Assuming Trump's political demise is a fait accompli is a mistake.
Donald Trump is going to try to hold onto the office by any means necessary.
And if there is anything we have come to understand about Trump, it's that "any means necessary" means ANY MEANS.
Trump is aware the Justice Department policy of not indicting sitting presidents is shielding him from criminal prosecution.
Upon leaving office, he can be indicted.
In their Newsweek piece, "How Trump Could Lose the Election-and Still Remain President," CNBC founder Tom Rogers and former Senator Tim Wirth (D-CO) explain:
"This is how it happens, Biden wins. I don't just mean the popular vote, he wins the key swing states, he wins the electoral college. President Trump says there's been Chinese interference in the election. He's been talking about Biden's soft on ChinaChina wanted Biden to win so he says a national emergency; the Chinese have intervened in the election."
This is particularly ironic considering Trump's former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, documents in his new book that Trump, during trade negotiations with China, pushed Chinese President Xi Jinping to agree to purchase American agricultural products as a means to bolster popularity with U.S. farmers to help with 2020 re-election prospects.
Tom Rogers adds:
"Just ten days ago [June 23] he [Trump] tweeted, he actually tweeted, 'rigged 2020 election,' millions of mail-in ballots will be printed by foreign countries it will be the scandal of our times. so he's laying the groundwork for this. So he does an investigation and [Attorney General Bill] Barr backs this up with all kinds of legal opinions about emergency powers that the president has."
"Then what happens is it's all geared towards December 14th. Why December 14th? Well, that's the deadline when the electors of the states have to be chosen. Why is that key? Because that's what the Supreme Court used in Bush v. Gore to cut off the Florida counting. They keep this national emergency investigation going through December 14th. Biden, of course, challenges this in the courts and says, 'hey, we won these states, I want the electors that favored me named. The Supreme Court doesn't throw the election to the Republicans as it did in 2000; instead it says, 'look, there's a deadline here.' If they can't be certified in these states because of this investigation going on, there's a constitutional process for this."
That constitutional process lies within the 12th amendment, which states:
"If no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice."
Republican are already running full-tilt voter suppression ahead of November.
All it takes is for only a couple of states--say, Texas and Florida--to cast some doubt over the election's integrity for it to be tossed to the House of Representatives.
That may appear on the surface to be good news since Democrats hold the majority in the House.
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