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Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
Trump loyalists, including Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and several Republican lawmakers from the House Freedom Caucus, attempted to keep Trump in power. At the state level, their tactics targeted state legislatures with the intent of changing the results or delaying the electoral vote certification at the Capitol.[40] At the national level, they promoted the idea that Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to certify the election results on January 6, 2021. Consequently, hundreds of elected Republicans, including members of Congress and governors, have refused to acknowledge Biden's victory;[41] a few have since decided to acknowledge it.[42][43]
Trump's legal team sought a path to bring a case before the Supreme Court, but none of the 63 lawsuits they filed were successful.[44][45][46][47] They especially pinned their hopes on Texas v. Pennsylvania, but on December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear that case.[48] After that, Trump reportedly considered multiple ways to remain in power, including military intervention, seizing voting machines, and another appeal to the Supreme Court.[49][50][51]
Trump continues to insist that the election was stolen,[59] telling a group of historians in mid-2021 that the election was "rigged and lost",[60] and publicly stating in August 2022 that he should be declared the president or a new election should be held "immediately".[61] As late as 2022, Trump supporters continued their attempts to overturn the election results, pushing for state legislature resolutions and new lawsuits, raising concerns among legal experts that public confidence in democracy is being undermined to lay the groundwork for baselessly challenging future elections.[62]
^Kumar, Anita; Orr, Gabby (December 21, 2020). "Inside Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the election". Politico. Retrieved January 17, 2023. Trump's efforts to cling to power are unprecedented in American history. While political parties have fought over the results of presidential elections before, no incumbent president has ever made such expansive and individualized pleas to the officials who oversee certification of the election results.
^Sanger, David E. (November 19, 2020). "Trump's Attempts to Overturn the Election Are Unparalleled in U.S. History". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2023. President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election are unprecedented in American history and an even more audacious use of brute political force to gain the White House than when Congress gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency during Reconstruction.
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^Eastman v Thompson, et al., 8:22-cv-00099-DOC-DFM Document 260, 44 (S.D. Cal. May 28, 2022) ("Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower – it was a coup in search of a legal theory. The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation's government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process... If Dr. Eastman and President Trump's plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution. If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will
repeat itself.").
^Eisen, Norman; Ayer, Donald; Perry, Joshua; Bookbinder, Noah; Perry, E. Danya (June 6, 2022). Trump on Trial: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality (Report). Brookings Institution. Retrieved January 17, 2023. [Trump] tried to delegitimize the election results by disseminating a series of far fetched and evidence-free claims of fraud. Meanwhile, with a ring of close confidants, Trump conceived and implemented unprecedented schemes to – in his own words – "overturn" the election outcome. Among the results of this "Big Lie" campaign were the terrible events of January 6, 2021 – an inflection point in what we now understand was nothing less than an attempted coup.
^Harvey, Michael (2022). "Introduction: History's Rhymes". In Harvey, Michael (ed.). Donald Trump in Historical Perspective. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003110361-1. ISBN978-1-003-11036-1. As with the Beer Hall Putsch, a would-be leader tried to take advantage of an already scheduled event (in Hitler's case, Kahr's speech; in Trump's, Congress's tallying of the electoral votes) to create a dramatic moment with himself at the center of attention, calling for bold action to upend the political order. Unlike Hitler's coup attempt, Trump already held top of office, so he was attempting to hold onto power, not seize it (the precise term for Trump's intended action is a 'self-coup' or 'autogolpe'). Thus, Trump was able to plan for the event well in advance, and with much greater control, including developing the legal arguments that could be used to justify rejecting the election's results. (p3)
Jacobson, Louis (January 6, 2021). "Is this a coup? Here's some history and context to help you decide". PolitiFact. Retrieved January 7, 2021. A good case can be made that the storming of the Capitol qualifies as a coup. It's especially so because the rioters entered at precisely the moment when the incumbent's loss was to be formally sealed, and they succeeded in stopping the count.
Duignan, Brian (August 4, 2021). "January 6 U.S. Capitol attack". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2021. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d'état.
^Carlson, J. (December 14, 2020). "The Legitimacy and Effect of Private Funding in Federal and State Electoral Processes"(PDF). Got Freedom. Thomas More Society. Archived from the original(PDF) on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021. The confusion and negative effect from illegitimate infusion of private funding in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and several other states during the 2020 election can be shown to have had a disparate and inequitable impact on the electorate.
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