On December 14, Electoral College electors will meet to formally vote for Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. On Friday, the Supreme Court tossed out the lawsuit filed by the attorney general of Texas that sought to block election results in major swing states. The decision was 7-2, with all three of Trump's appointees to the Court voting against the suit. The Texas suit, which was widely hyped up as the "big one" that would overturn Biden's victory in favor of Trump, died along with any plausible hope that the soon-to-be ex-president would be able to undo the results of a free and fair election.

And yet:

At some point, the president's continued denial of reality has become expected. It's been clear for weeks now that Trump will deny that he lost until Biden's inauguration, at minimum, and will in all honesty probably never stop. The argument that the president just wanted to be sure the election was above board has held less and less water with essentially every thrown out lawsuit and baseless claim.

But the disappointing fact of the matter is that this isn't just the president. Other officials are backing the president, even when it's become aggressively obvious that he has no path to victory and no widespread fraud to expose.

Which begs the question: is this delusion or an utter disregard for democratic norms?

I'm leaning towards the latter.

After SCOTUS threw out the Texas lawsuit, the state's attorney general suggested that "law-abiding states" (implicitly, Trump-supporting states) secede from the Union. Nor is this as outlandish of an idea right now as it should be — conservative radio host and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh has also floated the idea of secession and claimed that "there cannot be peaceful coexistence" between liberals and conservatives.

SEE ALSO:23 Rush Limbaugh Quotes That Should Automatically Disqualify Him From Receiving The Medal Of Freedom

It's more than a little telling that, when confronted with the fact that they can't retroactively overturn an election, these officials and pundits turn next to suggesting the overthrow of the United States as we know it. Guess that commitment to patriotism and American values was only surface level.

While I think some Trump voters genuinely believe the president is being cheated, for the 126 Republican members of Congress that backed the Texas lawsuit this is little more than a power grab. When the likes of Attorney General William Barr are admitting that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could have influenced the election, you've lost any standing for arguing that you're simply trying to make sure the election was fair.

I'm not sure how much better of an option delusion is, but this is sadly and undeniably just disregard for the democratic process.