Trump's extrajudicial attempt to 'stay in office' would have 'terrified most of the founders,' historian says


President Trump's remaining lawyers and their improvised strategy of claiming fraud and spinning software conspiracies to overturn Trump's sizable loss to President-elect Joe Biden have been laughed out of court. Trump is losing recounts, and his increasingly strenuous efforts to stop certification of Biden's victory in Michigan and other states are running into hard deadlines, unshakable math, and resistance from the Republican leaders of state legislatures to overturn the will of their voters.
Trump's remaining strategy, led by lawyer Rudy Giuliani, is to try and cast enough doubt about the vote-counting in big, heavily Democratic cities to force Republican lawmakers, badgered by Trump-loving constituents, to intercede on Trump's behalf, a senior campaign official told Reuters. The theoretically constitutional plan is to get GOP state legislators in at least three states Biden carried to declare the election "failed," allowing them to name their own slate of pro-Trump electors, then hope the Republican U.S. Senate and Democratic-controlled House to deadlock on rival slates, throwing the election to a GOP-dominated special House session.
"Trump's chances of succeeding are somewhere between remote and impossible, and a sign of his desperation," David Sanger writes at The New York Times. But the fact that "Trump is even trying has set off widespread alarms." Historians and legal experts describe Trump's scheme as "the words and actions of an attempted coup," The Washington Post reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"We have never seen anything like this before," presidential historian Michael Beschloss told the Post. "This is a president abusing his very great powers to try to stay in office, even though it is obvious to everyone that he has been defeated in the polls. That is a prospect that terrified most of the founders."
The claims being made by "Trump's zombie reelection campaign" are "superficial and almost universally ridiculous," Philip Bump writes at the Post. "But just because all of this is an anti-democratic effort to wrench the election away from the candidate selected by American voters, and just because it's ludicrous and clumsy, doesn't mean it can't work." Mike Godwin, the lawyer most famous for Godwin's Law, agreed.
"I don't want to be alarmist," Beschloss said, but "this is what many of the founders dreaded."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Succession planning as the Dalai Lama turns 90
In the Spotlight China 'determined to shape the narrative' around choice of Tibet's next spiritual leader
-
AI is creating a luxury housing renaissance in San Francisco
Under the Radar Luxury homes in the city can range from $7 million to above $20 million
-
How carbon credits could help and hurt the climate
The explainer The credits could be allowing polluters to continue polluting
-
IAEA: Iran could enrich uranium 'within months'
Speed Read The chief United Nations nuclear inspector, Rafael Grossi, says Iran could be enriching uranium again soon
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggests
Speed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program
-
Israel deports Thunberg after seizing Gaza aid boat
speed read The Swedish activist was delivering food and medical aid to Palestine, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis there
-
Colombian senator shot on streets of Bogotá
speed read Miguel Uribe Turbay, who has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, was shot at a rally
-
Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike
speed read The Russian president intends to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's warplanes