# The American Coup: 11.9.2020 - **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182 "2020-11-09T23:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/161 "2020-11-11T19:27:14Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > A lot of the “voter fraud” claims are general efforts to discredit mail-in voting. But even that’s starting to backfire, because they’ve been scouring voting records and voter databases looking for problems and haven’t found anything more than a few clerical errors and a couple of Trump supporters that tried to vote twice. They claimed to have proof that people who live out of the state voted in Nevada. Turns out they’re military members who are from Nevada but are stationed in other states. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/162 "2020-11-11T19:28:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > They claimed to have proof that people who live out of the state voted in Nevada. Turns out they’re military members who are from Nevada but are stationed in other states. The GOP is anti-military! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/163 "2020-11-11T19:31:08Z")
I have proof that this one guy that lives in Washington DC voted by mail in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/164 "2020-11-11T19:32:44Z")
With an address that in the tax rolls is not listed as a private dwelling. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/165 "2020-11-11T19:35:34Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I have proof that this one guy that lives in Washington DC voted by mail in Florida. In 2016 he did, although it was NY. I seem to recall news reports that he went to Florida to vote this year. Early voting though, it was some time in late October. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/166 "2020-11-11T19:39:11Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Trump’s not smart enough to mastermind a real coup, but there are definitely people around him who are and might try. How would they do it, how could it be stopped, and by whom? It would be stopped by you and me and by others like us. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/167 "2020-11-11T19:43:12Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It would be stopped by you and me and by others like us. So … maybe all the rat-fuckery du jour is calculated theater – sponsored by the NRA – designed to liberalize 2dA rights even further, or at least to prevent Biden-Harris from curtailing them ? [only partly said in jest] ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/168 "2020-11-11T20:00:43Z")
Mitch McConnell said today that there was no cause for alarm. This fills me with _great_ alarm! Although, in honesty, I don’t think there is a coup in progress. I think some of this (firing Esper) is Trump being a petty ass. And the rest is Trump being a whiny toddler. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/169 "2020-11-11T20:10:10Z")
> **[Georgia to conduct full by-hand count of presidential race ballots, secretary...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/politics/georgia-full-state-recount-2020-presidential-race/index.html)** > > Georgia's secretary of state announced Wednesday that the state will conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential race, recounting by hand the millions of ballots cast in the state, where President-elect Joe Biden is leading. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/170 "2020-11-11T20:26:41Z")
Isn’t that going to take a really long time? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/171 "2020-11-11T20:29:52Z")
Longer if you keep interrupting them with questions. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/172 "2020-11-11T20:31:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > My bold. > > It’s theater-- and BAD theater at that. It’s not meant to win lawsuits. It’s meant to create the impression that the results of the election are in dispute, in the hopes of prevailing upon Republican state legislators to declare the election unclear and to choose their own electors. Every state in the union prohibits, in law, the legislature overriding the express will of the people; the idea is to pretend that will was not adequately expressed, thereby allowing the legislature to choose the electors, as per 3 U.S. Code § 2. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/173 "2020-11-11T20:33:41Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > For those who may be more familiar with how these things go, can Biden fire all these new guys first thing on 1/20/2021, or will he be stuck with a bunch of Trump’s lackeys? My WAG is that if Trump can fire all these guys without giving cause, Biden can fire their replacements. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/174 "2020-11-11T21:17:45Z")
Here is my nightmare scenario. Trump sues everyone everything and, when the suits are dismissed, appeals and appeals. While the appeals are going on PA, MI, and WI will be enjoined from certifying the results. Dec. 14 comes and goes and those three states haven’t appointed electors. On Jan. 6 Pence declares that no one has a majority so the election goes to HR with each state having one vote. The Reps control 26 delegations and choose agent orange. The Senate, currently 50-48 ties 49-49, Mitt Romney voting with the Dems and the presiding officer breaks the tie. Susan Collins is “concerned”, but goes along. Pompeo’s statement yesterday really scares me into thinking they have a real plan. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/175 "2020-11-11T21:20:23Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Pompeo’s statement yesterday really scares me into thinking they have a real plan. That would be a first. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/176 "2020-11-11T21:22:47Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Pompeo’s statement yesterday really scares me into thinking they have a real plan. Yeah: Stall while somebody thinks of something we can use. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/177 "2020-11-11T21:24:44Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > You’re not wrong. If a few people at the Pentagon were different Trump may had gotten his wish to deploy US troops inside the country during the BLM protests. > > Imagine a more competent and well connected version of Trump, that had the foresight and charisma to install more loyal men in the Pentagon; But it’s important to point out that, toddler behavior aside, Trump singularly brought us to this point. It didn’t really take brains; it took having no awareness of boundaries and using his power to impose his will on people. What prevented Trump from doing more damage was decades of institutional culture that recruited and retained people who believe in public service and public trust, and who believe in the rule of the law being hire than that of fealty to an individual or ideology. If you change that, trust me: it doesn’t take much intelligence to rip a democracy to shreds once you get to that point. And we’re getting very dangerously close to that point with a significant portion of the republican party, which is in limbo because they have created a monster that’s out of the cage and one they’re not going to easily control. This article in Politico pretty much backs up my hypothesis, which is that Republicans are dependent on this growing 72 million-person fringe. > **['We need his voters' in Georgia: Why Republicans embrace Trump's last stand](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/10/trump-georgia-senate-runoff-435786)** > > The president's refusal to concede the election is finding support among GOP senators who are eager for his help in holding the Senate. I think Biden will ultimately end up in the office, but there is really no telling just how much damage will be done between now and then and what kind of country we have to look forward to once he’s in office. I do worry that a more dangerous Trump is in our future, one that is, as we fear, more competent, and one that will also come to power enjoying the benefit of greater polarization, less inter-party and social cooperation, and a greater sense of economic and national desperation. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/178 "2020-11-11T21:29:54Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It didn’t really take brains; it took having no awareness of boundaries and using his power to impose his will on people. Early on in his administration, I compared him to an ooze that would seep through any cracks and test the boundaries and the structure of our democracy. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/179 "2020-11-11T21:34:05Z")
My understanding is that they would probably need to go to the courts first, as most of the states have secretaries of state that certify the elections. I think they would be able to appoint electors, but suppose Trump encourages republican legislatures to meet to propose their own electors to effectively compete with the vote-backed state-certified electors. Mind you, in PA and I think most if not all the other states, competing electors proposed by legislators only would, in essence, be going against their own state law. However, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh appear to have opined in the past that **state legislatures might be able to propose their own electors even in spite of the election’s results**. Whether they would actually rule in any way that would meaningfully give a legal cover to a political coup remains to be seen. Most legal experts seem to throw water on that idea but don’t necessarily rule it out entirely either. I personally tend to doubt that 5 justices would agree to it if only because any decision that they render which could have the impact of disproportionately strengthening an incumbent Executive, would likely imperil the very independence of their own judiciary. And I can’t believe that any of the justices, as partisan as they are, couldn’t at least envision that possibility. At the same time, I feel a LOT less confident about judicial restraint than I would have if Ginsburg were still alive. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/180 "2020-11-11T21:35:32Z")
That’s an appropriate analogy, IMO [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=10)