(12-09-2020, 10:37 PM)Isodecan Wrote:(12-09-2020, 03:55 PM)GethN7 Wrote: In fairness, I see your point, Biden all but has this, but even if this legal stuff is a farce, it's a farce we must play out because this isn't the first time it has happened, and I for one am just grateful Trump cannot just make himself an unironic dictator in the sense of ordering his re-election through force of arms.
So long as that remains true and power does not devolve to growing strictly out of the barrel of a gun, I say let the farce continue, I'd rather the rule of law hamstring any attempt at a coup bought in actual blood if this must continue.
From where I'm sitting, it will only be time to panic when Trump can seize power at the tip of a bayonet, then I will not only denounce him, but also agree completely all hope is lost for representative democracy.
I was wondering what was the previous time in US history that you are positing that a situation like this occurred where the sitting president lost the election and claimed that massive fraud occurred in multiple states to cause that loss and filed dozens of lawsuits without presenting any actual evidence?
Not exactly the same circumstances, but the states under Reconstruction governments in 1876 all returned two sets of electoral votes that confused both sides as to their legitimacy, and there was a lot of legal handwringing especially on the Republican side because whoever had the legit votes got the presidency, and the Republicans had more to lose at the time.
There was a lot of finger-pointing and accusations of influence peddling and vote canvassing at the time (it wasn't until 1878 the full scope of whose underwear was really dirty was cleared up), so there is a similar, if not exact, precedent.