Naomi Klein at the Intercept has a piece up on the danger of pretending that Trump’s challenge of the election results is merely, in Joe Biden’s words, “an embarrassment.”
NOW WE HAVE TO FIGHT TRUMP’S TIN-POT COUP — AND BIDEN’S WORST INSTINCTS
The chorus of Republican voices echoing manufactured claims of mass election fraud hasn’t petered out yet. So, is it:
- A grift to raise cash for Donald Trump?
- A ploy to goose aggrieved Republican turnout in Georgia’s high-stakes Senate runoffs?
- An elaborate scheme to flatter a nuclear-armed narcissist into gradually accepting the reality that he is what he most fears: a loser?
- An attempt to preemptively drain the Biden-Harris administration of perceived legitimacy, in an effort to clip its wings and then use its ineffectiveness to secure big Republican wins in the midterms?
- An actual, thought-through, coordinated plot for Republican-controlled state legislatures to use the pretext of public concerns over voter fraud — concerns methodically manufactured out of thin air through sheer force of repetition by Trump and his minions — to claim a constitutional “duty” to override their states’ certified election results and instead directly appoint Republican presidential electors? In short, is what we are witnessing the prelude to an Electoral College coup? As David Sirota first reported, a harrowing paper by Ohio State constitutional law expert Edward Foley warned about this precise scenario last year, explaining how state legislatures could attempt to claim this kind of constitutional cover in order to override certified election results.
My take? A through D are definitely happening, while the risk of E being a real threat is very slim. But slim isn’t nil and given the stakes, that’s makes it enough to deserve some attention.
Klein cites the recent warning from David Sirota, who lays out the danger in stark terms:
Trump Is Staging A Coup — Why Are Dems Not Sounding The Alarm?
Republicans are following a clear plan to try to overturn the election results, just like they did in 2000. And once again, Democrats are not sounding the alarm.
…
Trump Has A Deliberate Strategy
In the week since the election, Trump’s and his Republican allies have waged a public campaign to call the election results into question — not just in the courtroom, but in the public’s mind. Their lawsuits and Attorney General William Barr’s recent memoare designed as much to win rulings and initiate prosecutions as they are to generate headlines. Their tweets asserting fraud, and their high-profile promises of financial reward for evidence of fraud are all designed to do the same thing.
Most ominously of all, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona are already insinuating the results may be fraudulent, even though they haven’t produced any evidence of widespread fraud.
Why is public perception so important? Because as Ohio State University law professor Edward Foley shows in a frighteningly prescient 2019 article, legislatures could use the public perception of fraud to try to invoke their constitutional power to ignore their states’ popular votes, reject certified election results and appoint slates of Trump electors.
The time is past for feel-good chuckling at memes of Trump as a screaming toddler. There can be no doubt that Trump and his allies are attempting to bring about a slow-motion coup* by subverting the Electoral College. Sure, it’s a longshot, but underestimating Trump and his legions of enablers is how we got here in the first place.
People must speak out. If you live in any of the GOP-controlled states that Biden flipped (AZ, GA, WI, MI, and PA), call or e-mail your state legislators, Congresspersons and Senators and let them know that the will of the people must be respected. Donate to the Biden Fight Fund. Share this post or the linked articles on social media.
The election is over. But the fight is not yet won.
*Technically, when a leader attempts to stay in power beyond their legal term, the proper term is “autogolpe”, not “coup d’etat”.