Gratuitously stolen from reddit:
As of Nov. 3rd the problem Trump had to solve is this: “How do I retain the presidency even though I lost the electoral college?”
Let’s start by reverse engineering the problem…
How do I retain the presidency even though I lost the electoral college?
The only viable path to victory is to force a contingent election whereby congress decides who is the next president. (we’ve already done the math and you have the numbers to win.)
How do I force a contingent election?
At this point the only viable way is to make sure that the conditions required to certify the electoral college are not met.
How do I make sure those conditional requirements are not met?
If you can delay the certification for even 1 day then legally the conditional requirements will not have been met.
How do I delay the certification for even 1 day?
The VP is the lynch pin in to the electoral college process. You have to keep the VP from completing the electoral college certification process on the 6th of January.
How do I keep the VP from completing the electoral college certification process on the 6th ofJanuary?
Get the VP to leave the capitol before the electoral college certification is complete.
How do I get the VP to leave the capitol before the electoral college certification is complete?
The VP has to want to leave the capitol.
How do I get the VP to want to leave the capitol?
If his life and the lives of his family were at risk he would want to leave the capitol.
How could his life and his family’s lives be put at risk?
If he and his family were in the capitol building and it came under attack their lives would be at risk.
How could the capitol building come under attack?
A protest could easily get out of hand and become a riot aimed at the capitol building.
How can I make sure there is a protest on the day of the electoral college certification at the capitol?
Announce a rally to be scheduled on January 6th at the capitol and promote it heavily.
But Pence is my VP he’s been 100% loyal to me. Even if there was a riot, why would the people attacking the capitol turn on Pence?
We would have to give the rioters a reason to turn on Pence.
How do we give the rioters a reason to turn on Pence?
Have a very publicized meeting just before Jan 6th and ask Pence to just overturn the electoral college even though the states already certified the results. All while knowing it’s not within Pences constitutional powers and that he will not agree to do it. Then blame him very publicly when he actually doesn’t do it. Blame him while the riot is happening even.
How do we know the protest will have enough time to turn into a riot that will cause the evacuation of Pence before the certification?
We will call friendly republican senators during the electoral college certification and get them to object as much as possible as to delay the certification as long as possible.
How do we make sure the protest will turn into a riot?
Hold a rally before the protest and really convince the crowd that if the electoral college is successful in certifying the election the country will be destroyed and they will have been cheated out of an election. Tell them it’s time to kick ass and take names. Tell them it’s time for trial by combat. Tell them it’s their last chance to save America.
How do we know the rioters will invade the capitol?
We would need to communicate with protest organizers in the crowd that could lead and incite the rioters.
How would we communicate with both the friendly senators and the protest leaders in the crowd?
We would have people keep in touch with protest organizers on the ground and also set up a command center where calls could be made to senators and others.
How would I keep the national guard from deploying and stopping the riot before Pence evacuates?
You would have to place people in charge at the pentagon who will delay deployment of the national guard.
That sounds like it could actually work.
So the plan is…
Step 1. Convince a large number of supporters that mass election fraud caused the election to be stolen from them.
apnews.com/article/donald-trump-tweets-he-won-not-conceding-9ce22e9dc90577f7365d150c151a91c7
Step 2.Announce a rally to “Stop the Steal” scheduled on the same day at the same location where the electoral college certification is taking place. Have the rally end right before the certification begins.
Step 3. Place leadership at the pentagon who will delay the deployment of the national guard.
Step 4. Before the rally, setup a communications command center at the Willard Hotel.
Step 5. Right before the rally, have a meeting with Pence and ask him to ignore the electoral college results and send the election to congress. The morning of the certification before the rally send out a tweet again encouraging Pence to hand the election to trump. (knowing full well he wont do it.)
www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-leans-harder-pence-flip-election-results-n1252849
Step 6. At the rally, have speakers use very violent rhetoric to really stir up the crowd and then direct them to march on the capitol.
www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial
Step 7. During the riot tweet that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and Constitution.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-pence-tweet-capitol-riot-impeachment-trial_n_6024b281c5b6b295bc045640
Step 8. In the command center where calls are already going out to senators to get them to object to delay certification, begin having people communicate with protest organizers on the ground to lead and incite the crowd to invade the capitol and turn on Pence. (the capitol is breached and “hang mike pence!” chants begin)
www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-left-voicemail-for-tommy-tuberville-on-wrong-number-2021-1
www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/11/capitol-assault-a-more-sinister-attack-than-first-appeared
Step 9. Watch and wait for Pence to evacuate the Capitol to escape the invading rioters calling for his death.
www.businessinsider.com/trump-ignored-plea-stop-capitol-rioters-kept-watching-tv-book-2021-9
Step 10. Once Pence has left the Capitol and the conditional requirements to certify the electoral college are not met, argue that legally the election has no alternative but to be declared a contingent election. Whereby congress would then have to reconvene and vote to elect the next president instead of voting to confirm the outcome of the electoral college.
Trump retains the presidency.
Luckily step 10 didnt happen. It all almost did. If Pence had just evacuated Trump would be president right now. Pence literally got all the way to the car and then refused to get in. That’s how close it came.
www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-refused-car-secret-service-capitol-riot-book-1610326
January 6th was the culmination of a premeditated plot to force the evacuation of the VP from the capitol and stop the certification of the electoral college which would then force a contingent election that would result in Trump retaining the presidency. This scenario did not play out by chance.
The fact that trump made so many moves to ensure his desired outcome within the 64 days between losing the election on Nov 3rd and the electoral college certification on Jan 6th indicates that this was all premeditated. The decision to have the rally at the exact time and place to stop the certification. Ensuring there would be plenty of people to protest and riot. The placement of pentagon leadership to delay the national guard deployment. Giving the rioters time to achieve the desired goal. His very public meeting to ask Pence to deny the electoral college. His tweet during the riot letting everyone know Pence didn’t do it so the rioters had a reason to turn on Pence. The setup of the Willard war room ahead of time for communications. The fact that Trump waited so long to do anything after the violence started.
After Nov 3rd Trump knew there was a very limited number of ways to retain the presidency with any shred of legal legitimacy. One way would be to get the secretaries of state in battleground states to change vote tallies in Trumps favor due to unproven voter fraud and declare Trump the winner of those states. He tried that, it didn’t work. Trump was then left with literally one single path to victory. Stop the certification of the electoral college and force a contingent election.
Trump knew Pence was the lynch pin in the electoral college certification process. All Trump needed was for Pence to evacuate the capitol on Jan 6th and Trump knew that and did everything in his power to make that exact thing happen.
Trump and company put thousands of lives at risk. From civilians that were his own supporters, to law enforcement, to duly elected members of congress, to his own Vice President of the United States, all in a bid to remain in power.
EDIT: not original author Feel free to share.
Trump isn’t smart enough to have come up with that. Someone else had to.