But you are assuming everything follows legal procedures. There are absolutely state legislatures ready to invoke “Independent State Legislature” theory to claim none of that matters, they have full authority to dismiss election results. The only thing that could stop them is the SCOTUS. And while I would not bet on SCOTUS upholding this dubious claim, I don’t see the chances as “negligible.”
In addition, I read the OP not as stating this is going to happen and will succeed . It is saying this is what the GOP will try; this is the plan if Trump loses.
And I believe that is a certainty.
You mean, the Scotus that already rejected the independent state legislature theory? Or perhaps you mean a circuit court or district court (or most technically accurately, a three judge panel of both) that is bound by Scotus precedent rejecting the isl theory?
I mean sure, we can all posit positively batshit theories of noncompliance (though I don't think your hypothesis is quite what OP was really positing), but even accepting that's the theory, I'll just hold on my prediction of negligible probability, perhaps reverting and weighting factor #1 in my post #53 (in terrorem effect of post 2020 legal activity) even more than I originally intended, in light of the fact that scotus
has killed the isl theory following 2020. And every good revolution actually needs a theoretical underpinning, particularly in this country where no side ever says "**** the constitution" but rather purports to embrace it. And that, by the way, is before you even get to the supremacy clause preclusive aspects of ECRA, whereas the ISL is really a question of power among state institutions rather than federal-state sovereignty.
But either way, fine, I'll play along. Once again, let's consider the state house control in our battlegrounds. The only statehouses among the first tier battlegrounds controlled by the R's are GA and WI (Pa is split, with D's controlling the GA). We've been through GA already, and somehow I have a sneaky feeling the in terrorem litigation effects may be especially strong there. So WI then. Or GA, I don't care, take your pick.
Because there's some more process to play out. A state legislature can do what it wants until the cows come home, because under 3 usc 5, it is a state executive's certification (you know, the one by the D governor of WI or the R governor of GA that doesn't play these games) that "shall be treated as conclusive in Congress" when counting the EVs. OK, so now you've got an even Bigger conspiracy to execute on. And if there's one thing I know about big conspiracies, it's that they don't execute very well.
At this point, some may be wondering why i give a shit about this (or this much of a shit). Well, the real problems we face as a country are bad enough. Fighting the imaginary ones only drives us further apart.