Follow the Grift

In a twenty-four-hour period from mid-Friday morning to mid-Saturday morning, Donald Trump received devastating news nine times.

First (and yet again), Pennsylvania's GOP leadership in the Republican-controlled legislature announced, this time in writing, that they would not throw the state to Trump. President-elect Joe Biden had clearly won the state and they refused to ignore the voters' choice.

Then, during the course of the day, courts in six states tossed out Trump's and allies' lawsuits seeking to overturn the election, saying they failed to submit any proof it was fraudulent (details here). Judges in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin drove stake after stake into the dying heart of his longshot scheme to steal the election in court. And most of those judges are Republicans.

Per the linked article: "The Trump campaign’s strategy of using the courts to change the result of the presidential election — which has involved dozens of lawsuits in six states — has so far been a complete failure, as lawyers for the President and his allies repeatedly failed to present credible evidence of wrongdoing that would justify invalidating millions of votes in swing states. Trump and his allies are approaching nearly 50 losses in four weeks, according to a tally by Democratic attorney Marc Elias."

Then, on Saturday morning, when Trump begged the governor of Georgia to throw the state to him, which he lost, the state's chief executive refused. That was followed a little later in the day by the announcement, this time from Arizona, that Republicans in the state legislature there would not throw the state to Trump, which Biden also won.

The above notwithstanding, failing any significant court victories, Trump continues to fraudulent insist the election was fraudulent. The real reason for this insistence likely has nothing to do with hoping he'll somehow prevail in court.

In reality, he's running a massive grift so he can continue to raise money. He's hauled in more than $200 million in donations since the election in his alleged battle to fight fraud.

If you read the fine print in his fundraising scheme, however, you'll see very little goes toward contesting the election (details here). The majority of it goes into his and the GOP's political action committees, which in turn pay millions directly into Trump's pocket for "expenses incurred" at Trump-owned properties.

It's a massive con that damaging to America's democracy. But Trump cares nothing about that. He only cares about himself.