The Kraken Prepares Its Breakfast

 

State government control

Several commentators are now pointing out a plausible path for Trump to be re-elected.

1. The Giuliani, Powell, and other legal initiatives make a convincing case in the public mind that the election was fraudulent. They meanwhile pursue legal channels.

2. If it goes all the way, the Supreme Court may rule that the results were indeed fraudulent. The right has a 5-3 majority there, with Roberts as a swing vote. If they are given a reasonable argument, the benefit of the doubt is likely to go Trump’s way.

3. Trump wins. 

But even if they do not:

4. By the Constitution, state legislatures have sole discretion to appoint electors. The critical states that are in dispute mostly have Republican majorities in their legislatures: Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona. These legislatures can refuse to recognize the vote tally as legitimate and either send no electors or send their own.

If there is a strong public impression that the vote was fraudulent, they might have the political will to do so. At a certain point, if they do not, they risk being “primaried” by irate members of their own party. All they need is plausible justification. This the Giuliani and Powell initiatives may have already given them.

5. With legislature-approved slates of electors from any three of the disputed states, including Pennsylvania, the Electoral College votes for Trump.

 Trump wins.

6. If three legislatures simply fail to certify the vote, or if their action in doing this is disputed, the Electoral College is deadlocked—or its vote is disputed.

7. Congress therefore may act. By the Constitution, it votes for president directly.  Each state delegation to congress gets one vote. The Republicans control more state delegations than the Democrats.

8. Trump wins.

A current Spectator article makes a strong case that the results of the popular vote are indeed fraudulent. 

Of course, there will be violence in the streets if this happens. It would all be an alarming precedent. On the other hand, we seem to have no options at this point that do not involve provoking violence in the streets and alarming precedents. We already have violence in the streets from the left; let Biden in, and the right joins them. Let one fraudulent election get by, and you cannot expect any future elections to be clean