Despite the election being over for a full month now, Donald Trump and his surrogates are still attempting to overturn the results of Joe Biden’s victory in various courts around the country. The latest flailing attempt is more than 100 Republican lawmakers insisting that the Supreme Court take up a challenge to legally cast votes by mail, or something of the sort.
Regardless, as the losses pile up and Trump supporters get more desperate, the lawsuits are getting weirder. Say what you will about whether demanding election results get overturned damages the fabric of democracy or is a coup and all that, but pretending to represent states that don’t exist certainly at least qualifies as bizarre.
Welp, we now have states that don’t even *exist* filing amicus briefs in #SCOTUS in Texas’s overturn-the-election suit:https://t.co/qWA6TKGtEM
I think we’ve officially jumped the Kraken. pic.twitter.com/L3Ui8xHk9w
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 11, 2020
Reporters on Friday noticed lawyers had filed briefs where they claimed to represent new states that “support” the filing that Republican lawmakers supporting Trump had previously filed. Those states, called “New California” and “New Texas,” immediately started trending on Twitter as people reacted to the wild news.
In the next chapter of GOP sedition, you have MAGA Lunatics posing as attorneys claiming to represent the nonexistent states of “New Nevada” and “New California” filing amicus briefs in support of Texas’ frivolous lawsuit.
Clearly being disbarred is a thing of the past.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) December 11, 2020
slight clarification: this appears to be just one attorney purporting to represent *both* “new” states
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) December 11, 2020
As Business Insider reported Friday, the states are actually “states in waiting” according to the lawyer who represents both of them, as they’re hoping to break away from existing states they feel are being unfair about upholding the results of a democratic election, among other things.
The amicus brief for the fake states was filed by Robert E. Thomas III, an attorney with an address listed in Nevada who is a member of the state bar in California, a state that is real.
Thomas told Insider in an interview that New Nevada and New California are “new states in waiting,” and that each is a registered 501(c)(4) organization attempting to form new states using the proper Constitutional process. He said states like Pennsylvania administered their elections in a way that’s “arbitrary and capricious.”
“The Supreme Court gives states in a case like this an absolute right to intervene,” Thomas said. “And we regard ourselves as one of those states with an absolute right.”
It’s a very real attempt to undermine the election for a very imaginary reason. But the name “New California” also had a lot of people thinking about something far more apocalyptic, mostly because it sounds a lot like something from the Fallout video game series, the New California Republic.
So a lawyer is claiming to represent New California… so uhh, Fallout 2020 confirmed? pic.twitter.com/GI6oTKz1SA
— TrumpIsALoser (@TrumpIsALoser18) December 11, 2020
all this “New California” shit givin me fallout vibes pic.twitter.com/QrY3pzDEEq
— Vaporwave BF (@VocoDiabolis) December 11, 2020
I refuse to believe Fallout’s New California Republic would be a pro-Trump place. https://t.co/H6R3QhtCqn
— Max Burns (@themaxburns) December 11, 2020
When I first heard ‘New California’ I hoped it was viral marketing for the next #Fallout game. Instead, it’s just more seditious, secession nonsense by Trumpers. pic.twitter.com/7ByQg4NWcI
— Melissa Reid (@TangeloCobra) December 11, 2020
New California is trending and I can’t be the only one who thought about @Fallout pic.twitter.com/zEX1TXpdcu
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) December 11, 2020
Seeing “New California” trending and terribly disappointed it’s not about @Fallout pic.twitter.com/1eQF8bkbHn
— Pete Masalsky (@PMasalsky) December 11, 2020
New California Republic shows up in basically every Fallout game, though the newest title, Fallout 76, has a setting firmly in post-apocalyptic West Virginia. But with the way this year has gone, it’s not a surprise that plenty of people thought about the end of the world when “New California” started trending on Twitter.