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Who is Jefferson Davis? Here's why Trump's attempts to overturn election results have drawn comparison to him

Senator Josh Hawley, a Trump ally, said that he would object to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results on January 6

On the first day of 2021, the name of Jefferson Davis was making the rounds on Twitter. Thousands of people, talking about Davis, compared him to President Donald Trump. After many attempts from Trump and his allies to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory, Congress will meet Wednesday, January 6, to formally count the votes cast by the Electoral College -- 306 for Biden, 232 for President Donald Trump. It takes 270 to win the White House.

Trump, and allies such as Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), is seeking to upend the proceedings. Hawley said that he would object to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results on that day. Hawley hinted that other senators could soon join his effort. “A number of offices have reached out via staff to ours and said we’re interested,” he told reporters. “But does that mean that they will? I don’t know yet.”

Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist, told the New York Times, “At a time when you would expect the party to be uniting in opposition to the Biden agenda, it is instead increasingly divided over Trump’s 11th-hour actions. There is no political capital to be gained from these fights. This is a very serious person doing a very unserious thing.”

This final attempt to overturn the results of the election have thus earned Trump the comparison to Jefferson Davis. American financier Anthony Scaramucci, who served as the White House director of communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017, tweeted: “We need to be careful. Trump sees himself as Jefferson Davis.” One Twitter user wrote, “We have another Jefferson Davis on our hands because we let the last one off the hook. Go ahead - repeat the mistake and we will have another Donald Trump somewhere down the road.” Another Twitter user said, “Trump sees himself as Jefferson Davis. Davis spent the final days of his term on the run and then ended up in jail.”

Who is Jefferson Davis?

Davis was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. As a member of the Democratic Party, he represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives before the American Civil War. 

When the Southern states began seceding after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the winter of 1860 and 1861, Davis was chosen as interim president. When the newly seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861, Davis expressed great fear about what lay ahead: “Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them, I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.” 

On April 14, Lincoln was shot, dying the next day. Davis expressed regret at his death. He later said that he believed Lincoln would have been less harsh with the South than his successor, Andrew Johnson. Davis and his wife Varina Davis were captured by Union forces on May 10 at Irwinville in Irwin County, Georgia. It was reported in the media that Davis put his wife's overcoat over his shoulders while fleeing. This led to the persistent rumor that he attempted to flee in women's clothes, inspiring caricatures that portrayed him as such.

Davis was indicted for treason while imprisoned. After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released on bail of $100,000. Davis remained under indictment until Andrew Johnson issued a presidential "pardon and amnesty" in 1868 for the offense of treason to "every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion". A federal circuit court on February 15, 1869, dismissed the case against Davis after the government's attorney informed the court that he would no longer continue to prosecute Davis.