In 2020, a group of leftist academics, politicians, and journalists, augmented by Republicans afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome, came together under the name the “Transition Integrity Project” (TIP-2020) to produce a report. Notable participants included John Podesta, former Bill Clinton White House chief of staff; Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy and former governor of Michigan.

TIP-2020 was an extended brainstorming session where a hopelessly mirror-imaging left fantasized about scenarios where President Trump would never admit defeat and use extraordinary, unconstitutional, and violent means to remain in office.

What happened, of course, was a disorganized mob descending on a Capitol that was virtually undefended, thanks to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s concern for optics — hardly the stuff of a successful coup.

Revealingly, the TIP-2020 team themselves admitted to the likelihood of violence on the left aimed at influencing the election, with page 9 of their report noting, “Team Biden almost always called for and relied on mass protests…”

But one thing that TIP-2020 got right is that an incumbent president poses the greatest threat to an orderly transition of power after an election. What TIP-2020 was blinded to is that the left is more inclined by ideology to see elections in existential terms — hence, “defending democracy” requires opposition to former President Trump by any means necessary.

This has resulted in a series of unprecedented legal cases against Trump. Lawfare has replaced campaigning as the preferred method........

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