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The rule in federal and state courts across the country is that you cannot file (much less pursue) litigation unless you first have sufficient factual and legal support. Litigants are under an affirmative duty to certify that the lawsuit is factually and legally meritorious.

Trump filed a number of lawsuits contesting election processes, vote counting, and the vote certification process in multiple states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. In apparent disregard of this rule, most of these lawsuits have been dismissed because of lack of factual and legal support. And the ones that have gained some traction are unlikely to change the outcome of the Presidential race. 

Adding to evidence of frivolity is a New York Times survey of election officials in all 50 states reporting no evidence of fraud or other irregularities. 

No self-respecting lawyer or law firm should have filed these frivolous election-fraud claims. Recently, a number of law firms have quit representing Trump in this baseless pursuit of proving a “rigged” election. Why? Because Trump’s lawyers are finally recognizing that more frivolous lawsuits would potentially place them in legal or ethical jeopardy or at the very least, tarnish their reputations.  

Now Trump has put his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in charge of his post-election court challenges. Giuliani’s reputation is already tarnished. 

Trump’s new strategy to stay in power in spite of losing the election is attempting to persuade Republican legislators in Michigan and Pennsylvania — state Biden won — to intervene on his behalf. Even if Trump was able to flip these two states, Biden would still have 270 Electoral College votes, enough to win. 

Joe Biden won the election and no amount of magical thinking or chicanery by Trump will change this. In the meantime, Trump is just postponing the inevitable and embarrassing himself in the process.