Updated ;11/28/20
Published in the Winter Park Times December 4, 2020 https://winterparktimes.com/opinion/columnists/hats-off-to-those-that-stood-by-the-law/
Updated 12/10/20
Updated: 12/1l/20:Supreme Court rejected the suit Friday afternoon. Democracy wins again and the GOP is no longer grand: just the anti-democracy party. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-texas-effort-overturn-election-fatal-blow-trump- His coup by federal court failed. He claims to have more tricks up his sleeve to overturn the election and pursue his autocratic dreams.
In their desperate attempt to stay in power, Donald, Trump and his enablers tried to trash the very definitions of a successful democracy, the faith in the vote of the people, a peaceful transfer of power to a new administration, and the rule of law, instead of the rule of a person. This was Trump's last stand. Finally, Trump was forced by public opinion polls and some in his own party to permit the transition to the Biden administration to proceed, but he did it without admitting the election loss. Judges upheld the rule of law, the vote of the people expressing their will survived to determine the winner, and the transition to the new administration remains peaceful.. The bottom line is democracy is winning. Democracy's survival was a near miss. Exit polls showed Biden voters had public policy issues and abhorrence of Trump's racism on their minds. Even if voters were not motivated by the significance of the difference between rule by the people and rule by a tyrant, the effect was the same. Democracy persisted.
Trump, instead of admitting defeat acknowledged the loss in a backhanded way. He hints at making plans to run again in 2024 and keep control of party discipline with his tyrannical tools of fear, loathing by tweets,, and threats of primary any GOP member of Congress who dare steps out of the loyalty to Trump line. Biden mostly ignored the Trump whoop de doo, kept acting presidential and announcing his cabinet nominees and staff.
The post-November 3 drama played out, but not as Trump supporters had hoped. The Trump strategy was to choose pro-Trump electors instead of Biden electors contrary to the public vote. The plan was activated soon after the November 3 vote..Trump's scheme to overturn the vote and keep himself in power was hardly a secret. Months before election day, Trump had laid the groundwork to claim fraud, that if he lost, it was because Democrats rigged the election. Now that he lost, he tried to rig the vote outcome to self fulfill his prophecy.
He tried every lawyer's trick in the trade. and Rudy Guiliani and his attorneys filed lawsuit after lawsuit, demanding recounts and audits. The out of step Trump lawyers soldiered on to execute their predetermined strategy made obsolete by the unexpected Nov. 3 vote totals. Trump's plot to thwart the vote against him might have been more likely to have succeeded if the size and scope of Trump's defeat had not been so large and spread across such a large number of states, albeit with thin margins in many. He needed to flip 40 electors. It is also darn near impossible to make a case before a judge without any evidence of widespread fraud and demand that thousands of votes should be thrown in the trash. Trump's lawyers failed. The reason: no such evidence has yet been found that would stand up in court.
At the sweat dripping press conference on November 19 held at Republican headquarters in Washington DC, the president's attorney Rudy Guiliani's with his backup cadre of lawyers laid out their purpose to "overturn the vote'". This was in spite of the over 6 million margins with which Biden won the popular vote. and the 306 electoral. votes. Trump's attorney/fixer Rudy Giuliani's strategy of filing lawsuits failed to produce any evidence of widespread fraud and could not stop state certifications of Biden's win in key states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan. Their state laws gave state legislatures no option but to approve the elector slate that reflected the state's certified popular vote winner. Challenges and recounts in Wisconsin continue, but their ten electoral votes are not enough to overturn the electoral college count. Both Pennsylvania, federal appellate, and State Supreme courts ruled against Trump's cases and motions. Next? Supreme Court? Still not enough electoral college votes to overturn the election if they win there.
Even after states like Pennsylvania certified the vote, the tilting at windmills continued as Guiliani and Trump continued their Don Quixote act, keeping up the charade that Trump won by a landslide. They claim the vote against them was because of fraud, and they " have affidavits to prove it." Of course, if they did, they would have presented them in court to provide the evidence they needed to win a case. . Their batting average in courts was zero. If they had come into court with the affidavits in hand, they would have had to swear to the truth and jeopardize their law licenses if they lied. That is in itself evidence the "affidavits" were pumped up hot air to keep the Trump supporter morale inflated. Nonetheless, Trump's attorneys continued making claims after judges ruled. They filed appeals, demanded recounts, and audits, and opined on friendly Trump media while Trump's cohorts continued fundraising to cover campaign debt and lawyer fees.
Trump's team also directed their bully fire at the certification officials and schmoozed them in the White House. Trump summoned the Michigan GOP members of their state legislature to the White House on November 20 in order to persuade them. It takes guts to be brave and to tell a tyrant president no, especially one who governs by fear of a tweet or threatens a primary next election cycle. Hats off to the legislators and certifiers who stood by the law. More despicable acts were death threats that are the modus operandi of the violent Trump supporters who disagree with any secretary of state or election official Just ask the Secretary of State of Georgia what that is like..and he is a Republican. Or ask the Michigan governor and state officials, too, whose plots to kill them were thwarted by the FBI. The last state to certify the vote outcome? December 1. By December 8 per Federal law, governors must sign and provide the names of electors... The electoral college vote takes place on December 14.
On December 1, Bill Barr, Attorney General and Trump Loyalist reported the DOJ could not find evidence of widespread fraud in an interview with the Associated Press.
Wisconsin Federal Court Shames Trump, GOP, & Kraken With Dismissal (bipartisanreport.com)
.https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-elections-william-barr-b1f1488796c9a98c4b1a9061a6c7f49d
‘Voters, not lawyers, choose the president’: Appeals court shoots down Trump suit in Pennsylvania (msn.com)
Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit against mail ballots with prejudice in another defeat for Trump (msn.com)
Trump Election Fraud Allegations Disgraceful Endgame to 2020 Reelection Effort | National Review
This Election Result Won’t Be Overturned - WSJ
Fact check: Biden won popular, Electoral College votes in several battleground states (msn.com) Fact checking Guiliani et al.
CNN’s Tapper Shreds GOP For Enabling Trump as He Foments Post-Election Threats: ‘Did You Not Know Who This Man Was?’ (msn.com)
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The following Yahoo op ed lays out exactly how Trumpism nearly wiped out democracy and came too close to installing authoritarian rule. There are reforms which could protect us from that again. The op ed expresses thisclearly...and it is worth serious consideration. Op-Ed: To stamp out Trumpism, the U.S. needs to deal with these six things (yahoo.com)
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Trump's attempt to get Michigan's lawmakers to send Trump electors to the Electoral College failed. Meeting with him in the White House on 11/20, they gave him a lesson on the process and "found no reason" yet of fraud or the vote total would change. In short, they told him "no" as a group in a diplomatic way but left the door open to keep on looking for fraud as if recounts and audits would find the 20,000 frauds. On November 23, Michigan's certification board certified the election and Biden won. End of that Michigan vote-stealing strategy. Georgia's GOP Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger 11/20 certified the Biden win in their state and stood bravely on principle in spite of death threats and White House pressure. He said "no", though he was a proud supporter of Trump., while saying "Numbers don't lie" . Monday, 11/23 was Pennsylvania's certification day but some counties were not finished and the votes they possessed were not enough to make a difference. Two other court challenges elsewhere would not change the vote outcome in their states. A Pennsylvania district court judge threw out the Trump case in a "scathing ruling" on November 21..On November 23, the Penn state Supreme Court rejected Trump's suit to not count certain absentee ballots. The last lawsuit pending was tossed out by the judge in Arizona. In their illogic, they are asking only votes for one candidate for one office, except that the votes for GOP statewide down-ballot candidates would be thrown out, too. The Republican statewide candidates often did better than Trump did and even picked up House seats and kept control of state governments as before Nov.3. . In their racist bent, some Trumpsters are only asking for recounts in counties where there are many African Americans. who overwhelmingly supported Biden, earning a civil rights lawsuit from the NAACP..
The fallout, however, will not end. There will always be hard-core Trumpists who will "believe "they was robbed",, will keep on looking. and believing this to justify their anti-democracy extremism. They will continue the search for their leader, a wannabe autocrat/dictator who could rule by fear and iron fist on their behalf, and no one else's, and the rule of laws and the Constitution be damned. He is beginning to spin his tales of election fraud so that his Trumpists will believe he won. Note that the tales he tells has not been brought to court so no one has to swear to the truth. So far every court case his lawyers have brought has been laughed out of court for lack of evidence (they dared not have to swear to tell the truth about their "evidence" or they would have been disbarred.. The Pennsylvania Federal district judge called their legal case a "Frankenstein". However, if he lies to the devoted followers who have swallowed every other lie he has told, he may hold onto enough of them and may have terrorized GOP politicians, we may yet have to deal with him for a few years more. .
The Certification of the 2020 US Election Results is on Schedule. Here's a Timeline. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/politics/giuliani-trump-legal-team-press-briefing-fact-check/index.html
Vote certification deadlines in states facing legal challenges from Trump, GOP - The Washington Post
Pennsylvania Judge Halts Further Vote Certification Steps (2) (bloomberglaw.com)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-campaign-tries-to-throw-out-votes-in-wisconsin-recount-11606327239
At Least 4 Pennsylvania Counties To Miss Certification Deadline : NPR
Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejects Trump campaign's effort to block counting certain absentee ballots - CNNPolitics
Federal judge rejects Trump campaign's Pa. lawsuit with prejudice, saying it lacks factual proof - ABC News (go.com)
Georgia certifies election results, making Biden victory official - ABC News (go.com)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/21/trump-campaign-lawsuit-challenging-election-pennsylvania-dismissed/6360749002/
Judge tosses last election lawsuit in Arizona | TheHill
Michigan Lawmakers Tell Trump They See No Reason State’s Election Results Would Change - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyers-promise-to-step-up-fight-to-overturn-election-results-11605828073
Georgia secretary of state: I'm a proud Trump supporter but numbers don't lie - CNN Video
Wisconsin officials: Trump observers obstructing recount (yahoo.com)
BACKGROUND 11/19
.. . It appears that the GOP pre-planned moves were based on a theory that the electoral count be would be dependent on a single state, as it did in Bush v Gore in Florida and there needed to flip only one or two states that voted for Biden substituting them with Trump electors. Should the resulting suit land in the Supreme Court, that contingency plan was made more possible by a stroke of luck, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the lightning replacement of her seat with a person Trump thought in his transactional mafia-like mind would vote his way in his belief that the new justice would owe him one. So far judges in lower courts whether appointed by Democrats or Republicans, have rejected suits to overturn the vote brought to them byTrump's cohorts because they were claiming fraud without evidence or they asked the judge to throw the votes out because of some baseless technicality. . The exception is now his last resort:.to use threats and the fear of Trump tweets to force electors to be in defiance to the popular count in their states and vote for Trump in the Electoral College when their state's majority popular vote went for Biden. The Trumpsters are also buying time by screwing up the certification process to pull off such a strategy of sabotaging the electoral college process. If it should happen, expect there to be a court suit slugfest. In a press conference on November 19, Biden did not rule out court action.
Trump has been somewhat successful with convincing his base for now that the claims of fraud are legitimate. Over 70% of Americans polled believe Biden won, but the other third is Foxated, believing Trump media that Trump won, conveying the message of conspiracy theories and charges of intentional criminal irregularities. Half of Republicans still believe the Democrats rigged the election by fraud. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll/half-of-republicans-say-biden-won-because-of-a-rigged-election-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN27Y1AJ For some of these true believers, facts, data, evidence and supporting the democratic process, the rule of law, hold no meaning and they will likely carry to their graves a belief Trump was robbed. OnlyTrump's words count. Fortunately for the continuation of the oldest democracy in the world, they are not the majority. The lasting negative fall out of the post-election day attempt to overturn the vote will be a minority body of antidemocratic forces always nipping at the heels of democracy, looking for a dictator/strong man that will carry out their will., and no one else's.
There may be a beneficial result if this attack on the vote integrity of the electoral college fails. I can imagine more pressure then to eliminate the electoral college system in favor of the direct election of the president based on the national popular vote. The electoral college has a weakness that was exposed in 2020. The electoral college can be exploited in the future to do what a tyrant like Trump is trying to do, to thwart the will of the people. Some have called this maneuver a "coup" like those stunts attempted in banana republics by tinpot dictators desperate to stay in power.. Even if the Electoral College is not replaced by popular demand, there will certainly be a retooling of state elector laws and election certification processes and increased penalties for such misbehavior..
