As we are all waiting to breathe a collective sigh of relief in November there is a little known gambit that could actually keep Trump in office. Trump has been ranting against imaginary fake ballots flooding in and how mail-in voting must be stopped by any means. Except in Republican states of course.
He could be setting the stage for the following scenario:
1. Trump convinces Republican governors to claim that votes can’t be counted properly because of Covid, mail delays, fake ballots, dead people voting, felons voting, dogs, etc.
2. These states then delay submitting their electoral votes until the Constitutional deadline has passed. www.ncsl.org/…
3. The state legislatures are then free to determine who their delegates will vote for or alternatively appoint new delegates. McPherson v. Blacker supreme.justia.com/...
This almost happened in Bush/Gore before the Supreme Court stepped in to end the vote counting. The Republican Florida legislature was ready to appoint a new group of delegates if the vote count wasn’t resolved by the deadline. slate.com/...
4. If the state governors and their legislatures don’t submit delegates by January 6 then it gets ugly.
The decision falls to Congress. After presidential candidates Hayes and Tilden were deadlocked by southern states who didn’t submit proper delegates Congress appointed a special commission to decide. Tilden subsequently lost even though he probably won the first round. history.house.gov/…
The rules of Congress are not clear on this matter and would need to be agreed on by the House and Senate before breaking a deadlock. This would be a knockdown brawl of a type not seen since the Civil War — with both sides pushing a solution that favors their own candidate.
If Trump remains and Congress deadlocks on the rules then Trump still controls the military — so the outcome is uncertain to put it mildly.
The DNC needs to be ready to react quickly if this plays out as feared by many. Florida was won for Bush by the Brooks Brothers Riot where Bush supporters and Republican staffers overran the election offices during the counting process. en.wikipedia.org/…
The DNC needs to put a quick end to any strong arm tactics by Republican operatives and get ready for their dirty tactics with an army of lawyers. Roger Stone was a lead organizer behind the group that started the Brooks Brother Riot so you can see where this is headed in a close race.