The United States continues to witness bitter charges by President Donald Trump of how he should be elected as the President when he has clearly lost to Joe Biden. He just has a few days left before he leaves the White House, but the plans to desperately hold on to office continues writes GEOFFREY COLL.
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This new United States Congress convenes this Wednesday, January 6, 2021, to vote on certifying the results of the vote that gave President-elect Joe Biden the US Presidency.
In most presidential election years, this is a pro forma process of little import or interest. This year, President Trump and his allies in the Republican party are attempting to use a little known election law from the 1880s to convince their Republican supporters in the Congress to reject the election results, creating new attention on this process.
Trump's efforts to overturn Biden's victory in Congress will fail for both legal and political reasons, just as his prior efforts to overturn the election results in the courts and at the state level have also failed.
The real purpose of this effort, destined to fail, is for Trump to continue to focus attention on himself, and his discredited claims that there was widespread fraud in the presidential election he lost.
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A summary of the US presidential election process is the starting point to understand the futility of Trump's latest failed gambit to overturn the election in Congress.
The presidential election is held every four years on the first Tuesday in November.
“The real purpose of this effort, destined to fail, is for Trump to continue to focus attention on himself, and his discredited claims that there was widespread fraud in the presidential election he lost.
Each state is then responsible for counting and certifying their state's results to determine which Presidential candidate earns the slate of electoral votes in the Electoral College from that state.
There are 540 members in the electoral college, with each state awarded a different number of electoral college representatives based on their relative proportion of the total US population.
“In the weeks after the vote, the first step is for each state to count and finalise its votes to determine the winner of the electoral college votes from their state.
To win the Presidential election, the winning candidate must win enough states to obtain a majority (271 or more) of the votes in the Electoral College. In this year's election, Joe Biden won 306 electoral college votes to Trump's 232, an overwhelming majority.
In the weeks after the vote, the first step is for each state to count and finalise its votes to determine the winner of the electoral college votes from their state.
This was the vote-counting process that Trump and his supporters unsuccessfully challenged in many courts in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and even the US Supreme Court.
On December 14, the representatives to the Electoral College from each state met and cast their respective votes from each state, declaring Biden the winner by 306 to 232 votes. These results from the Electoral College were then forwarded to the US Congress for the final step laid out in the US Constitution of the Congress then voting to accept those results presented from the states and the Electoral College. That vote will take place on January 6.
“This was the vote-counting process that Trump and his supporters unsuccessfully challenged in many courts in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and even the US Supreme Court.
Both houses of the US Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, vote separately to certify the final Presidential election results presented to them by the Electoral College tomorrow.
Importantly, it only takes one of the houses — either the Senate or the House of Representatives — to vote by a majority vote to certify the election results and make them official.
Trump and his supporters have ZERO chance of prevailing in this latest gambit to overturn the election because the House of Representatives has a Democratic Party majority which will unquestionably certify their party candidate Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.
“Importantly, it only takes one of the houses — either the Senate or the House of Representatives — to vote by a majority vote to certify the election results and make them official.
For that reason, the Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has been urging the Republican Senators not to participate in this latest Trump charade and publicity stunt, and not vote against certifying the election results.
But at least one Republican Senator, Josh Hawley from the Missouri heartland, has vowed to challenge the electoral college results in a little known and used procedure created by an 1880 election law that allows individual senators or Congressmen to raise questions about the election results and debate them before the certifying vote.
Many more Republican Congressmen in the House of Representatives have also announced their intention to use this same obscure law to raise objections and debate the issue.
“But at least one Republican Senator, Josh Hawley from the Missouri heartland, has vowed to challenge the electoral college results in a little known and used procedure created by an 1880 election law that allows individual senators or Congressmen to raise questions about the election results and debate them before the certifying vote.
It is expected to be a long day of long-winded speeches tomorrow by Senators and Congressmen from both parties debating the fairness of Joe Biden's election before a final vote is cast in each chamber.
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While it is without question that the House majority of Democrats will certify their party candidate Joe Biden as the next President which is all that is required, most observers expect that enough Republican senators will also follow the lead of their Majority leader McConnell and even the Senate will ultimately certify the final election results by a comfortable margin by the end of the day.
What is this really about?
It is all about Trump.
He is increasingly desperate to use every opportunity to focus the media and the country on himself and his own delusional narrative that the election was unfairly stolen from him.
Trump and his supporters have also organised street demonstrations in Washington while Congress debates tomorrow that many expect will turn violent.
“It is all about Trump. He is increasingly desperate to use every opportunity to focus the media and the country on himself and his own delusional narrative that the election was unfairly stolen from him.
For President-elect Biden and the Democratic party, the only good thing is that Trump is beginning to divide the Republican party between those Trump loyalists who blindly follow his self-promoting fantasies that the election was unfair because he lost, and those Republicans like Senate Majority leader McConnell who are ready to move forward.
Each Republican Senator and Congressman is now forced to choose if they are with Trump or against him, and those who are against him can expect Trump to use his still considerable muscle with the Republican party base to destroy their chances in the next election if they dare to cross him now.
Trump is once again putting himself and his own ego and interests ahead of everything else, badly damaging the trust in our electoral process and the strength of our democracy and further dividing the country.
Most of the country wearily awaits the end of the Trump presidency with Joe Biden's inauguration in two weeks on January 20, 2021, hoping that Trump will stay on the golf course and not do any more damage before he departs.
“Each Republican Senator and Congressman is now forced to choose if they are with Trump or against him, and those who are against him can expect Trump to use his still considerable muscle with the Republican party base to destroy their chances in the next election if they dare to cross him now.
Trump is not expected to attend the Biden inauguration, which will mark the first time in history that an outgoing president has skipped his successor's inauguration. Instead, Trump and his supporters are organising another round of counter-demonstrations in Washington on the day of the Biden inauguration.
Trump is rumoured to have made plans to leave the country and fly to his golf course in Scotland the day before.
We can only hope that he makes it a long stay.
(Geoffrey Coll is a partner at Thompson Coburn in Washington, DC. The views are personal.)