Quote:
Originally Posted by Luciom
It's true that trump conspired to try to get states to reject the outcome of the election and the Senate to nominate him as president. But he did that within the law (and he failed, within the law).
Trying to use legal tricks isn't insurrection.
What does "within the law" mean to you in this context? Just to be clear, this wasn't a situation in which Trump had colorable legal claims and just happened to lose. The overarching strategy here was as follows:
Step 1 -- Assess your options for simply refusing to leave office, no matter the results of the election (very poor, a non-starter)
Step 2 -- File a bunch of baseless lawsuits
Step 3 -- Attempt to pressure state officials to credit baseless allegations of fraud; publicly malign officials who refuse to capitulate
Step 4 -- Run a simultaneous PR strategy in an attempt to convince your supporters that the election has been stolen.
Step 5 -- Do as much stuff with fake electors, etc., as you can manage.
Step 6 -- Hope that Steps 2-5 put enough pressure on Pence to make him violate his duties as VP, thereby precipitating an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
Step 7 -- If Step 6 succeeds, hope that the SCOTUS goes completely in the tank and rules in your favor (very unlikely) or goes partially in the tank by concluding that it lacks jurisdiction (perhaps not likely, but possible)
Step 8 -- If Steps 6 and 7 fail, burn the house down on your way out.
Last edited by Rococo; 02-02-2024 at 10:57 AM.