Analysis | The Republican establishment’s rationalization of Trump’s fraud claims is also wrong

But these are not valid claims, for two reasons. The first is that almost all have already been adjudicated by courts when Eastman wrote, blunting the idea that the changes were unacceptable violations of the law. Instead, the argument is akin to the one Eastman makes about Pence’s power: Operate from a position that it’s unconstitutional, and let the Supreme Court decide. The second reason that the claims are invalid, of course, is that they depend not on the idea that illegal votes were cast but that votes were cast illegally. My mother lives in Pennsylvania, for example, and cast a mail-in ballot in that state. Trump, Eastman and Hawley are arguing that her vote shouldn’t count simply because they think the law allowing her to vote by mail was unauthorized.