Donald J. Trump’s defenders are playing a stupid game of semantics as they try to defend the thrice-indicted, twice-impeached former POTUS against charges that he sought to overthrow the government.
They now call the “fake” electors put forth by Trump and his minions “alternative” electors.
Memo to the MAGA morons: They aren’t “alternative” anything. They are fake electors trotted out to cast votes for Trump when he didn’t earn certain state’s electoral votes.
The fake elector scheme is a major part of special counsel Jack Smith’s latest round of indictments. The fake electors were gathered up with the hope that Vice President Mike Pence would somehow — despite the illegality of the effort — be able to declare that state that Joe Biden clearly won in 2020 would swing to Trump’s column. Pence said the Constitution gave no authority to do such a thing, but Trump ignored the then-VP’s insistence.
He insisted on the fake electors.
Thus, there was nothing “alternative” about them. The word games remind me a bit of those who refer to “gambling” as “gaming” as a way to soften the activity of those who like to gamble on winning big at, say, the poker or blackjack tables.
I’ll stick with “fake” over “alternative” as this discussion moves on