Here’s a new way of thinking about the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Instead of a series of disconnected, disparate schemes all aimed at the same goal, the fake electors plot provides a lens through which to view the entire effort, giving Trump’s 2020 plans a coherence, with each piece fitting neatly together. Now, two years after the violence of Jan. 6, this fresh look at the scheme reinforces how efforts to spread conspiracy theories, subvert the DOJ, weaponize state legislatures, summon an angry mob and, ultimately, pressure the vice president on Jan. 6 were all part of the same plot, with fake electors at the center.
Good article, as always. But unless and until indictments against Trump and those around him engaging in the fake elector scheme are brought, it means less than nothing. As others have said awhile ago now, without indictments and accountability, this failed coup attempt in 2020/2021 was merely a dress rehearsal.
Not a lawyer, but this article reminds us why it has taken so much time to indict–a large cast of characters, wheels turning in so many places. And I assume a prosecutor has to know all the weak spots, as well as be able to explain coherently how it all worked. Ultimately a jury has to be convinced.
I’m hoping that the senators and representatives who also participated in this scam will be indicted as well. Grassley and Johnson are the first to come to mind.
The post Civil War amendments ought to be brought to bear on what can only be called treason.
I believe the plan may have begun as a legal effort (or at least one they could dress up as legal). It started (publicly) in the weeks after the election, so it couldn’t yet be seen as corrupt. Some of the states even said that they were merely “contingent” electors, in case the court challenges were victorious.
But as the court challenges all lost, and December 8th and December 14th came and went, Eastman and Chesebro eventually convinced everyone not to give up on the plan. THAT is when it became baldly illegal. Eastman himself finally admitted TO OTHERS that the effort would ultimately lose in court, but he kept pushing for it. Eastman KNEW it had no basis in law.
To the ridiculous point of claiming the Vice President had the power to unilaterally reject electors. Then when asked if Kamala Harris would have that same power in January of 2025, Eastman stated that she would NOT have that power. This is insanity.
Then the rally and the speeches, and the pressure on Pence, the plan became cartoonish, ending in the very serious violent attack on congress.
But it still remained a plan. That they were hell-bent on carrying through…even AFTER the violent attack.
The infinitely sick part of the plan, is that all the while they were planning to steal the election, they were falsely claiming it was being stolen FROM them.
The ultimate hypocrisy. The ultimate projection. The biggEST lie.
Indictments are not the end-game here - that’s only the start of the chain events that must lead to prosecution and verdict. The indictment by itself means nothing.
This “plan” was actually being formulated in concept even before the election. Trump’s own data and public polling as well, showed there was a greater than 50/50 chance Trump was going to lose. So they were already casting about for a plan for if they lost, to un-ring that bell. This is why you had Trump repeatedly and publicly saying that the only way he would lose is if it was “rigged” or “stolen”. He was priming-the-pump for his obvious and ridiculous “heads I win tails you lose” mind set.
The republicans that refused to certify likely have several (all?) Who knew and backed the plan. It’s a conspiracy that will never be fully adjudicated.
I’d like to add in that we had 45 Presidential elections before Nov2020. And though who gets to vote, how we vote, have made some changes over the centuries, the system has remained pretty much the same.
It took a cadre of outsiders to go in and think that they could mess it up. I think of a Republican like Randy Bowers who has seen an election or two over the years stand firm in saying that the election in AZ was fair, that though Trump was popular, he didn’t win this time.
And why is it when some of these conspirators are asked why they never could win in court-there’s crickets?
