A Modest Proposal:
The Donald Trump Presidential Succession Act of 2021
If you can't beat them, join them.
Trump has said the Vice President has the power to name the next president. Oh, really?
A majority of Republicans have taken Trump's lead. Notwithstanding audits and judicial review, Trump says he won by a landslide, that the electoral votes certified for Biden really should have gone to him, and that Vice President Pence had the power to discard votes cast for his opponent.
"The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," Trump tweeted. At the Stop the Steal rally Trump said, " I hope Mike Pence comes through for us."
The Republican-oriented polling firm, Rasmussen, tweeted out the logic:
Come January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence will be presented with the sealed certificates containing the ballots of the presidential electors. At that moment, the presidency will be in his hands. And there is nothing stopping Pence, under the (plenary and unappealable) authority vested in him as President of the Senate, from declining to open and count the certificates from the six disputed states. If they are (as more than 70% of Republicans believe) certificates from non-electors appointed via voter fraud, why should he open & count them? If the votes of all 7 contested states are registered as zero, President Trump will have 232 votes, Joe Biden will have 222.
In the immediate aftermath of the "Stop the Steal" insurrection, there was a brief moment when some Republican leaders expressed shock and remorse. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy said aloud, clearly, that Trump incited the riot and he was wrong to do so. That response has largely dissolved, and GOP opinion has reversed. Trump has not admitted he lost and leadership matters. A majority of Republicans still tell polls that they think Trump is the legitimate president.
Democrats should write legislation to adopt the Trump Rule. Agree with him. Write something like this:
In counting electoral votes the Vice President, as the Constitutional presiding officer, shall at his/her sole discretion determine whether the electoral votes in any state reflect the actual will of the voters, and shall discard electoral votes he/she considers illegitimate. This independent judgement derives directly from the Constitution and is dispositive. The Vice President's decision is not constrained by vote counts, audits, state certifications, nor is it reviewable by any court.
Isn't it a ridiculous proposition? Wouldn't Republicans howl in objection? It would allow Democrats to claim fraud even if there were no evidence of it! It would destroy our republic. Preposterous!
Exactly. And it is exactly what Trump argues and millions of "Stop the Steal Patriots" demanded. Republicans are playing with fire. The past century has seen authoritarian governments rising up out of democracies, keeping the form of democratic elections to serve as a fig leaf to legitimize authoritarian strong-man unelected governments. We see it in Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Turkey, North Korea, and repeatedly in Latin America.
Authoritarian governments have appeal. They can disempower entrenched elites. They can jail troublemakers. They can seize and re-distribute property. They can advance popular ideas over the objections of minority interests. This sounds good to many people, at least when the target for oppression is someone else. Currently, Trump dominates that political space.
It is implausible that Biden would play the role of authoritarian strong man. Biden is neither physically nor politically strong. Republicans tease him for his age and frailty. Biden begs for bipartisanship and consensus, currently made helpless by filibuster rules. He is the opposite of authoritarian. This creates a political safe space for Republicans. They are acting as if they can set authoritarian precedents without fear that Democrats will take advantage of them.
Democrats could surprise them. The best way to stop normalizing authoritarian language and behavior is for Republicans to realize that it could come back to bite them.
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7 comments:
I would question why Congress has anything to do with elections in the first place.
My sense is that they are simply doing a ceremonial acknowledgment. I have not seen any explanation of why it's necessary for political bodies to have any involvement in election results. Now, with a corrupted Republican party, it's become a vehicle for interfering and possibly overturning elections they lose.
I would rather see "certification" voided altogether. Take them all out for juice and crackers and a nap.
An unexpectedly snarky blog from our otherwise sober and reasoned host. Suggest you watch the Mr Rogers movie a few times today.
Or maybe they could gin up a mob to occupy Mar a Lago.
I hope the democratic Bosses don't read this, Peter; they might just take you up on it. Democratic Presidents. What bliss-NOT!
The Constitution, Article 1, Section 4
Wow! These comments are so negative. Is it really outrageous to be like republicans? Answer… yes, but it does feel right to contemplate playback of their own techniques.
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