Trump says he won’t accept defeat as court throws out Gohmert lawsuit

Donald Trump is reportedly still not accepting defeat, even after a long-shot legal effort by a lone Texas congressman was rejected.

Mr Trump is adding fuel to the anger of his supporters as they plan to protest in Washington DC on January 6 when Congress certifies President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Mr Trump apparently sees the end of his term and the congressional certification of his election loss in zero-sum terms. Losing over 50 lawsuits challenging the election and Republican leaders like Senator Mitt Romney saying that Senator Josh Hawley's decision to challenge the results in the Senate "is dangerous for democracy here and abroad," has not deterred the President from digging his heels in.

“The way he sees it is: Why should I ever let this go?… How would that benefit me?” The Daily Beast reported a source close to Mr Trump as saying.

His supporters will make what many of them see as their last stand on January 6, the day Congress will certify the results, by protesting in Washington DC. Budget inn Hotel Harrington and it's bar, Harry's, both popular with Trump supporters and far-right group Proud Boys, have already decided to close for a few days around then 6 to avoid possible violence and out of concern for the safety of their staff, as The Independent previously reported.

During a December protest, four people were stabbed outside the hotel, the Washingtonian wrote.

Mr Trump has previously shown his support for these protests and continues to tweet about them to raise awareness. But what his supporters might see as a last stand will not be the last stand for Mr Trump.

He has been encouraged to keep fighting by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has financially backed the lawsuits challenging the results, and Mr Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn who lasted 22 days in the job in 2017 and recently received a pardon from Mr Trump after it was found that Mr Flynn lied to the FBI.

According to posts on "The Donald"-forum, which was banned by its previous host site Reddit, protesters will be trying to stop lawmakers from reaching the Capitol on January 6 to prevent them from voting to certify the election. Some of the commenters on the forum are suggesting violence will be key to achieve their goals.

On Friday, a federal judge threw out Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert's lawsuit, which he hoped would allow Vice President Mike Pence to only count the electoral votes for Mr Trump as Mr Pence presides over the certification in the Senate.

US District Court Judge Jeremy Kernodle, who was appointed by Mr Trump, said that the plaintiffs, Mr Gohmert and 11 Arizona Republicans, "lacked standing" to sue. The ruling issued on Friday evening said that Mr Gohmert "alleges at most an institutional injury to the House of Representatives. Under well settled Supreme Court authority, that is insufficient to support standing".

Mr Gohmert will appeal the decision. He said on conservative news channel Newsmax, which has seen an increase in its viewership after it started peddling election conspiracy theories, that "in effect, the ruling would be that you’ve got to go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM," comments many said essentially encouraged street violence ahead of the protests planned on January 6.

Mr Gohmert also told Newsmax that if the results are not overturned in Mr Trump's favour "it will mean the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government".

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