But American presidents aren’t supposed to even discuss invoking martial law and redoing a presidential election because they’re upset that they lost, after losing dozens of court cases challenging the election results. Even a discussion of martial law by elected officials normalizes it and wears away at the taboo about invoking it. A lunatic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia is already calling for it. Presidents take oaths to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” If you’re contemplating martial law as a response to losing an election, you are not preserving, protecting, or defending the Constitution.

Finally, Sidney Powell’s presence at the White House meeting, Trump’s desire for her to be a special counsel, and reported declaration that she called everyone else there were “quitters” all indicate that she’s not as far from the Trump legal team as Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis wanted the world to believe. The president is apparently choosing to surround himself with conspiracy theorists and loons who are urging him to take steps that violate the Constitution.

Throughout the weekend and this morning, the president is continuing to tweet claims that the election was rigged and retweet account after account contending the election was stolen and Trump is the rightful winner, that votes were changed using USBs, and so on. He barely mentions issues like the pandemic, the relief bill, or other pressing matters. Trump will remain in office until January 20, but his presidency has effectively ended.