump, to be complete) tried to steal the election. But I also think that looking hard at a lot of allegations is going to take more time and that state certifications are not going to be an effective defense for any candidate on January 20 if the case is made. Nor will the notion that only 2400 possible votes were involved and the gap is 20,000. Nor will ‘well only one state was found and 2 others would be needed.’ What is going to matter is the willingness of the country to accept a candidate shown to have worked to steal the office. Like I said, I have not seen it. But if I see it, the volume and geography of it won’t be important. The intent behind it will.
That sounds like a Giuliani press conference. Better check your hair dye.
Eric,
We have zero evidence of Biden “trying to steal the election,” although maybe some Dem operatives here or there did some questionable things that shifted a small number of votes.
But we see Trump blatantly trying to steal the election by any means possible, and some impossible, with him having proclaimed long before the election he was going to do so, not accept a peaceful transfer of power and declaring the election to be a fraud before it happened. And here he is at it, pushing outright illegal actions by state legislatures to replace electors.
I also note that the only verified case of an effort to get a dead person to vote was by a pro-Trump voter, I think in Michigan, who tried to get a ballot for his mother to vote, who had died 5 years elarlier.
No, it is unequivocal: Trump is actively trying to steal the election in multiple ways while Biden has not done so at all. Get real, buster.
Barkley:
You are being polite . . .
Run,
Yeah, every time Eric hits “Peak Stupid” I think he cannot top it. He keeps surprising me.
EMike,
Willful ignorance is the conservative way. It is difficult to beat a man at their own game.