President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated on January 20, becoming the nation's 46th President.
While this statement would normally be innocuous after centuries of peaceful transitions between outgoing Presidents and their successors, Trump continues to deny the reality of his defeat.
The President has lost dozens of court cases challenging the results and the recounts he's demanded have done nothing to change his number of electoral votes, which were cast on Monday and further confirmed Biden's victory.
Trump has fired off countless lie-ridden tweets falsely claiming that widespread voter fraud coordinated by Democrats tipped the election to Biden. Though his assertions are easily debunked, an unignorable faction of Trump's supporters still believe that Trump is the legitimate winner.
What's more they believe he will still be inaugurated on January 20th.
The Twitter account @CopingMAGA focuses on Trump supporters' reactions—and often denials—of the election results, and it recently posted a video of one such supporter predicting that Trump will secure a second term.
Watch the prediction—and the Rodney Dangerfield impersonation—below.
The absolute meltdown in January is going to be insane pic.twitter.com/CVEwgj8LwI
— Coping MAGA (@CopingMAGA) December 15, 2020
The supporter says:
"Trump's gonna win the election. The alternative electoral voters have already voted for Trump in several states, then it's gonna go to Congress and Mike Pence is preside over that, so we're gonna win, baby!"
This is false.
The latest Republican disinformation campaign regarding the election points to would-be Republican electors in swing states who cast so-called electoral votes for Trump to be submitted to Congress. The term "alternate electors" bestows an air of legitimacy where one doesn't exist.
When a presidential candidate wins a state and the state certifies its election results, a slate of electors from the winner's party is appointed to cast Electoral Votes for the winner on behalf of their state.
Every state has certified its election results—including the swing states which went to Biden—and the Electoral College has already met.
These "alternate electors" have no more legitimacy than if a group of "electors" were to submit votes for a beloved housecat to be President. Nevertheless, Trump's allies are crying foul and claiming Republican suppression.
The would-be Republican electors in Michigan attempted to infiltrate the state's Capitol—which was closed to the public—to submit votes for Trump. A lawyer for the electors falsely claimed they were being denied their "constitutional duty" to submit their votes.
But because Trump lost the state of Michigan, these electors had no such Constitutional duty.
Like the supporter featured by @CopingMAGA, many of these Republicans somehow still believe that electoral votes submitted by the losing party in a certified election are somehow legitimate and will deliver a second term to Trump when Vice President Mike Pence reads aloud the votes to Congress on January 6.
The supporter concluded with an impersonation of Rodney Dangerfield, saying:
"I'll tell you, I finally got some respect, whataya know?"
He had not, in fact, gotten any respect.
I don't know which is worse: this man's working comprehension of basic Civics or his impersonation of Rodney Dangerfield. pic.twitter.com/Vh9XZSKOVQ
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) December 15, 2020
Dude is literally going to have to be talked down from a cliff in about a month.
And I can't wait for it. https://t.co/ANb9ZUpX1V
— Andrew (@AndrewP8186) December 15, 2020
The fact that he breaks into a Rodney Dangerfield impression 31 seconds into this makes me think it's a a joke. https://t.co/UgN85hryWx
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) December 16, 2020
What's dangerous here is that Christians, like conspiracy theorists, like to spin up narratives to suit their convictions. When they don't come true, they'll believe they were cheated somehow and some of them will get violent. pic.twitter.com/arcEJRtlSd
— Zachary Forrest y Salazar (@zdfs) December 15, 2020
The video represented a growing detachment from reality among Trump's most ardent supporters—a detachment encouraged by the President and his allies.
Say what you will about Democrats, but man, at least there wasn't some giant contingent of them who refused to acknowledge that Trump was going to become president after the 2016 election.
There seem to be a lot of Trumpers who are very, very, very confident that he's staying. https://t.co/FVHx17KPvZ
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 15, 2020
This is just scary. He's delusional, he doesn't understand Jesus' teachings (#FakeChristian), and he's not keeping his eyes on the road while driving. https://t.co/9U1r3OjEGZ
— Healthcare 🇺🇸Voter (@RoverGrover) December 15, 2020
Are the alternative electors from the alternate reality where these morons all reside? https://t.co/xGCCConmbX
— Philly's Just Elizabeth (@Eiggam5955) December 15, 2020
While everyone else riffs on the Rodney Dangerfield impression, I just want to note two things here:
1) This is a cult of "winning." Trump for these guys is the ultimate "winner."
2) it doesn't even occur to him that overturning democracy might be immoral. Just win baby. https://t.co/HFIupYXq8s
— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) December 16, 2020
The delusion is mighty https://t.co/FVm1uYQWz3
— 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒍𝒚 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 🇮🇪 (@FrankOKelly) December 16, 2020
Despite this delusion, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be inaugurated on January 20th of next year.