President Donald Trump made clear just hours after polls closed on Nov. 3 that he had no intention of conceding the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Instead, he and his allies engaged in overlapping strategies to try to overturn the results of the election, beginning in November and lasting and persisting even after his supporters violently breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The strategies became increasingly radical as efforts to use the courts or state recount procedures to change the election outcome failed. Since Trump left office, there have not been significant legal changes that would prevent a future president from trying similar tactics in the future, and much of the Republican Party has embraced Trump’s falsehoods about what happened in 2020.
Attempted strategies
Post-election litigation
Pressure to prevent certification
Efforts to create alternate slates of electors
The chase for possible fraud or machine manipulation
Attempt to weaponize the Justice Department
Pressure on the vice president
The effort to harness public pressure — ending in violence
Attempts to deploy the national security establishment