Dan Lipka Web Log

Trump supporters and far right groups are planning a rally in Washington, DC this weekend. The left is also organizing a counter-protest. This seems like a recipe for a huge disaster. How will the citizens react (over 90% voted for Biden)? If there is violence, how will the police react.  A peaceful demonstration by the Trump supporters doesn't really benefit them. However, riots and general anarchy might give Trump ammunition to create new talking points and reasons to invalidate the election. Furthermore, it may lead him to believe (perhaps accurately), that there is a civilian army ready to do whatever he says.    Charlottesville was a few hundred people in a small town. This would be thousand (maybe tens of thousands) in our nation's capital. The media doesn't seem to take Trump at his word, that we will do whatever is necessary to stay in power. He has surrounded himself by loyalists, who are telling him that he is right with everything he thinks (I don't think any

The Biden Campaign should not underestimate Trump's efforts to invalidate the election count. There should be no victory party, no naming of cabinet members, and a continuing campaign to battle Trump's legal tactics. The Republicans are backing him pretty strongly, and we should assume this will include Congress, Governors, State Legislators, and sympathetic judges. And even if he loses all court cases, remember that Trump doesn't need 270 electoral votes, he just needs to make sure that Biden doesn't have 270 (which can be done is one state refuses to send any electors (perhaps they claim the election was fraudulent and just refuse). If neither candidate gets 270, the votes goes to the House of Representatives, but not a vote for each member (which would favor the democrats). Each State delegation gets one vote and it is up to the individual States to determine how to vote (so there are only 50 votes and in this situation the Republicans have the advantage. This not fa