This article contains news and liberal commentary.
Two Michigan GOP legislators Trump summoned to the White House have rebuffed his efforts to grab their state’s electoral votes, and claim they used the 2-hour meeting to lobby for more Covid-19 relief for their state, NBC News reported on Friday, November 20, 2020. Read story here.
What Trump was up to was obvious. “A state GOP leader told NBC News before the meeting that Shirkey and Chatfield expected Trump to pressure them to overturn the election results,” and they said after the meeting “they were not made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan,” meaning Trump had no evidence of fraud to share with them.
Shirkey and Chatfield, the leaders of the state senate and house, said in a statement they accepted the White House invitation “as we would … from any sitting president” but “we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s electors.”
An obvious question is why it takes 2 hours to say “no,” and the federal funding request sounds suspiciously like a cover story. The fact they made the trip at all, when everyone knew what Trump wanted, raises questions and their explanation reeks of defensiveness.
But at least they told him they couldn’t do it, you’ve got to give them credit for that, along with chutzpah kudos for asking for money. (But doesn’t everyone in politics ask for money, all the time, everywhere they go?)
Virtually all of Trump’s lawsuits have been rejected by the courts, and no states are within recount range. He’ll try to flip electoral votes in other states, too, but even if that doesn’t succeed he’s not out of options. He can still try something in Congress and/or the Supreme Court.
Photo: Lee Chatfield (left) and Mike Shirkey (right) told Trump they can’t go rogue because Michigan law doesn’t allow it; they didn’t say what he asked them to do is wrong.