It can be unsettling to see just how many people got involved in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 race. The mania spread far and wide to encompass administration officials, party apparatchiks and random MAGA foot soldiers.
We’ve broken them down into six main groups.
At the dark heart of the enterprise was Donald Trump, a defeated president determined to cling to power at all costs.
But his chief of staff Mark Meadows was an indispensable supporting player in the whole mess. Indicted in Georgia, he has been accused of doing much of the grunt work needed to help his boss subvert democracy, such as arranging Oval Office meetings with key players and participating in the phone call in which Mr. Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes.”
A federal judge has described Mr. Trump’s alleged efforts to cling to power as a “coup in search of a legal theory.”
To help find that legal theory or to be his vanguard in court, Mr. Trump brought in — who else? — LAWYERS. And lots of them.
These are the lawyers who drove the fast and loose legal theories nationally and in the states. For example, Cleta Mitchell was on the infamous Raffensperger call. And Jack Wilenchik seemed to acknowledge that the electors were “fake.”
Several of these lawyers, such as John Eastman, are now under indictment.
They led the way in shaping Mr. Trump’s assault on the election outcome, but he had no shortage of other ENABLERS — lawyers and laypeople alike:
G.O.P. and Trump campaign apparatchiks and allies, both official and unofficial, were drawn into the cause. Ronna McDaniel notably helped coordinate the slates of alternative electors from her position at the Republican National Committee.
Congressional cowards (looking at you, Ted Cruz and Josh “Fist Salute” Hawley!) gave comfort to the insurrectionists, and some voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory — even after the sacking of the Capitol.
Scott Perry, a congressman from Pennsylvania, was an early convert, helping hook Mr. Trump up with Jeffrey Clark, the Justice Department official behind some of the most alarming attempts to overturn the election. After the attack on the Capitol, Mr. Perry was so nervous about his involvement in the broader effort that he petitioned Mr. Trump for a pre-emptive pardon.
Across multiple states, a colorful cast of fringe players — from conservative media stars and state lawmakers to a bail bondsman and a former publicist for the rapper Ye — took on pieces of the job. Some were just media surrogates. But others took a more active role, doing things like pressuring poll workers.
At the heart of the legal scheme were the 84 FAKE ELECTORS, the Trump supporters in seven states won by Mr. Biden who signed electoral certificates stating that Mr. Trump won — though he did not.
Three of the 16 in Georgia were indicted, as were all 16 in Michigan.
Others elsewhere were just as active. Take Kelli Ward, a former chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party and a former state senator. When she was questioned by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, she chose to plead the Fifth.
Then there were the INSURRECTIONISTS, who, when Mr. Trump’s legal and political maneuvering failed, trashed the seat of government, braying for the blood of elected leaders such as Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. American carnage, Trump-style.
Some of the rioters were more hard core than others. Members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys spent weeks planning how to use force to keep Mr. Trump in office. Several have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
All told, more than 1,090 people have been indicted on federal and District of Columbia charges related to the insurrection.
With a scheme of this magnitude, there were dozens if not hundreds of people who bore WITNESS to what Mr. Trump and his crew were attempting. Many of those people have wound up providing information to the various investigations into the scheme — some more voluntarily than others.
Plenty of the people who came forward to testify were defectors from Trumpworld: people who have publicly split from him after years in his orbit. Some have gotten downright harsh with their devastating criticism of the former president. That includes both the famous, like Mike Pence, and the once obscure, like Cassidy Hutchinson.
Others, whatever they may have shared with investigators, remain loyal, still snuggling up to Mr. Trump and in some cases continuing to peddle his election-fraud hogwash. Jason Miller remains a top Trump aide, even after apparently cooperating with investigators.
Thankfully, not everyone joined Mr. Trump’s unholy crusade. A few key members of his party (or those who worked for them) RESISTED, refusing to bow to his most outrageous demands and saving the nation from a full-blown constitutional crisis — or worse.
Take Aaron Van Langevelde, a Republican on Michigan’s state certification board. Had he delayed the certification of the statewide results, as Mr. Trump wanted him to, he would have put the dominoes at risk of falling.
The Trumpists sought to pressure a number of Arizona officials, including Rusty Bowers, who was at the time the Republican speaker of the state House, and Clint Hickman, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
Neither budged. Even when calls were made to him through the White House operator, Mr. Hickman refused to return them and, with the rest of the Republican-dominated board, vigorously defended the results through multiple recounts and much MAGA shrieking.
A few Republican governors, namely Doug Ducey of Arizona and Brian Kemp of Georgia, also resisted Trumpist bullying. Mr. Kemp, for example, was asked to call a special legislative session with an eye toward changing the election results. He declined.
And no one should forget Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia, whom Mr. Trump urged to “find” the 11,000-plus votes he needed to win the state.
As bad as it was, it easily could have been so much worse.
Next time, we may not be as lucky.
Mr. Trump’s staff members come and go regularly, and who’s in favor can change in a flash. But many of the figures from his administration — and from his assault on the integrity of the 2020 election — could seek jobs if he wins in 2024. These people seem like solid contenders.
If they take the reins in Washington, it will be with a better sense of the weaknesses in our electoral process and a working knowledge of the obstacles that thwarted the attempt to overturn the last presidential election.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
