When former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he triggered a desperate attempt to remain in office that falsely claimed Democrats had engineered widespread voter fraud. This time around, he'll lack the powers an incumbent has to use his office as weapon. No longer having those internal levers of power to pull, though, has only meant a shift in tactics from his allies, not in their overall strategy. And as his Election Day rematch against President Joe Biden approaches, the infrastructure being built to delegitimize a Trump loss is becoming increasingly obvious.
While unable to lean on the Department of Justice this time around, Trump is not entirely without institutional power at his disposal. Several states have filed charges against organizers and participants in the "fake electors" plot. In those plots, Republican presidential electors signed off on fraudulent Electoral College certificates that declared Trump the winner in their state. The goal was to cause enough chaos that Vice President Mike Pence would either throw out their state's electoral votes or kick the can to state legislatures to hand Trump a win. Despite their criminal liability, several members of the plot have already been appointed as Electoral College members again or expressed a willingness to serve.
This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest article. Read the full column here.
