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As Legal Paths to Overturn Election Vanish, Trump Fires Up Supporters Who Call for Martial Law and Political Violence  

Attorney Lin Wood has called for President Trump to declare martial law and have the military oversee a new election (Image from interview with Fox News' Mark Levin.)

After weekend rallies by supporters of President Donald Trump that included threats of political violence(link is external) against his opponents and featured speakers who have urged Trump to declare martial law, pro-Trump lawyers Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are urging Trump to go the martial law route.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, greeted as a hero by Saturday’s crowds, has endorsed(link is external) Wood’s call for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to oversee a new election. Flynn told rallygoers that on a scale of 1 to 10, his confidence that Trump will remain president next year is a 10.

Featuring a graphic declaring “1776 Again,” Wood tweeted(link is external) Sunday that the courts cannot be counted on, adding, “We must trust @realDonaldTrump to take necessary action to save country. Just like Abraham Lincoln had to do.”

In another tweet(link is external), he specifically urged Trump to “order martial law to clean up election,” while insisting that this would not be “a military coup of US government.”

Sidney Powell responded to that last tweet, saying, “Exactly!”

In the wee hours Monday morning, Wood encouraged(link is external) supporters to stock up on “2nd Amendment supplies” along with food, water, flashlights and batteries. “Remember we only have 1 President at a time. Our leader is @realDonaldTrump, not Biden.”

Meanwhile, the president himself continues to portray his defeat as a landslide victory and insisted via Twitter Sunday that the swing states “CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY(link is external)” their elections “without committing a severely punishable crime.”

In fact, all those states have certified their results and members of the Electoral College will meet in state capitals today to officially cast their votes. Just a few days ago, Trump and some of his supporters were still demanding that state legislatures step in somehow to override voters and reward those Electoral College votes to Trump. As late as Friday, Trump’s campaign was promoting a dishonest video(link is external) that rehashed debunked claims and encouraged people to contact their state legislatures.

Despite their dismal record, Trump lawyers are still barraging the courts with lawsuits. And some die-hards are now holding out hope that they can convince right-wing members of Congress to interfere with the final step in the convoluted process of electing a president, which is when the Electoral College votes cast today are formally received and counted by Congress on Jan. 6.

At Saturday’s “Let the Church ROAR” rally, “Stop the Steal” activist Ali Alexander told the crowd that Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks has agreed to object to the House certifying the votes, and he warned that if no senator is willing to join Brooks, “We will burn the Republican Party down(link is external).” His message to other Republican members of the House was to support Brooks “or we will throw them out of office(link is external).”

The Christian nationalist “prayer rally” on the National Mall was emceed by right-wing author and pundit Eric Metaxas, who has said(link is external) “we need to fight to the death, to the last drop of blood” to secure Trump’s victory.

After such extreme rhetoric at the Saturday pro-Trump rallied, members of the violence-seeking Proud Boys stalked the streets(link is external) of Washington, D.C., beating people, vandalizing historic Black churches(link is external), and destroying Black Lives Matter signs.