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On Thursday, President Donald Trump invited Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield, the leaders of Michigan’s upper and lower chambers of legislature, respectively, to discuss the election. The President, who failed to amass the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to secure reelection, has maintained that Democrats engaged in some form of voter fraud to alter the results.
With that in mind, he has asked Shirkey and Chatfield to simply bypass the popular vote in Michigan and elect a slate of Trump-loyal Electors.
This is unlikely to happen, and has even led members of the president’s own party to question Mr. Trump’s strategy. Not only is this move bizarre, given that it undercuts the promise of democracy in the United States, it also doesn’t appear to be a winning strategy.
Even if the president were able to flip Michigan into his column through an unusual ratification of 16 pro-Trump Electors, Joe Biden would still have the votes needed to secure the White House.
The 2020 election has largely left conservatives scratching their heads in confusion. After four years of decisive leadership under Trump, even in the face of domestic civil unrest and the novel coronavirus pandemic, Democrats appeared to be playing the role of obstructionist for four years.
At various points, Democrats in Congress tried to argue that the 2016 election should not have consequences, and that Donald Trump’s Supreme Court picks should be thrown out entirely.
Then, when the election rolled around, polls once again indicated a strong lead for the Democratic candidate. And, again, election night results proved that pollsters are missing Trump’s most critical factors: his deep well of support from his core base.
However, with no definitive call to be made on election night, and with mail-in ballots still being counted, the country waited anxiously to hear who would be at the helm for the next four years.
It appears, despite the president’s best efforts to correct the situation, that Joe Biden will, in fact, be sworn into office on January 20. This is a bizarre turn for the president’s supporters, many of whom are only just starting to come to grips with the reality that Trump will no longer be in the White House.
However, the president has signaled that he might be gearing up for a comeback run in 2024, meaning that there might yet be another four years under his leadership.
The question that remains, however, is: what will become of the country in that intervening four years?
