The danger that still remains

benfell

See updates through January 22, 2022, at end of post.

I’m tired of a lot of things lately. COVID-19 is one. Donald Trump is another.

Judges might have just about had their fill[1] of Trump and his supporters’ 2020 election challenges;[2] we’re starting to see rulings punishing the lawyers.[3]

Meanwhile, Julia Ioffe is blistering about a persistent political and journalistic elite imagination dating back before that election[4]

that if and when Trump loses, sanity will be restored and things will go back to normal. This was and remains a delusional fantasy. There is no unseeing what Trump showed us about our country. And there is very little that will undo the damage he’s done, not by a Republican party that remains in his thrall, and not by toothless Democratic investigations that drag on for so long that voters forget to care.[5]

This necessarily includes Joe Biden’s entirely ludicrous (only especially in hindsight) imagination that the Republicans would return to bipartisanship.[6] Ioffe’s point, I think, is that Biden’s delusion was not his alone; shared widely, it has led to a complacency about the threat that Trump poses to the political system.[7]

This reduces those court challenges to a sideshow to the main act: a deepening and still evidence-free insistence that the election was stolen which continues to be embraced by a significant portion of the U.S. population and which drives Republican “investigations,” “audits,” and general intransigence as even those Republicans who initially resisted Trump’s narrative capitulate or are sidelined.[8]

Trump benefits from being underestimated.[9] Despite all he has done and all that has been done on his behalf, it’s conventional to wonder whether he will run in 2024, even as it is apparent his delusional raging narcissism will never accept defeat.[10]

Trump’s January 6 coup attempt was marked by complacency and collaboration on the part of some who were entrusted with the U.S. Capitol’s defense; Republican politicians were and are complicit. The question, even as that attempt’s often really rather ordinary participants face trial and conviction, is whether it is really over.[11] The Confederate flags may have all but disappeared from Pittsburgh area front yards; Trump campaign flags, both from 2020 and looking forward to 2024, most definitely have not.

I am looking at a Supreme Court that may interpret the Second Amendment to permit at least most people to carry concealed weapons.[12] I am looking at the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict as enabling lynching.[13] I am looking at a Trumpian self-righteousness that declares, “Fuck Your Feelings”[14] and “Make a Liberal Cry,” that excludes entirely the legitimacy of any dissent from their views,[15] that indeed would let people die because they don’t want to wear masks, because they don’t want to get vaccinated against COVID-19.[16] I am looking at a right-wing militia movement that, while far from monolithic and united, still very well might come to Trump’s aid.[17] And I am seeing a dangerous and malicious stupidity.

If anything, Ioffe understates the danger. This is a threat[18] that has not gone away.

Update, December 7, 2021: Barton Gellman’s article in the Atlantic is terrifying. It aligns perfectly with what I see around southwestern Pennsylvania. Donald Trump’s supporters are armed, dangerous, and committed; they exist in a burgeoning and unstoppable gun nuttery movement that has merged with a anti-abortion movement as part of an apparent merger of authoritarian populism, paleoconservatism, and social conservatism;[19] their participation in the militia movement is only barely the tip of the iceberg.[20]

Gellman pulls together a lot of strands showing how Trump’s supporters are increasingly well prepared to seize power, whether or not they actually win the election in 2024,[21] in a way that aligns with my own dire anticipation that this country is becoming an evangelical white nationalist country,[22] with only rhetorical opposition in a divided but functionally acquiescent Democratic Party that fails to earn people’s votes.[23]

Update, December 11, 2021: I have urged caution, noting that smoking guns are rarely found,[24] regarding a story of plan presented in a Powerpoint presentation in which it would be alleged that the Chinese had manipulated the voting machines in several states enabling then-President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency and possibly to halt the final certification of the results pending a recount. One option was for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral college ballots from those states[25] and this idea was taken up by Jenna Ellis, one of Trump’s wacko lawyers.[26]

A principal advocate for the plan has now been identified:[27]

Phil Waldron, [a retired U.S. Army colonel], was working with Trump’s outside lawyers and was part of a team that briefed the lawmakers on a PowerPoint presentation detailing “Options for 6 JAN,” Waldron told The Washington Post. He said his contribution to the presentation focused on his claims of foreign interference in the vote, as did his discussions with the White House.[28]

Evidently, he met with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who seems not to have acted on the idea. So certainly, there was an effort to come up with a plan: Phil Waldron worked with Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman. Snippets of the plan appear in other contexts with, for example, another Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell pointing to alleged irregularities.[29] And, as I have previously observed,

Judges might have just about had their fill[30] of Trump and his supporters’ [bogus] 2020 election challenges;[31] we’re starting to see rulings punishing the lawyers.[32][33]

But crucially, the plan seems never to have been implemented. Which may well mean this particular gun wasn’t smoking.

Update, January 22, 2022: I have a number of great fears. The climate crisis is one of them. Russia invading Ukraine is another. But the only way I see of averting a right-wing dictatorship in the United States now requires that Donald Trump be prevented from running for re-election to the presidency in 2024.[34]

There are actually grounds for measured optimism on the latter as the criminal injustice system grinds towards both civil and criminal cases against Trump.[35] There is, of course, a difference between the filing of a lawsuit and winning it, a difference between the filing of criminal charges and winning a conviction. There is the no small matter of Trump’s usual strategy of stalling and delay—no quibble is too minor, trivial, or flatly ludicrous to waste courts’ time—that has been seen as a reason Trump couldn’t afford to lose his re-election bid in 2020.[36]

The safer solution would be for Congress to pass and for Joe Biden to sign voting rights legislation into law to prevent the Republican Party from undermining the election system, reducing elections to authoritarian-style farces, and securing permanent power. Inadequate though this would be, it appears not to be an option[37] with a Democratic Party that seems much more comfortable in opposition and that simply can no longer be taken seriously.[38]

The consequence already is that ‘progress’ can occur only in a rightward, Trumpist direction, on issues like abortion, gun nuttery, and voter disenfranchisement, even when the Democrats putatively control the White House and Congress, with the Republicans obstructing anything even remotely positive, as they have for years, simply for the sake of obstructing.[39] This reality fills me with dread.

  1. [1]Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court denies Trump allies’ bid to overturn Pennsylvania election results,” Washington Post, December 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-trump-pennsylvania-election-results/2020/12/08/4d39e16c-397d-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html; Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court dismisses bid led by Texas attorney general to overturn the presidential election results, blocking Trump’s legal path to a reversal of his loss,” Washington Post, December 11, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-texas-election-trump/2020/12/11/bf462f22-3bc6-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html; Devlin Barrett, “Judge dismisses Gohmert lawsuit seeking to stymie Biden electoral college count,” Washington Post, January 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/gohmert-court-filing-claims-pence-is-not-a-glorified-envelope-opener/2021/01/01/eeb6b222-4c51-11eb-839a-cf4ba7b7c48c_story.html; Aaron Blake, “Trump lawyers suffer embarrassing rebukes from judges over voter fraud claims,” Washington Post, November 11, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-lawyers-suffer-embarrassing-rebukes-judges-over-voter-fraud-claims/; Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, “Donald Trump’s brutal day in court,” Politico, December 4, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/donald-trump-in-court-443010; John Kruzel, “Supreme Court rejects Gohmert’s last-ditch election suit against Pence,” Hill, January 7, 2021, https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/533161-supreme-court-rejects-gohmerts-last-ditch-election-suit-against; Jon Swaine, “In scathing opinion, federal judge dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit in Pennsylvania,” Washington Post, November 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-judge-dismisses-trump-campaign-lawsuit-in-pa/2020/11/21/cc097fbe-2c50-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html; Elizabeth Thompson, “Texas congressman suggests street violence after judge rejects his legal effort to overturn election,” Chicago Tribune, January 2, 2021, https://www.chicagotribune.com/election-2020/ct-louie-gohmert-violence-20210102-yozij4rzhffkhn3e4epyrrsa7m-story.html; Elise Viebeck, “Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit against mail ballots with prejudice in another defeat for Trump,” Washington Post, November 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pennsylvania-supreme-court-dismisses-lawsuit-against-mail-ballots-with-prejudice-in-another-defeat-for-trump/2020/11/28/d1d50ef4-31d2-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html↩
  2. [2]Kim Bellware and John Wagner, “Letter from 1,500 attorneys says Trump campaign lawyers don’t have ‘license to lie,’” Washington Post, December 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/08/trump-lawyer-letter/; Kyle Cheney, “Gohmert suit may force Pence’s hand in effort to overturn Trump’s defeat,” Politico, December 28, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/28/gohmert-suit-pence-overturn-trumps-defeat-451485; Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, “Trump sought to tap Sidney Powell as special counsel for election fraud,” Politico, December 20, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/19/sidney-powell-trump-special-counsel-448694; Marjorie Cohn, “Trump’s Frivolous Lawsuits Are the Tip of the Iceberg in His Refusal to Concede,” Truthout, November 11, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-frivolous-lawsuits-are-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-in-his-refusal-to-concede/; Pam Fessler, “Led By Giuliani, Trump Campaign Effort To Stop Certification Falters In Pennsylvania,” National Public Radio, November 17, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/11/17/936027693/led-by-giuliani-trump-campaign-effort-to-stop-certification-falters-in-pennsylva; Josh Gerstein, “Trump campaign revises Pennsylvania suit, again,” Politico, November 18, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/trump-pennsylvania-election-lawsuit-437996; Josh Gerstein, “Lawyers retreat from pro-Trump election suit,” Politico, July 12, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/12/lawyers-pro-trump-suit-499252; Simon Lewis, “Trump unveils $207 million fundraising haul after election in effort to overturn result,” Reuters, December 3, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-fundraising/trump-unveils-207-million-fundraising-haul-after-election-in-effort-to-overturn-result-idUSKBN28E012; Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand, “Al Gore ‘was a man’ about his election loss, unlike Trump, federal judge says,” CNN, November 22, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/politics/al-gore-trump-election-capitol-riot/index.html; Aram Roston and Brad Heath, “Trump campaign spent more than $2 million on election lawyers, including Jenna Ellis,” Reuters, December 4, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-trump-expenses/trump-campaign-spent-more-than-2-million-on-election-lawyers-including-jenna-ellis-idUSKBN28E2VG; Philip Rucker, Amy Gardner, and Josh Dawsey, “Trump uses power of presidency to try to overturn the election and stay in office,” Washington Post, November 19, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-uses-power-of-presidency-to-try-to-overturn-the-election-and-stay-in-office/2020/11/19/bc89caa6-2a9f-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html; Stephanie Saul, “Lindsey Graham’s Long-Shot Mission to Unravel the Election Results,” New York Times, November 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/us/politics/lindsey-graham-georgia-trump-biden.html; Felicia Sonmez et al., “A frustrated Trump redoubles efforts to challenge election result,” Washington Post, December 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tuberville-electoral-challenge-trump-conversation/2020/12/20/1658573e-42db-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html; Paula Reed Ward, “Federal judge to consider whether to dismiss case filed by Trump campaign in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 17, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/federal-judge-to-consider-whether-to-dismiss-case-filed-by-trump-campaign-in-pa/↩
  3. [3]Jaclyn Diaz, “An Appeals Court Has Suspended Rudy Giuliani’s Ability To Practice Law In D.C.,” National Public Radio, July 8, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/07/08/1014047881/an-appeals-court-has-suspended-rudy-giulianis-ability-to-practice-law-in-d-c; Rosalind S. Helderman, “‘The stuff of which violent insurrections are made:’ Federal judge punishes Colorado lawyers for 2020 election lawsuit,” Washington Post, August 4, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/colorado-sanctions-trump-lawsuit/2021/08/04/704dec92-f53a-11eb-a49b-d96f2dac0942_story.html; Rosalind S. Helderman, “Judge orders two lawyers who filed suit challenging 2020 election to pay hefty fees: ‘They need to take responsibility,’” Washington Post, November 22, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/they-need-to-take-responsibility-federal-judge-orders-hefty-fees-assessed-against-two-lawyers-who-filed-suit-challenging-2020-election/2021/11/22/b7ff5392-4be7-11ec-b0b0-766bbbe79347_story.html; Erica Orden, Veronica Stracqualursi, and Katelyn Polantz, “Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in New York state,” CNN, June 24, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/politics/rudy-giuliani-suspended-law/index.html; Peter Stone, “Rudy Giuliani Is (Probably) Screwed,” New York, October 1, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/rudy-giuliani-is-probably-screwed.html; Jan Wolfe, “‘Profound abuse’: Judge disciplines pro-Trump lawyers over election lawsuit,” Reuters, August 25, 2021, copy in possession of author; Jan Wolfe and David Thomas, “Judge eyes sanctions on pro-Trump lawyers who claimed voter fraud,” Reuters, July 12, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/judge-blasts-ex-trump-lawyer-sidney-powell-over-lawsuit-overturn-us-election-2021-07-12/↩
  4. [4]Julia Ioffe, “Murdoch’s Big Lie and Putin at the Gates,” Puck News, November 23, 2021, https://puck.news/murdochs-big-lie-and-putin-at-the-gates/↩
  5. [5]Julia Ioffe, “Murdoch’s Big Lie and Putin at the Gates,” Puck News, November 23, 2021, https://puck.news/murdochs-big-lie-and-putin-at-the-gates/↩
  6. [6]Perry Bacon, Jr., “Does Biden Really Think Republicans Will Work With Him? And Could He Be Right?” FiveThirtyEight, January 19, 2021, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/does-biden-really-think-republicans-will-work-with-him-and-could-he-be-right/; Eric Bradner and Gregory Krieg, “Joe Biden predicts a post-Trump ‘epiphany’ for Republicans,” CNN, May 14, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/14/politics/joe-biden-republicans-trump-epiphany/index.html; Moira Donegan, “What does Biden have in common with Trump? Delusional nostalgia,” Guardian, June 21, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/21/joe-biden-trump-sexism-delusional-nostalgia; Matt Ford, “Someone Please Tell Joe Biden That Bipartisanship Is Dead,” New Republic, June 12, 2019, https://newrepublic.com/article/154183/someone-please-tell-joe-biden-bipartisanship-dead; Martin Pengelly, “‘Short and not especially sweet’: Lindsey Graham called Biden over Trump support,” Guardian, August 16, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/16/lindsey-graham-joe-biden-hunter-call-trump-support; William Rivers Pitt, “Mitch McConnell Says Bipartisanship Is ‘Over.’ Believe Him,” Truthout, July 7, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/mitch-mcconnell-says-bipartisanship-is-over-believe-him/; Matt Viser, “Biden once asserted Republicans would have an ‘epiphany.’ Now he admits he doesn’t understand them,” Washington Post, May 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-once-asserted-republicans-would-have-an-epiphany-now-he-admits-he-doesnt-understand-them/2021/05/06/a8204a84-ae77-11eb-acd3-24b44a57093a_story.html; Paul Waldman, “Joe Biden still hasn’t learned the lessons of the Obama presidency,” Washington Post, December 6, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/06/joe-biden-still-hasnt-learned-lessons-obama-presidency/↩
  7. [7]Julia Ioffe, “Murdoch’s Big Lie and Putin at the Gates,” Puck News, November 23, 2021, https://puck.news/murdochs-big-lie-and-putin-at-the-gates/↩
  8. [8]Steve Almond, “The GOP’s Final Act In A Long Public Surrender,” WBUR, February 13, 2021, https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2021/02/13/donald-trump-impeachment-insurrection-gop-mcconnell-acquittal-steve-almond; Associated Press, “State Sen. Doug Mastriano opens Pennsylvania election audit plan,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-state-sen-doug-mastriano-opens-election-audit-plan/; Associated Press, “Pennsylvania election audit gets GOP campaign trail embrace,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 18, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-election-audit-gets-gop-campaign-trail-embrace/; Associated Press, “GOP senator’s plan to issue Pennsylvania election subpoenas ‘stopped,’” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 19, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/gop-senators-plan-to-issue-pennsylvania-election-subpoenas-stopped/; Associated Press, “Republicans start election ‘investigation’ in Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 9, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/republicans-start-election-investigation-in-pennsylvania/; Rachael Bade, Josh Dawsey, and Tom Hamburger, “Trump pressures congressional Republicans to help in his fight to overturn the election,” Washington Post, December 9, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-republicans-biden-election/2020/12/09/abd596ea-3a4e-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html; Devlin Barrett, “Trump’s remarks before Capitol riot may be investigated, says acting U.S. attorney in D.C.,” Washington Post, January 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/federal-investigation-capitol-riot-trump/2021/01/07/178d71ac-512c-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html; Peter Beaumont, “Donald Trump fans cry betrayal as he rebukes Capitol violence,” Guardian, January 8, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/08/trump-incites-anger-among-acolytes-let-down-by-lack-of-support; Katie Benner and Catie Edmondson, “Pennsylvania Lawmaker Played Key Role in Trump’s Plot to Oust Acting Attorney General,” New York Times, January 23, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/us/politics/scott-perry-trump-justice-department-election.html; Aaron Blake, “3 takeaways from the Senate report on Trump’s brazen efforts to overturn the 2020 election,” Washington Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/07/3-takeaways-senate-report-trumps-brazen-efforts-overturn-2020-election/; Aaron Blake, “The GOP’s fanciful defense of Trump’s DOJ plot,” Washington Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/07/gops-fanciful-defense-trumps-doj-plot/; Mark Bray, “Trump’s Baseless Fraud Accusations Are Already Sparking Far Right Violence,” Truthout, November 9, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-baseless-fraud-accusations-are-already-sparking-far-right-violence/; Luke Broadwater, “Republicans, Wary of Political Fallout, Steer Clear of Rally for Riot Suspects,” New York Times, September 15, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/us/politics/republicans-justice-for-j6-rally.html; Miranda Bryant, “Trump faces pressure from Republicans to drop ‘corrosive’ fight to overturn election,” Guardian, November 22, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/22/trump-republicans-pressure-fight-overturn-election; Daniel Bush, “The post-Trump identity crisis that’s fracturing the GOP,” Public Broadcasting System, February 5, 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-post-trump-identity-crisis-thats-fracturing-the-gop; Ashton Carter et al., “All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory,” Washington Post, January 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html; Stephen Caruso, “Pa. conservatives’ hopes for subpoena-fueled election investigation quashed by political reality,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, November 22, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/election-2020/pa-conservative-hopes-for-subpoena-fueled-election-investigation-quashed-by-political-reality/; Stephen Caruso, “GOP leaders — once again — say they can’t overturn election results, but send letter disputing results to Congress,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 4, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/election-2020/gop-leaders-once-again-say-they-cant-overturn-election-results-but-send-letter-disputing-results-to-congress/; Stephen Caruso, “Pa. election audit a ‘very real possibility,’ top Pa. Senate Republican says after meeting activists,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, June 17, 2021, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/pa-election-audit-a-very-real-possibility-argall-says-after-meeting-activists/; Jonathan Chait, “Trump Floats Coup Plan That’s So Wild Even Rudy Giuliani Is Terrified,” New York, December 19, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/trump-coup-sidney-powell-martial-law-michael-flynn-meltdown.html; David Charter, “Trump announces law chief Bill Barr has quit as electoral college backs Joe Biden,” Times, December 15, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trump-announces-law-chief-bill-barr-has-quit-as-electoral-college-backs-joe-biden-wnzzxkczt; Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, “Trump sought to tap Sidney Powell as special counsel for election fraud,” Politico, December 20, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/19/sidney-powell-trump-special-counsel-448694; Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, “‘Almost schizophrenic’: Judge rips DOJ approach to Jan. 6 prosecutions,” Politico, October 28, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/28/almost-schizophrenic-judge-rips-doj-approach-to-jan-6-prosecutions-517442; Marjorie Cohn, “Trump’s Frivolous Lawsuits Are the Tip of the Iceberg in His Refusal to Concede,” Truthout, November 11, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-frivolous-lawsuits-are-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-in-his-refusal-to-concede/; Stephen Collinson, “Trump’s army takes aim at 2022 touting his election lies,” CNN, March 23, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/politics/trump-mo-brooks-election-lie/index.html; Angela Couloumbis, “Pa.’s legislative leaders wield extraordinary power, and the election audit fight proves it,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 27, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-s-legislative-leaders-wield-extraordinary-power-and-the-election-audit-fight-proves-it/; Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer, “Trump asserts his dominance inside GOP, pushing Republicans to embrace his false claims of fraud,” Washington Post, October 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-gop-fraud-claims/2021/10/14/f37887fe-2cfc-11ec-985d-3150f7e106b2_story.html; Reid J. Epstein, “Michigan Republicans Debunk Voter Fraud Claims in Unsparing Report,” New York Times, June 23, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/us/politics/michigan-2020-election.html; Deb Erdley, “Toomey censure remains on hold with Pennsylvania Republicans,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 27, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/toomey-censure-remains-on-hold-with-pennsylvania-republicans/; Pam Fessler, “Led By Giuliani, Trump Campaign Effort To Stop Certification Falters In Pennsylvania,” National Public Radio, November 17, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/11/17/936027693/led-by-giuliani-trump-campaign-effort-to-stop-certification-falters-in-pennsylva; Lauren Fox, Jeremy Herb, and Phil Mattingly, “Congressional GOP grapples with ‘unhinged’ Trump,” CNN, December 23, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/23/politics/congress-gop-trump-veto/index.html; Jonathan Freedland, “This is no conventional coup. Trump is paving the way for a ‘virtual Confederacy,'” Guardian, November 13, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/13/trump-coup-virtual-confederacy-race-legal-trumpian; Jamie Gangel et al., “New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters,” CNN, February 12, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html; Amy Gardner, “‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor,” Washington Post, January 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/d45acb92-4dc4-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html; Amy Gardner, “Trump pressured a Georgia elections investigator in a separate call legal experts say could amount to obstruction,” Washington Post, March 11, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-call-georgia-investigator/2021/01/09/7a55c7fa-51cf-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html; Amy Gardner, Emma Brown, and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Wisconsin and Arizona make it official as Trump fails to stop vote certification in all six states where he contested his defeat,” Washington Post, November 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arizona-wisconsin-certify-election/2020/11/30/ec161756-3338-11eb-b59c-adb7153d10c2_story.html; Josh Gerstein, “Judge suggests feds are too lenient toward Jan. 6 defendants,” Politico, August 9, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/judge-feds-lenient-jan-6-503052; David A. Graham, “This Isn’t Normal, Either,” Atlantic, June 5, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/isnt-normal-either/619102/; Sadie Gurman and Jacob Gershman, “Barr Says No Evidence Voter Fraud Changed Election Outcome,” Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-campaign-files-more-election-challenges-in-wisconsin-michigan-11606849219; Jennifer Haberkorn, “Republicans block House resolution calling on Pence to remove Trump over Capitol riot,” Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-01-11/republicans-block-house-resolution-to-call-on-pence-to-remove-trump-over-capitol-riot; Jennifer Haberkorn and Evan Halper, “7 Republicans vote guilty, but Senate acquits Trump in attack on Capitol,” Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-13/senators-to-continue-questioning-likely-to-vote-on-impeachment-today; Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni, “Pence Said to Have Told Trump He Lacks Power to Change Election Result,” New York Times, January 5, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/pence-trump-election-results.html; Rosalind S. Helderman, “Arizona ballot review commissioned by Republicans reaffirms Biden’s victory,” Washington Post, September 24, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arizona-ballot-review-draft-report/2021/09/24/7c19ac08-1562-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html; Fred Hiatt, “Trump is putting this country through something unprecedented. Here are three scenarios,” Washington Post, November 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-wants-to-overturn-the-results-of-a-free-and-fair-election-theres-a-word-for-that/2020/11/13/cb94b77e-25b6-11eb-952e-0c475972cfc0_story.html; Kristen Holmes and Veronica Stracqualursi, “Trump pressured Georgia governor in call to help overturn Biden’s win in state,” CNN, December 5, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/05/politics/trump-georgia-brian-kemp-phone-call/index.html; Ed Kilgore, “Trump’s Kind of Coup Is Indeed a Contested Election,” New York, July 15, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/trumps-kind-of-coup-is-indeed-a-contested-election.html; Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey, and Toluse Olorunnipa, “Republicans plunge into open battle over attempts to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden,” Washington Post, December 22, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-republicans-election-fight/2020/12/22/fa0c2744-446b-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html; Marissa J. Lang et al., “After thousands of Trump supporters rally in D.C., violence erupts when night falls,” Washington Post, November 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/11/14/million-maga-march-dc-protests/; Marianne Levine and Melanie Zanona, “McConnell warns Senate Republicans against challenging election results,” Politico, December 15, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/15/mcconnell-gop-election-results-445524; Eric Levitz, “The GOP Got Away With All of It,” New York, November 3, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/virginia-election-glenn-youngkin-win-analysis-trump.html; Simon Lewis, “Trump unveils $207 million fundraising haul after election in effort to overturn result,” Reuters, December 3, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-fundraising/trump-unveils-207-million-fundraising-haul-after-election-in-effort-to-overturn-result-idUSKBN28E012; Meredith McGraw, “Trump reemerges on the trail and plays the hits of yore,” Politico, June 5, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/05/trump-north-carolina-speech-gop-492000; David Montgomery, “What Wyoming Really Thinks of Liz Cheney,” Washington Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/10/07/wyoming-voters-liz-cheney/; Jennifer Morrell, “I watched the GOP’s Arizona election audit. It was worse than you think,” Washington Post, May 19, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/05/19/gop-arizona-election-audit/; Jan Murphy, “26 state House Republicans call for withdrawing certification of presidential electors,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/26-state-house-republicans-call-for-withdrawing-certification-of-presidential-electors/; David Nakamura, “Trump’s bid to discredit election raises fear that he will undermine a smooth transfer of power,” Washington Post, November 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-concession-transition-power/2020/11/07/2b4cf640-20e4-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html; David Nakamura, “With brazen assault on election, Trump prompts critics to warn of a coup,” Washington Post, January 5, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-coup/2021/01/05/26afcfc0-4f6c-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html; Joe Napsha, “Process of pending Pennsylvania election audit remains shrouded in secrecy,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 23, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/process-of-pending-pennsylvania-election-audit-remains-shrouded-in-secrecy/; Tina Nguyen, “MAGA leaders call for the troops to keep Trump in office,” Politico, December 18, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/18/trump-insurrection-act-presidency-447986; Olivia Nuzzi, “Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He’s a ‘Fascist,’” New York, January 8, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/capitol-riot-senior-trump-official-calls-him-a-fascist.html; Toluse Olorunnipa, Amy B. 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Peters, “‘They Have Not Legitimately Won’: Pro-Trump Media Keeps the Disinformation Flowing,” New York Times, January 20, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/business/media/misinformation-trump-media.html; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/03/donald-trump-memo-election-corrupt-justice-department; Aram Roston and Brad Heath, “Trump campaign spent more than $2 million on election lawyers, including Jenna Ellis,” Reuters, December 4, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-trump-expenses/trump-campaign-spent-more-than-2-million-on-election-lawyers-including-jenna-ellis-idUSKBN28E2VG; Kayla Ruble and Tom Hamburger, “Board in key Michigan county fails, then agrees, to certify vote totals by deadline,” Washington Post, November 17, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michigan-vote-canvassing-board/2020/11/17/12141222-287c-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html; Philip Rucker et al., “20 days of fantasy and failure: Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election,” Washington Post, November 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-overturn/2020/11/28/34f45226-2f47-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html; Philip Rucker et al., “Aides weigh resignations, removal options as Trump rages against perceived betrayals,” Washington Post, January 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-resignations-25th-amendment/2021/01/07/e131ce10-50a3-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html; Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, “At least 11 GOP senators will back Missouri Sen. 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His Supporters Still Hounded the Elections Administrator Until She Resigned,” ProPublica, October 12, 2021, https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-won-the-county-in-a-landslide-his-supporters-still-hounded-the-elections-administrator-until-she-resigned; Mark Scolforo, “Pennsylvania county asks senator to stop seeking vote audit,” Associated Press, August 9, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-1510fc17e5db6036d78f3a4666e88b46; Eugene Scott, “Pennsylvania decertifies county voting system following private company audit promoted by pro-Trump state senators,” Washington Post, July 21, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pennsylvania-decertifies-county-voting-system-following-private-company-audit-promoted-by-pro-trump-state-senators/2021/07/21/cee5bf38-ea4e-11eb-97a0-a09d10181e36_story.html; Andrew Seidman and Jonathan Lai, “Pa. Republicans started their ‘forensic investigation’ of the 2020 election. It’s still unclear what that means,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-republicans-2020-election-audit-20210909.html; David Siders, “‘It’s almost like insanity’: GOP base continues to lash out over Trump’s defeat,” Politico, April 20, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/20/trump-georgia-gop-election-fraud-483193; Peter Slevin, “Trump’s Election-Fraud Bluster Finds an Audience,” New Yorker, December 5, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/donald-trumps-election-fraud-bluster-finds-an-audience; Felicia Sonmez et al., “A frustrated Trump redoubles efforts to challenge election result,” Washington Post, December 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tuberville-electoral-challenge-trump-conversation/2020/12/20/1658573e-42db-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html; Peter Stone, “Criminal inquiry into Trump’s Georgia election interference gathers steam,” Guardian, October 5, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/05/donald-trump-criminal-investigations-georgia-election-interference; Jonathan Swan, “Trump turns on everyone,” Axios, December 22, 2020, https://www.axios.com/trump-white-house-conspiracy-theories-d95450a4-c7a3-4579-a568-0473b18529c9.html; Elizabeth Thompson, “Texas congressman suggests street violence after judge rejects his legal effort to overturn election,” Chicago Tribune, January 2, 2021, https://www.chicagotribune.com/election-2020/ct-louie-gohmert-violence-20210102-yozij4rzhffkhn3e4epyrrsa7m-story.html; Elise Viebeck and Rosalind S. 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