Trump's desperate moves

The Republicans have put their dirty foot forward as expected. Donald Trump has been saying that he would not leave the office without a fight. His party is doing his bidding now in attempting to prevent Joe Biden from making the smooth transition to White House. This becomes obvious in the US Vice-President Mike Pence's stance in the effort by a group of senators to refuse to certify Joe Biden's presidential election win. The 11 Republican senators and senators-elect, led by Ted Cruz, want a 10-day delay to audit unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. They must be terribly sure that Biden has not won the election despite the margins he secured.

Four years ago when Trump was in a similar position, it was okay with the Republicans to move to the White House. Everyone knows that the move to stall Biden's rightful bid is certain to fail as most senators are expected to endorse Biden in the January 6 vote. Biden, a Democrat, is due to be inaugurated as president on January 20. President Donald Trump has refused to concede the November 3 election, repeatedly alleging fraud without providing any evidence. As president of the Senate, Pence will have the responsibility of overseeing the session on January 6 and declaring Biden the winner.

Pence has stopped short of echoing allegations of election fraud. Pence shared "the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities". Pence "welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people". All 50 states have certified the election result, some after recounts and legal appeals.

So far, US courts have rejected 60 challenges to Biden's win. Trump has notched up only one minor victory, concerning a small number of postal ballots in Pennsylvania, a state won by Biden. The President is, predictably, cheering on the latest – and the last – Republican effort to discredit the results. In a statement, the 11 senators led by Ted Cruz said November's election had "featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities''.

Citing a precedent from 1877 - when a bi-partisan committee was formed to investigate after both parties claimed victory in three states - they urged Congress to appoint a commission for an "emergency 10-day audit of election returns in the disputed states''. However, an investigation by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) found no evidence to back any claims of fraud. It is not just some Republicans, but also some family members of the President too disagree with Trump and seek his respectable exit.

Trump has created enough nuisance for Biden to take care. Some of his latest moves have been aimed at troubling Biden tenure to no end. The 11 senators who made the latest move know the ultimate fate of their challenge. "We are not naïve. We fully expect most, if not all, Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote otherwise," they said. The effort will be futile, given the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.