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.
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.
Trump’s team also directed their bullying 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.
