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.
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.
-
Nepal chooses toddler as its new ‘living goddess’
Under the Radar Girls between two and four are typically chosen to live inside the temple as the Kumari – until puberty strikes
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
US tipped to help Kyiv strike Russian energy sites
Speed Read Trump has approved providing Ukraine with intelligence for missile strikes on Russian energy infrastructure
-
Netanyahu agrees to Trump’s new Gaza peace plan
Speed Read At President Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they agreed upon a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
In the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Moldova gives decisive win to pro-EU party
Speed Read The country is now on track to join the European Union within five years
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdown
IN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
UK, 3 Western allies recognize Palestinian state
Speed Read Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal formally recognized the state of Palestine
-
Russia slams Kyiv, hits government building
Speed Read This was Moscow's largest aerial assault since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022
-
China's Xi hosts Modi, Putin, Kim in challenge to US
Speed Read Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Asian leaders at an SCO summit