McConnell, McCarthy, Cruz, Paul, Graham and other Republican leaders denying Biden’s victory all know that the election won’t actually be overturned. Barr knows that his egregious move of bringing the DOJ in to investigate voter fraud won’t overturn it either. This isn’t a coup attempt. Probably the only person who thinks Trump can still win is Trump.
In the case of GOP chieftains, it isn’t likely that they are cowed by their party leader. They all have the opportunistic qualities of career politicians after all, and it less likely that they all have Stockholm syndrome than that they are using Trump’s fixation to their benefit.
The more doubt they can cast over the election’s outcome in the minds of tens of millions of Americans, the easier it will be to undermine the Biden administration over the next four years.
McConnell has already almost said as much, accusing Democrats of delegitimizing HIS president. “Let’s not have any lectures.” he said, “from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election.”
In that sense maybe it is a kind of coup attempt, one that won’t seize executive power so much as disable it.
