Nevada charged Republican Party chair Michael McDonald with forging an elector certificate.
A judge just tossed the case for the second time this week.
The reason should embarrass every reporter who ever called this a coup.
Judge Holthus Says They Never Hid Anything
Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the forgery case against six Nevada Republicans this week.
The defendants include Michael McDonald, the state GOP chair, and Jesse Law, former Clark County GOP chair.
This is the second time the same case has been thrown out.
The Nevada Supreme Court revived it once already after the first dismissal.
Holthus ruled that prosecutors never proved criminal intent.
She wrote that the defendants "openly announced both their actions and their asserted purpose," rather than concealing anything or trying to trick anyone.
They signed a certificate claiming Trump won Nevada and gathered publicly outside the legislature to do it.
The certificate could never have been legally accepted under state or federal law anyway.
That is not what a forgery conspiracy looks like.
That is what a contingency plan looks like when the people running it have nothing to hide.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford says he will appeal.
Michigan Prosecutors Already Lost the Same Fight
Nevada is not an outlier.
A Michigan judge dismissed charges against fifteen Republican electors back in September 2025.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel spent years building that case into a national headline.
A judge took less time to gut it than Nessel spent promoting it on cable news.
Two states, two Democrat-aligned prosecutions, two collapses in less than a year.
Republican electors in multiple states did exactly what electors have done in disputed elections before – Hawaii certified competing slates in 1960 while a recount played out, and nobody went to prison for it.
Georgia and Arizona Show the Same Pattern
Fani Willis built her national profile on a sprawling Georgia RICO indictment against Trump allies over the elector certificates.
An appeals court disqualified her from her own case in 2024, and Georgia's Supreme Court would not even hear her appeal.
Georgia relies on a broader racketeering theory, not the narrow forgery statute that just failed twice in Nevada, but the woman who built the case is not allowed near it anymore.
Arizona's case fell apart too – Attorney General Kris Mayes dropped the charges herself in June, and a judge formally tossed what was left of it on August 11.
Mayes says she may refile, but two years of hearings there have not produced a single conviction either.
Every state that tried to turn a legal contingency plan into a felony prosecution has hit the same wall in court.
The Coup Narrative Just Lost Its Last Legal Leg
Every network that spent four years calling these electors part of an insurrection now has to explain why judges keep saying otherwise.
This was never a case about forged documents – it was a case about punishing people for supporting Trump in a close election.
Democrat attorneys general chased headlines instead of statutes that actually applied.
Jocelyn Benson and her fellow secretaries of state built entire campaigns around "protecting democracy" cases that keep collapsing in front of judges.
Judges keep reading the actual laws instead of the DNC talking points.
That is why the cases keep dying.
Sources:
- Rusty Weiss, "Another 'Fake Electors' Case From 2020 Presidential Election Bites the Dust," RedState, August 14, 2026.
- "Judge dismisses Nevada case against 'fake electors' accused of forging certificate in 2020 election," CNN, August 13, 2026.
- "Clark County judge dismisses case against Nevada 'fake electors' for second time," The Nevada Independent, August 2026.
- "Nevada Forgery Statutes Cannot Reach Fake Electors; Governor Blocked Targeted Fix," Tech Times, August 14, 2026.
- "Michigan judge dismisses charges against 15 pro-Trump 'fake electors,'" NPR, September 9, 2025.
- "DA Fani Willis loses appeal in quest to lead Fulton County election interference case against Trump," Georgia Recorder, September 16, 2025.
- "A judge dismissed Arizona's fake electors case. But Mayes can still refile charges," KJZZ, August 11, 2026.
