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Voters in all 50 states came together to cast their votes in a tradition that has long been seen primarily as a formality to confirm the will of the people expressed at the ballot box.
United States President-elect Joe Biden speaks while addressing the media after a virtual meeting with the executive committee of the National Governors Association at the Queen Theater on November 19, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON (AP) – Joe Biden’s march to the White House, overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s frantic attempts to reverse the U.S. election, will be formalized Monday when the Electoral College meets to confirm the Democrat’s victory.
Voters in all 50 states came together to cast their votes in a tradition that has long been seen primarily as a formality to confirm the will of the people expressed at the ballot box.
But this year, the somewhat arcane procedure is at the center of an unprecedented – and many cautioning dangerous – challenge to the credibility of the Trump-led American democracy.
Strongly defeated by Biden on November 3, Trump continues to claim, without proof, that he was the real winner. Court after court has rejected his team’s nationwide election fraud allegations, and last Friday the Supreme Court dealt a definitive legal blow when it dismissed an appeal filed by Trump allies from Texas and other Republican-led states.
Based on state-by-state vote counts already legally certified, Electoral College representatives are expected to vote 306-232 for Biden over Trump, a process that is expected to take much of Monday.
This will draw a thick line in a contest that saw Biden turn Trump into a rare-term president after campaigning with a message to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, heal the bitter political divide, and restore the traditional diplomacy of I know.
Biden, who has largely avoided responding to Trump’s conspiracy theories, announced that he would deliver an evening speech dedicated to “the strength and endurance” of American democracy.
DISINFORMATION
So far, most Republicans in Congress have either backed Trump’s claims or at least turned a blind eye, and many have refused to call Biden president-elect.
The disinformation spearheaded by the president and spread by popular commentators on Fox News and new conspiracy theory outlets like Newsmax means that many Americans have all but given up on faith in their own institutions.
Polls show that only one in four Republican voters accepts the election results.
Thousands of Trump supporters, including members of far-right groups, protested in Washington over the weekend, battling counter-protesters. The threat of violence required extraordinary security measures to be put in place for Electoral College meetings in several states, including Arizona and Michigan, The New York Times reported.
Meanwhile, Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told Fox News on Monday that an “alternate voters list” had been created to send his own results to Congress.
“We have more than enough time to correct the error of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election,” Miller said, without explaining the idea of a shadow Electoral College.
Trump was at it on Monday, too, tweeting more allegations with no basis in reality.
“The undecided states that have encountered MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, which is all, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes as complete and correct without committing a severely punishable offense,” he said.
The Electoral College’s legal vote, however, will leave the Trump train with almost no place to go.
There’s just one big formality left before Biden’s inauguration on January 20, when Congress, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, opens and counts electoral votes on January 6.
Despite rumors that Trump’s allies may seek to turn this largely ceremonial event into another battlefront against the election results, it seems clear that support for continued theatricality is steadily declining.
In the latest sign of a turning tide, the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, which staunchly supports Trump, told Trump on Monday that his time is up.
“President Trump’s legal challenges have run their course, and he and the rest of the Republican Party can help the country and themselves by acknowledging the outcome and moving forward,” the editorial said.
No one expects Trump to refuse to leave the White House. Yet there is no indication that he will ever agree to give in, much less bow to tradition by inviting Biden to the White House for a friendly chat.
When asked on Fox News this weekend if he would even attend Biden’s inauguration, Trump responded, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
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