In November, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to try to maintain the power voters had given someone else during national elections.
The plot did not unfold in a dramatic scene. Instead, Trump enticed Republicans to commit a series of coercive acts on his behalf under a false banner of non-existent electoral “fraud,” the attempted robbery posing as a security measure.
It could have worked. Many Republicans followed actively or silently. These included well-known national figures such as Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, Lindsey Graham and most other Republican senators.
But to be successful, Trump’s plot depended not only on the top Republicans he dominated, but also on the cooperation of hundreds of state and local officials. Over the course of three crucial weeks in November, some of these officials made individual decisions that might have seen the plot go by, while others thwarted it.
Here is an incomplete list of some of the lesser-known Republican friends and enemies of American democracy that emerged in the historic November 2020 battle for their destiny.
Enemies
To stay in power, Trump needed to prevent states from certifying the results of their Nov. 3 ballot or convince Republican lawmakers to try to launch state results. Trump’s key goals included officials in Michigan and Pennsylvania. He found some accomplices ready.
Norman Shinkle
A former state senator in Michigan who refused to certify the result of the state despite independent certifications from Michigan’s 83 counties and there is no evidence of fraud to call into question Biden’s 154,000-vote victory in the state. Shinkle said he thought the outcome in most Detroit Black “should be looked at.” A county secretary called Shinkle’s abstention “shocking and disgusting.”
Monica Palmer and William Hartmann
Republican canvassers from Wayne County, Michigan, who tried to reverse their certification of the election result after Trump made a phone call to Palmer. He demanded an audit of Detroit’s vote before certifying its outcome, defying the law. He later said he was unaware of the law.
Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield
Republican leaders in the Michigan Senate and House accepted an invitation to visit Trump in the White House as the president tried to prevent the state from certifying Biden’s victory with 82,000 votes. In the oval office, Shirkey and Chatfield received a phone call from Rudy Giuliani about fake election fraud. They later lied and said the meeting with Trump was about an economic relief from the Covid-19. They were photographed taking Dom Pérignon to Trump’s hotel in Washington DC after their meeting.
Grant Hermes
(@GrantHermes)Shirkey, choose to sing a hymn to the press instead of answering the questions here. When asked if he had anything to say to MI voters, he replied, “I love Michigan.” @ Local4News pic.twitter.com/YFycvj9tRp
Joe Gale
A member of the Republican Electoral Board in the suburbs of Philadelphia who refused to certify a 27-point victory for Biden in his county. “I think the U.S. Supreme Court should review the sadness that has happened in Pennsylvania,” Gale said. dit. The Trump campaign never presented any evidence of election fraud in Pennsylvania courts, which dismissed almost all of Trump’s cases.
Keith Gould and Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt
Republican members of the Luzern County, Pennsylvania, electoral board were so committed to Trump’s electoral fairy tale that they refused to certify the vote in a county that Trump won by 14 points. Three Democrats on the board overtook them to certify Trump’s victory in the county.
Kayleigh McEnany
After nearly two months of absence from the White House newsroom, the press secretary appeared 17 days after the election to spread Trump’s lie about election fraud. “There are very real claims that the campaign is pursuing,” he said. Aside from that, he lied about Trump’s meeting with Michigan lawmakers, saying “it wasn’t a defense meeting, there won’t be anyone in the campaign; he usually meets with lawmakers across the country.”
Josh Marshall
(@joshtpm).@PressSec says meeting with Michigan legislature leaders in the White House today is not an “incident,” nor about the election. pic.twitter.com/c5q6Ckgx2s
Ronna McDaniel
The chairman of Michigan’s Republican and Native National Committee appeared at a news conference two days after the election and spread lies about “discrepancies” and “irregularities,” demanding an audit of Michigan’s vote before certification in defiance of state electoral law. Under his leadership, the Republican National Party spread savage and conspiratorial claims that Trump had actually won in a “landslide.” Now most Republican voters tell pollsters they believe the election was fraudulent.
GOP
(@GOP)“We will not be intimidated … We will clean up this mess now. President Trump won by defeat. We will prove it. And we will reclaim the United States of America for people who vote for freedom” – Sidney Powell pic.twitter.com/8KCEOGuL7w
Friends
In front of state and local officials who refused to certify the election results were Republican officials who certified Biden’s victory.
Never in American history has such an action been interpreted as a matter of heroism, as election results have always been routinely certified, regardless of who has won, as the constitution.
But in 2020 these officials had to endure a campaign of pressure from Trump, who named many of them in tweets, prompting death threats against them and their families.
Al Schmidt
A Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia who confronted Trump. The weekend after the election, Schmidt went on for 60 minutes and said Trump’s allegations about fraud in Philadelphia were false.
“In the end, we count the eligible votes cast by voters. The controversy surrounding him is something I don’t understand, “said Schmidt. “Counting the votes cast on election day by eligible voters or before that day is not corruption. It is not cheating. It is democracy.
“From the inside, everything feels very baffled.”
60 minutes
(@ 60Minutes)Philadelphia City Republican Commissioner Al Schmidt says his office, which manages the vote count, has received death threats. https://t.co/LNXfXwJrbk pic.twitter.com/ouxX0xGhKX
Aaron Van Langevelde
Republican vice president of a state control board that voted to certify Biden’s victory in Michigan. Langevelde broke what would have been a stalemate caused by Shinkle’s perfidy. “We have a duty to certify these elections based on these statements, that is very clear,” he said.
“We shouldn’t try to wield a power we just don’t have,” Langevelde continued. “As John Adams once said, ‘we are a government of laws, not men.’ This board must adhere to this principle here today. This board must do its part to defend the rule of law and fulfill our legal duty to certify these elections.
The Count
(@therecount)After the previous halt, here is the time Republican Aaron Van Langevelde of the Michigan State Board of Canvassers said he will vote to certify Michigan’s election results.
That’s it: Michigan’s 16 election votes officially go to Joe Biden.pic.twitter.com/EZemjFxaSD
Christopher Krebs
The former director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, fired by Trump for defying the president’s vote fraud, is lying. Nine days after the election, Krebs’ agency issued a statement beginning: “The November 3 election was the safest in American history.” Krebs was fired a week later, but continued to talk about electoral integrity. After a Trump campaign attorney said Krebs should be “shot in the morning and shot,” Krebs said he would sue.
TODAY
(@TODAYshow).@SavannahGuthrie speaks with Christopher Krebs in his first live interview since he was fired as director of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency. Krebs points to the registration of the ballots as proof that the 2020 elections were safe. pic.twitter.com/R9tdsTNBgZ
Gabriel Sterling
A Republican official who oversaw the implementation of Georgia’s new state voting system, Sterling delivered a passionate speech warning of death threats against election workers and saying Trump is “inspiring people to commit possible acts of violence “.
Addressing Trump, Sterling said:
We are researching, there is always a possibility, I understand. You have the rights to go to court. What you don’t have the ability to do – and you have to do it and say – is to stop inspiring people to commit possible acts of violence. Someone will be hurt, someone will be killed, someone will be killed and not right. It’s not good.
Brad Raffensperger
The Republican secretary of state in Georgia, who opposed Trump and insisted that Biden’s annoying victory in the state was legitimate. “I am a Conservative Republican. Yes, he wanted President Trump to win. But as Secretary of State we have to do our job, “Raffensperger said in an interview with The Guardian.” I’m going to walk so well, straight, with integrity. I think integrity still matters. “
In response, Trump said of Raffensperger, “He is an enemy of the people.”