What to expect when Congress meets: their playbook is Tilden vs Hayes in 1876

[andym]

Trump will order his "troops" (GOP senators and representatives into action). Why? He can't stand to lose, and he has the "what do you have to lose" mindset. This is why they are forming faux alternate slates of electors.

Their playbook is obsolete, not applicable to the current situation and will lose, but it's instructive to understand it:

The Election of 1876
Democrat Tilden, the NY governor, won a majority of the vote (50.9%) and seemed to win the electoral college until charges of fraudulent elections in 4 contested states. The GOP controlled the SC and Senate while the Democrats controlled the House-- just like today. There were two slates of electors from each of the contested states, each certified by different officials. An electoral commission eventually awarded all of the disputed states to Hayes making him the winner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election

The difference is that there wasn't real fraud this time, so there is NO justification as well as the reforms from the Electoral Count Act in 1887. There are also no alternate slates of electors certified by any state officials. I'm pretty sure they will try to dispute this on January 6 to try to cheat their way in. They need their alternate slates of electors should the disputes ever get that far. But they won't, thanks to greater clarity in the law and the lack of any evidential fraud with more than 50 court cases to back up the conclusion of a clean election.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Not. Going. To. Happen.

There will be theatrical objections raised on January 6, but they will not be sustained, and the slates certified by the governors will be accepted, as per federal and state laws.

[jpljr77]

3. Oh, Ted Cruz's five minutes will be something to behold. Set phasers to vomit. n/t

[gratuitous]

4. Ditto

It's pretty obvious these blowhards say one thing in front of the cameras and do something very different when in a court of law, or in this case, on the record as a member of Congress. There's no downside to making a show for the media, nobody's going to hold them accountable. Certainly not their enraptured fans, and for sure not the media who are grateful for any ratings boost. But lying to a judge in a courtroom? You could spend a night in jail. Popping off on the floor of the House? You didn't really want to be on any committees, did you?

[iamateacher]

2. Great explanation, thank you!

[BajaDoll]

5. Thank for explaining this.

I get smarter every time I come here (a lot). Thanks for flying ahead of the airplane as Ed Shultz used to say. That does seem to be shaping up as their grand finale. Interesting times we are living in to say the least.

[The Genealogist]

6. I keep seeing posts here, regarding Arizona and Nevada at least

that Republicans in those states are gathering and assembling sets of electoral votes to submit. Sounds like they are trying to emulate what happened in 1876 by having 2 sets of votes submitted for these states. I can't imagine it flying, but that is what it sounds like they are trying to do.

[andym]

7. That's why I posted this brief review of 1876

It seemed to me that is what they are trying to do, but this time no legislature has created the alternate slate of electors they so desperately want.

[The Genealogist]

8. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

I'm not worried about it in the least, but good god they are persistent.

[andym]

9. This is why they are trying to get into the state capitals today

because the law states that the electors must meet and vote in their state capitals today. But too bad for them, they can't even get in to have their faux electors vote.