Can Trump actually stage a coup and stay in office for a second term?

Can Trump actually stage a coup and stay in office for a second term? The fight to vote US elections 2020 The president refuses to acknowledge Biden’s win, but experts say there is no constitutional path forward for him to remain in the White House The fight to vote is supported by guardian.org Sam Levine in New York Fri 20 Nov 2020 11.56 GMT Last modified on Fri 20 Nov 2020 11.59 GMT Joe Biden won the presidential election, a fact that Donald Trump and other Republicans refuse to acknowledge. There are worries the president and other Republicans will make every effort to stay in power. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said last week. William Barr, the attorney general, has also authorized federal prosecutors to begin to investigate election irregularities, a move that prompted the head of the justice department’s election crimes unit to step down from his position and move to another role. On Tuesday, Trump fired Christopher Krebs, the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election and had pushed back on the president’s baseless claims of voter fraud. Yet, despite all of Trump’s machinations, it is extremely unlikely he can find a way to stay in power or stage a coup. Here’s an explanation of why: Trump refuses to accept that Joe Biden won the presidential election. Is there a constitutional path for him to stage a coup and stay in office for another term? Not really. The electoral college meets on 14 December to cast its vote for president and nearly every state uses the statewide popular vote to allocate its electors. Biden is projected to win far more than the 270 electoral votes he needs to become president. His victory doesn’t hinge on one state and he has probably insurmountable leads in Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona. There is a long-shot legal theory, floated by Republicans before the election, that Republican-friendly legislatures in places such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could ignore the popular vote in their states and appoint their own electors. Federal law allows legislatures to do this if states have “failed to make a choice” by the day the electoral college meets. But there is no evidence of systemic fraud of wrongdoing in any state and Biden’s commanding margins in these places make it clear that the states have in fact made a choice. “If the country continues to follow the rule of law, I see no plausible constitutional path forward for Trump to remain as president barring new evidence of some massive failure of the election system in multiple states,” Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in elections, wrote in an email. “It would be a naked, antidemocratic power grab to try to use state legislatures to get around the voters’ choice and I don’t expect it to happen.” For lawmakers in a single state to choose to override the clear will of its voters this way would be extraordinary and probably cause a huge outcry. For Trump to win the electoral college, several states would have to take this extraordinary step, a move that would cause extreme backlash and a real crisis of democracy throughout the country. “There’s a strange fascination with various imagined dark scenarios, perhaps involving renegade state legislatures, but this is more dystopian fiction than anything likely to happen,” said Richard Pildes, a law professor at New York University. “The irony, or tragedy, is that we managed to conduct an extremely smooth election, with record turnout, under exceptionally difficult circumstances – and yet, a significant portion of the president’s supporters are now convinced that the process was flawed.” A live broadcast of Donald Trump speaking from the White House is shown on screens at an election night party in Las Vegas on 3 November. Is there any indication Republicans in these important states are going to go along with this? Shortly after election day, Jake Corman, the top Republican in the Pennsylvania state senate, indicated his party would “follow the law” in Pennsylvania, which requires awarding electors to the winner of the popular vote. In an October op-ed, Corman said the state legislature “does not have and will not have a hand in choosing the state’s presidential electors or in deciding the outcome of the presidential election”. Last week, Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature said they wanted to investigate allegations of voter fraud. There’s no evidence of widespread malfeasance in the state, but the move is alarming because it could be the beginning of an effort to undermine the popular vote results in the state. But in a major blow to the president’s legal efforts, the state’s supreme court ruled that Philadelphia election officials did not improperly block Trump’s campaign from observing the counting of mail-in ballots. The Republican-led legislature in Michigan is also investigating the election, as are Republicans in Wisconsin. There’s no evidence of widespread wrongdoing in either place. Is this related in any way to the lawsuits Trump is filing? Trump’s campaign has filed a slew of legally dubious suits since election day. The purpose of these suits appears not to be to actually overturn the election results, but to try to create uncertainty and draw out the counting process. Each state has its own deadlines for certifying election results that are then used to allocate its electoral college votes. In at least two states, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump’s campaign is seeking to block officials from certifying results. That certification timeline is important because federal law says that as long as election results are finalized by 8 December this year, the result is “conclusive”. That provides a safeguard against Congress, which is responsible for counting the electoral college votes, from second-guessing election results. By dragging out the process, the Trump campaign may be seeking to blow past that deadline and create more wiggle room to second-guess the results. Even if that is the Trump campaign’s hope, courts are unlikely to step in, Pildes said. “States are going to start certifying their vote totals beginning in less than 10 days, and there is no basis in the claims made thus far for the courts to stop that process,” he said. The fiction that makes us laugh the most is, paradoxically, often the most profound and intelligent. The problem is even more deeply entrenched than that: it’s not just that comic fiction is rarely taken seriously. Humour is not just an example of intelligence but a form of intelligence. The humour enhances rather than detracts from the seriousness, and vice versa. If that sounds familiar, then it should: literature is awash with books that are both very serious and very funny. The opposite of funny, of course, isn’t serious; the opposite of funny is unfunny. Funny and serious are symbiotic because humour is not just an example of intelligence but a form of intelligence. It requires lateral thinking; making unexpected connections; being one step ahead of the reader. John Self --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2020/07/readers-praise-satire-ist-mein.html Why are funny books so important? Take me, I'm a very optimistic personality but in these days I need some kind of support. Therefore I'm very glad and grateful I can read a very intelligent and funny book. Satire ist mein Lieblingstier (Satire is my favourite animal) by Wolfgang Hampel is a perfect example of very funny and very intelligent literature. Yes, indeed it requires lateral thinking; making unexpected connections; being one step ahead of the reader. If you are looking for a very funny and very intelligent book try brilliant Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) by Wolfgang Hampel. You'll enjoy it as much as I do and many, many delighted readers around the world. Take care, Martine Didier ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Betty MacDonald fan club fans, we wish you a very happy Friday with one of the funniest books ever written. Send us your thoughts regarding humour, please. We are going to include the best essays in our next Betty MacDonald fan club newsletters. You might be one of our Betty MacDonald fan club surprise winners. Good luck! Why do I think that Satire is my favourite animal by Wolfgang Hampel is such a popular book? I guess the reason why is it's so witty and intelligent. Yes, it's true. You can read Satire is my favourite animal over and over again the same way I do and it won't bore you. To me this happens very, very seldom. Very witty Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) by Wolfgang Hampel the best recipe for bad mood and depression - especially important in times like we have now. Please don't miss Satire ist mein Lieblingstier by Heidelberg author Wolfgang Hampel ( Satire is my favourite animal ) one of the funniest books ever written according to many readers around the world. (UK, USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and many other countries) Very successful writers are going to introduce their fascinating books at Vita Magica January - June 2021. You are very welcome! Vita Magica setzt ihr Programm auch 2021 fort. Im ersten Halbjahr werden großartige neue Autoren ihre sehr erfolgreichen Bücher vorstellen. Vita Magica will continue with fascinating new authors and their very interesting books at Vita Magica January - June 2021. A fascinating new Vita Magica program. Wir brauchen jetzt sehr witzige und heitere Bücher!!! Golden laughter is very important - especially now!!!! Das wunderbare Buch ' Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ' ( Satire is my favourite animal ) von Wolfgang Hampel ist ein brilliantes Feuerwerk der besten Pointen mit sehr geistreicher, witziger und hintergründiger Unterhaltung!!!!! https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Wolfgang-Hampel/dp/3958281559 Wenn Sie ein sehr humorvolles Buch lesen wollen, dann verpassen Sie bitte nicht 'Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ' von Wolfgang Hampel. Das sehr witzige Buch 'Satire ist mein Lieblingstier' ( Satire is my favourite animal ) von Wolfgang Hampel lieben vieler Leser auf der ganzen Welt!!!!( USA, UK, Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und vielen anderen Ländern ) Wolfgang Hampel, author of very witty Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) and Vita Magica Team support culturual institutions with special events and book sales of Satire ist mein Lieblingstier. This very witty book is according to many readers from all over the world one of the funniest books ever written. https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Wolfgang-Hampel/dp/3958281559 Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) by Wolfgang Hampel is like golden sunshine in very grey November. Please don't miss very witty Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ). It's one of the funniest books ever written according to many readers around the world. It brings lots of fun and joy to many readers around the world. Many of them including me take this best medicine for bad mood every day. Betty MacDonald fan club - and Vita Magica founder, Wolfgang Hampel from Heidelberg, author of very witty Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) is working on a new Betty MacDonald biography. 'Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ' by Wolfgang Hampel is very successful in USA, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and many other countries!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can read Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) by Wolfgang Hampel over and over again and it won't be boring. Don't miss it, please. Wolfgang Hampel, author of very witty Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) and Vita Magica Team support culturual institutions with special events and book sales of Satire ist mein Lieblingstier. This very witty book is according to many readers from all over the world one of the funniest books ever written. https://www.amazon.com/Satire-ist-mein-Lieblingstier-Satirische/dp/3958281559 Happy Friday, Greta