Trump clings to the last straw
Donald Trump has used the endgame in his fight against the outcome of the US presidential race. Now that recounts and legal battles are not making a difference, he wants to put Republican MPs in front of him in conflicting states.
Just less than two weeks after Democrat Joe Biden has gathered enough electoral votes to be declared the winner of the US presidential race, current White House resident Donald Trump has still not resigned himself to the outcome. He continues to argue on Twitter that there is 'election fraud' and that the victory is stolen from him.
In an effort to avert defeat, Trump and his campaign team have been demanding recounts in several battle states over the past 2.5 weeks. At the same time, his lawyers opened up several legal fronts. Until now without any significant result. On Thursday, judges, including in Pennsylvania, referred three more complaints about irregularities to the trash.
More lawsuits
Yet the billionaire has no plans to bury the hatchet yet. More lawsuits will follow in the following days. The Democrats are mastering national conspiracy theories to steal the election, ”Rudolph Giuliani, the current US president's personal attorney, posited Thursday. He did not provide proof.
The chance that one of these new things will change the election race after all, seems small. But that may no longer be Team Trump's goal. By filing an endless series of complaints, they mainly hope to delay or block the final certification of the election results in some conflicting states.
In this way, they want to gain time to launch a final offensive. Now that recounts and legal battles are not making sense, Trump and co. to mobilize state parliaments with Republican majorities.
State Parliament
Usually, the governor or secretary of state in charge of electoral processes certifies the outcome of a ballot box in their state. But Trump's lawyers refer to a phrase in the constitution to argue that that is actually the power of the state parliament.
In addition, they are waving a law that says that the same body will take action if voters 'fail to make a clear choice on election day'. The state parliament can pass a resolution stating that the "ballot battle was marred by irregularities, making the outcome unclear." After which the members of parliament can send electors to the electoral college that the president officially elects on December 14.
Trump is primarily targeting Michigan, where Biden received more than 148,000 votes than his rival. The billionaire invited the Republican leaders of that state parliament to the White House on Friday to discuss the strategy with them. If he gets them along, fellow party members from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin can soon expect a 'massage'.
The tactic can only succeed if the current president gets all three states on his side. But even if the Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin state councils send Trump-loyal electors to the electoral college, the loot isn't in. Because the governor can at the same time perfectly send the original electors, loyal to Biden and awarded on the basis of the election results, to that body.
Rickety
When it comes to that, the US will enter uncharted territory. The matter then lands on the board of the National Congress. On January 6, 2021, the Senate and the House of Representatives will consider the election results. If a state sends two platoons of electors to the electoral college, Vice President Mike Pence as President of the Senate may decide to ban their votes from the results. It may then ultimately be the House that decides who will be inaugurated on January 20.
This is why the current election process is so dangerous. For so long, it has revolved around respect for norms that has been concealed as to how rickety the whole system is if someone decides to play the game really hard, ”said FairVote's David Daley, who is working to reform the election process.
The ball seems to end up in the hands of Republican MPs in some struggling states in the following days. Are they willing to ignore the electoral intentions of millions of Americans and join Trump's endgame? To be continued.
