A Week Before His Impeachment Trial, Trump Legal Team Quits

USA Today reports:

WASHINGTON – About a week before his Senate trial, former President Donald Trump has no announced legal team and at least five attorneys who were expected to help lead the team are no longer part of it.

The remarkable last-minute shifts add fresh uncertainty over Trump's legal strategy and highlight the struggle the former president has had in corralling a legal team after he became the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. 

Butch Bowers

Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, two South Carolina attorneys, are not part of the team of lawyers who will defend Trump, said Jason Miller, a political adviser to the former president. Miller said a final decision had not been made on the former president's legal team. 

...

The decision, first reported by CNN, comes just days before filings are due in Trump's upcoming trial, including an official response due on Tuesday to the article of impeachment passed by the House charging Trump with inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Other articles have indicated the reason why the attorneys quit.  While the attorneys were prepared to argue on Trump's behalf that you can't impeach a President who has left office, Trump insisted the attorneys argue that there was massive election fraud that led to the election being stolen.  Trump's attorneys refused to make that argument because there wasn't evidence to support it.

One thing I've learned from decades of practicing law is that attorneys do not have a problem telling lies in court filings and in front of judges.  It is only when asked to tell a Big Lie in a legal proceeding that they will balk.  

That the election was stolen from Trump is a Big Lie.  That is why in the 60+ legal proceedings, no Trump or Trump-friendly attorney has introduced evidence of election fraud that could overturn the election.  It is only when you go outside of legal proceedings where witnesses are sworn and face the real possibility of perjury, that attorneys are willing to offer "experts" who will claim fraud of the level that could have overturned the election.

UPDATE:  After I wrote this Sunday morning, Trump hired (not sure that's the right terms since Trump generally stiffs lawyers) to represent him on the impeachment case.

OOP's short takes:

• The South Carolina Republican Party has voted to censure one of its congressional representatives, Tom Rice, for voting for impeachment.  Meantime, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Qanon), who says school shootings were faked, embraces the killing of Democratic members of Congress, and says Jews started California wildfires with space lasers, is warmly embraced by ex-President Donald Trump and given cushy committee assignment by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
• Speaking of McCarthy, is there anything more pathetic and weak looking that McCarthy traveling to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the butt of President Trump?  Some say "ring," but I imagine that the former President likely insisted that McCarthy affix his lips to his derriere for the ultimate humiliation.
• Russian officials are clamping down on pro-democracy protests in Russia.  Meanwhile, in the United States, we have protests by people who want to overturn a democratic election and install an autocrat as President.  Go figure.
• The Senate Ethics Committee will be investigating the conduct of Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Missouri).  Cruz and Hawley are leaders of the Sedition Caucus which attempted to use powers not given to Congress in the Constitution, namely to disregard the states certification of the votes of electors who did not support their favored candidate, i.e. Donald Trump.   
• While Cruz and Hawley were not alone in their efforts, given their Ivy League legal education and clerkship with Supreme Court Justices, they both knew better and yet did what they did out of a craven attempt to appeal to Trump voters who bought the "stolen election" load of crap.  Cruz and Hawley deserve to be censured at the least, though expulsion would be better.  People who prefer autocracy over democracy and defy their oaths to support the Constitution, have no business in Congress.

State Republican Parties Embrace Qanon, False Flag, Stolen Election Conspiracies

If you think the Trump-Qanon crazies have only invaded the GOP at the national level, think again. Vox reports:

Donald Trump’s departure from the White House left a giant question mark hanging over American democracy: Would the GOP reckon with its embrace of Trumpism, or would it continue down the extremist path it has been traveling for years?

The evidence from the past few weeks has not been promising. But one of the most disturbing signs — and one of the most underappreciated — has been the wild behavior of certain state-level Republican parties in recent days. Three examples — in Oregon, Hawaii, and Arizona — really stick out.

On January 19, the Oregon Republican Party passed a resolution condemning the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.

In that resolution, the state party ludicrously claimed that “there is growing evidence that the violence at the Capitol was a ‘false flag’ operation designed to discredit President Trump,” warning of “a frightening parallel to the February 1933 burning of the German Reichstag” and “Leftist forces seeking to establish a dictatorship void of all cherished freedom and liberties.”

This Saturday, the official account of the Hawaii Republican Party sent tweets defending QAnon believers and praising the “generally high quality” work of a YouTuber named Tarl Warwick, who has denied the Holocaust.

The party deleted and condemned the tweets; the communications official who sent them resigned. But this is not the first dance with extremism from the Hawaii state party: In 2020, the founder of the Proud Boys Hawaii, Nick Ochs, ran for a statehouse seat under the party’s banner. Ochs later participated in the storming of the Capitol and was arrested at Honolulu’s airport on January 9.

Also on Saturday, the Arizona Republican Party passed official resolutions censuring three prominent party members — Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake, and Sen. John McCain’s widow Cindy McCain — for supposed deviation from GOP ideology. 

I have written about how stupid the Arizona move is.  Arizona is a battleground state that had more Republicans crossing over to vote for Democrat Joe Biden than any other state in the country.  Attacking principled Arizona Republicans doesn't seem like way of reviving the GOP in that state.

Then you have the Texas GOP led by former Floridian congressman Allen West who has suggested the Lone Star State should secede from the union.  West has asked supporters to follow it on the media app "Gab" which is home to right wing extremists and Qanon conspiracy believers.

OOP's short takes:

• It turns out in that Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Qanon) in 2018 and 2019 indicated support on Facebook for the execution of Democrats.  But, hey, don't worry.  Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he's going to have a talk with her.  That should do it.
• During a vote yesterday, 45 of 50 Republicans took the position that the Senate can't convict an impeached ex-President, i.e. that the impeachment clause only applies to current officeholders.  While I don't agree with that assessment, it's not exactly a shock that they GOP Senators are taking that easy exit ramp.  
• Yesterday on the Bulwark podcast, James Wallner, a professor of political science at American University, took the position that the impeachment clause does not apply to ex-officeholders and thus the Senate cannot convict Trump on the impeachment charge because he is no longer President.  When podcast host Charlie Sykes pointed out that Wallner's approach was nonsensical as it would allow an impeached officeholder to avoid disqualification by simply resigning (free to run again later), Wallner said that such person would face other legal proceedings, such as criminal prosecution.  Wallner (as well as perhaps Sykes) seemed unaware that federal courts have held that conviction of a person for a felony does not disqualify that person from running for federal office.  If my iffy 14th Amendment option (discussed below) doesn't work, then the only option for disqualification is through the impeachment clause.  Even if Trump is sitting in a prison cell, convicted of multiple felonies, he can still be a candidate for President in 2024.
• I still think both houses of Congress should pass a censure resolution, only needing a majority vote, condemning President Trump for his efforts at overturning the election results. and fomenting the January 6th attempted insurrection.  As part of that effort, Congress should use the 14th Amendment, Section 3 to disqualify him from ever serving in any elected office ever again.  (That section clearly applies to officeholders who are no longer in office.)  Opponents of this approach point out the uncertainty of who, under Section 3, decides whether the person was involved in an insurrection, or even if  "executive officer" applies to the President.  My response is, who cares?  Put the ball in Trump's and his Republican allies court to prove that it does not.  This approach would make Republicans in Congress vote up or down on Trump's behavior without the easy impeachment off-ramp provided by the fact Trump is no longer in office.

Given a Chance to Return to Conservative Values Post-Trump, Arizona Republican Party Chooses Political Suicide

A truly dumb move.  But I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from a state political party led by Kelli Ward, who is only slightly less crazy than Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Qanon).  The New York Times reports:

PHOENIX — Arizona Republicans issued rebukes to three of the party’s most prominent figures on Saturday, approving resolutions to censure Gov. Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the widow of former Senator John McCain.

Though largely symbolic, the political scolding during a meeting of the state G.O.P. on Saturday underscored a widening rift in Arizona between party officials who have made clear that their loyalty lies with former President Donald J. Trump and those in the party who refused to support him or his effort to overturn the election results in Arizona, which President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won.

...

The party cited Ms. McCain’s and Mr. Flake’s criticisms of Mr. Trump and Mr. Ducey’s use of emergency orders related to the pandemic, which gave him broad control to enact policies without the legislature’s approval such as closing “nonessential” businesses in the spring.

Both Mr. Flake and Ms. McCain endorsed Mr. Biden leading up to the November election. Though Mr. Ducey continually made it clear that he backed Mr. Trump, he drew ire from some Republicans by defending the state’s election process, rather than supporting efforts to challenge the November results in court.

All three resolutions easily passed. The New York Times article did include comments from an opponent of the censure resolution:

Many moderate Republican officials have dismissed the resolutions as a distraction, saying they will largely serve to alienate other moderates in a state where independent voters make up nearly a third of the electorate.

Like other Republicans who voted against the censures, Trey Terry, a state committeeman, laid the blame with Ms. Ward.

“She has set the party up for failure,” Mr. Terry said. “It’s her circus now, and the clowns have come out.”

Let me first point out my disagreement with the typical media reflex, as evidenced in the New York Times article, that the brewing civil war in the GOP is a fight between political philosophy.  There are plenty of GOP moderates who supported Trump and many principled conservatives who opposed him.

Arizona State GOP Chair, Kelli Ward

The post-Trump battle isn't about political philosophy.  It is about whether Republicans are going to continue to allow the GOP to be dominated by the Trump personality cult, which has no coherent political philosophy but instead embraces wild conspiracies and alternative facts.  

Arizona, barely, has Republican control of both state houses, but congressional and state redistricting in that state is done, not by the legislature, but rather by a five member commission made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and one independent.  

Arizona's congressional delegation is currently made up of 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans.  The state will be adding a 10th congressional seat in the 2022 election due to the state's greatly increasing population.    Arizona is home of two of the nation's worst Republican members of Congress, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs.  Biggs in particular could be in trouble when his new district is redrawn.

More than 62% of the state's population, approximately 4.5 million people, live in Maricopa County which includes Phoenix and several suburbs.  In 2016, Trump won the county by about 45,000 votes.  In 2020, Trump lost Maricopa County by about 45,000 votes while Trump enthusiast, Senator Martha McSally, lost by the county by nearly 78,000 votes.  While Trump and McSally were losing, Republicans won 5 of the 6 county wide races in Maricopa County.  

Maricopa County election results were not an aberration.  Trump ran behind virtually every Republican candidate in the country.  Only those Republican Senators who tightly lashed themselves to Trump, did more poorly than the ex-President with voters.  

The reason why Trump lost re-election was because of Republican cross-over vote.  In every swing state, the number of Republican-leaning voters casting ballots for Biden exceeded Democrats, voting for Trump by a sufficient enough margin to make the difference in the outcome. The states anti-Trump Republicans swung to Biden include the three closest - Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.   Of all the 50 states, Arizona had the largest percentage, 10%, of Republicans voting for Biden.  Meanwhile, just 3% of Democrats in Arizona voted for Trump.  That net 7% equaled a loss of 69,058 votes.  Trump lost Arizona by only 10,457 votes.

The numbers reveal the foolishness of Kelli Ward lashing the future of the Arizona GOP to Donald Trump.  It's only matter time before those GOP defectors start punishing Republican candidates further down the ballot, or start switching their party affiliations because they don't want to be associated with a Republican Party that equals Trump.

OOP's short takes:

• God drafted another Hall of Fame baseball player over the weekend, Hank Aaron, who was MLB's home run leader until he was passed by Barry "Steroids" Bonds.  RIP, Mr. Aaron.  Willie Mays, who is 89, has to be concerned he's the next to be called up.  Really tasteless joke...
• Dominion is suing Rudolph Giuliani for $1.3 billion for defamation.   While I don't have any sympathy for Giuliani or those who kept perpetuating the lie about election fraud, I do worry that this might open the door to companies suing critics to shut them up.  Unfortunately, there is no federal SLAPP lawsuit (ironically Congressman Mike Pence was a big proponent of the legislation) and Indiana's desperately needs to be updated to reflect new types of communication, such as blogs and podcasts.
• Bar owner Jessica Walters who is a leader in the Oathkeepers militia, is charged with several crimes relating to her participation in the storming of the Capitol on January 6th.  News reports say she was served "under a different name" or they avoid the subject entirely.  I was puzzled by the reluctance to provide the previous name.  A TV report today, finally identified the name.  Now I understand the reluctance.  It's "Jeremy."
• A huge blow to the Republicans' hopes of retaking the Senate in 2020 - popular Ohio Senator Rob Portman has decided he won't seek re-election in 2022.

With Trump Gone, We Can Start Talking About Issues Again

On his first day on the job, President Joe Biden did something with which I vehemently disagree.  He issued an executive order to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.   PBS describes the pipeline:  

The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

...  

Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs, the majority unionized, will be eliminated in the coming weeks.

... 

First proposed in 2008, the pipeline has become emblematic of the tensions between economic development and curbing the fossil fuel emissions that are causing climate change. The Obama administration rejected it, but President Donald Trump revived it and has been a strong supporter. Construction already started.

I could use the rest of the article to talk about why that was a bad decision.  However, what struck me the most is a sense of relief - now in the post-Trump world we can finally get back to talking about the issues. 

Trumpers thought Trump was about "owning the libs" and the fact Democrats opposed Trump was not surprising to them.  But what really got under Trumpers' skin the most was when Republicans, often staunch conservatives, opposed Trump.  

The so-called "Never Trump" Republicans have never been large in numbers, but they proved decisive in November.  If you look at the key swing states, what cost Trump the election were Republicans who crossed over to vote for Biden while voting for other Republicans on the ballot.  Although Trump was supposed to have some ability to get Democratic cross-over vote, the fact is Biden received more votes from Republicans crossing over then Trump received from Democrats.  You saw that trend continue in the Georgia run-offs this month as the two Trumpified Republican Senators lost to their Democratic challengers.  Meanwhile the third Republican on that Georgia run-off ballot won his election.

Before Trump ran for office, I knew all about his history.  He was a spectacularly bad businessman who was constantly running side scams to supplement his business failures.  At the time, he was elected, the con was Trump University.  He also had the Trump Foundation, a scam in which he used charitable contributions for personal use.

Trump also had a history of philandering.  He had been married three times and cheated on every one of his wives.  He had been accused by 18 women of sexual assault, or worse.  Then you have the Access Hollywood tape...

Trump's one success in life, before being elected in 2016, was being a reality show star on a show that someone else created.  In "The Apprentice," Trump played the part of a successful businessman, a role he never played in real life.

Trump had no experience in politics or in government.  He had done nothing in life to suggest he had the ability to be the manager of a 7 Eleven, much less be President of the United States.  You could literally go into one of the downtown Indianapolis commercial buildings after hours, find a janitor mopping the floor, make him President, and that person would be more qualified to be President than Donald J. Trump.

There were things about Trump though that proved shocking.  I knew he was dishonest, but I had no idea how dishonest.  In defending him, one of my Trumper friends said "Every politician lies."  While that may be true, it is not true that every politician lies CONSTANTLY as Donald Trump did.

I also was shocked about Trump's complete inability to learn on the job.  When elected, he knew nothing about being President.  When he vacated the White House 1,461 days later, he still knew nothing about being President.

Maybe what shocked me most about Donald Trump was his utter disdain for the Constitution, American democratic institutions and values, as well as the freedoms we Americans enjoy.   Trump loved autocrats and sought dictatorial power at home.   He came so close to positioning himself to seize that power.  If 45,000 or so voters in three states had voted differently, Trump would have been re-elected and the American experiment in democratic government likely would have been over.   In the end, Trump's efforts to overturn an election and foment an insurrection proved unsuccessful, but they provided undeniable evidence of Trump's utter disdain for all things American.

One thing I learned about the Donald Trump experience is that until certain basics are met, you can't proceed to debate the issues.  My Republican Party's nominee for President has to be fit for office, have a good temperament, and the experience and intelligence to handle the duties.  The nominee has to be someone with decent morals and character and integrity.  He/she needs to at least try to be honest.  But, maybe most importantly, my Republican Party needs to nominate someone who respects the Constitution and American democratic institutions and values.  On every one of these measures, Donald Trump failed to measure up.

With Trump gone, we can finally start talking about the issues again.  Hallelujah.  

Congress Needs to Use 14th Amendment Instead of Impeachment to Disqualify Trump from Running Again

One of the first items of business for the new Democratically-controlled Senate will be to try the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.   But by the time, the Senate begins the trial, Trump will be an ex-President.

The chief goal of impeachment is the removal of the President from office by a 2/3 vote of conviction in the Senate. There is a secondary punishment allowed under the impeachment clause - a disqualification from holding future federal office.  That requires a second vote, and only a simple majority vote, following conviction.

I do not agree that a federal official vacating office means the Senate can't try that official's impeachment.  In fact, it's happened before.  Still the fact Trump is already gone is going to be a powerful argument for Republican Senators to vote against conviction.

Unlike in the House where Trump does have a cadre of enthusiastic supporters, most Republican Senators loathe Donald Trump and want him gone.  But they also live in fear of the Trump's GOP base, so much so getting 17 Republican Senators to vote for conviction, the requisite 2/3 of that august body, will prove challenging, to say the least.  If there was a way of disqualifying Trump from ever being President again, without necessitating a super majority vote in the Senate, that would seem to be the route.

Such an option does exist, the 14th Amendment, Section 3, which originally was aimed to apply to former government officials and members of the U.S. military who had joined the Confederacy.  That section states:

No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

As President, Trump took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States.  So he appears to be someone who would be covered by the section.  Because of the nature of Trump's offense cited in the impeachment articles - inciting an insurrection - the subject matter of the section likewise would seem to apply.

After the Civil War, Congress, in 1872, passed the Amnesty Act, restoring the ability of most former Confederates to seek office.  In conjunction with the passage of the Act, President Grant issued pardons to all but the top Confederate officials.

It remains unclear who gets to decide whether a person has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.   Determination of that factual question wasn't a big issue when it came to those who joined the Confederacy.  But now, nearly 152 years later, that is the big issue.  While we know who can lift the qualification (2/3 vote of Congress) who decides whether the standard has been met for disqualification in the first place?   

An article in the ABA Journal discusses the possible use of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, and concludes Congress can take the lead in disqualifying Trump from running for office again: 

Congress could find that Trump engaged in insurrection or rebellion by encouraging the attack against the Capitol. The House of Representatives has already outlined its theory against Trump in an article of impeachment filed Monday.

The impeachment article says Trump encouraged insurrection through false assertions of widespread election fraud and statements in a speech before the Jan. 6 riot. The statements included, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

A Section 3 vote would need only a simple majority vote of both houses, compared to the two-thirds vote needed for the Senate to convict Trump in an impeachment trial, according to the Washington Post op-ed, which is co-authored by Bruce Ackerman, a professor at Yale Law School.

...

Congress could enforce Section 3 by passing a law declaring that anyone sworn to uphold the Constitution who incited, directed or participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot engaged in insurrection or rebellion, according to the New York Times op-ed by lawyer Deepak Gupta and Brian Beutler, editor-in-chief of Crooked Media. The law would say those people are disqualified from office in the future.

Congress could also pass nonbinding sense-of-Congress resolutions that specify which people lawmakers intend to disqualify from office, the New York Times op-ed says. Those resolutions could provide guidance to election officials and judges applying the law after investigations are complete and more facts are known.

Trump could appeal a Section 3 determination by Congress to the courts, where he would have to face detailed questioning in a judicial proceeding, the Washington Post op-ed says.

Even if Congress doesn’t act, it’s likely that someone will ask a court to declare Trump ineligible for office if he runs again for president, according to the Bloomberg Opinion article by Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School.

The House and Senate should pass resolutions censuring and disqualifying Trump from ever serving in office - federal or state - again.  It would seem to be a mistake to leave this option - which only requires a simple majority and which is certain to pass - on the table.  

I would add that the impeachment disqualification provision only applies to federal office, so Trump could run for Florida governor, for example.  Section 13 has the additional advantage that it disqualifies a person for both federal and state.

OOP's short takes:

• I personally cringe whenever I hear Trumpers complain of "cancel culture."  They are only opposed to cancel culture when it is used against their side. Trumpers have no problem using cancel culture to destroying the careers and reputations of anyone who dares oppose Dear Leader.  Let's not forget all the whisteblowers and members of Congress that Trump and his goons targeted for daring to oppose the President.  And let's not forget forever Trump loyalist Vice President Mike Pence who faced an angry mob of Trumpers who were out to cancel his life because Pence would not follow Trump's demand that he throw out Biden electoral votes, which Pence, of course, had no power to do.  
• I am a huge proponent of free speech, but something needs to be done about media outlets and social media that continues to spout misinformation and lies.  The riot at the Capitol makes clear that there is a segment of people who will become radicalized when constantly fed lies that seek to reinforce their biases. 
• Over 100 pardons and commutations are coming tomorrow, Trump's final day in office.  I am still betting Trump pardons himself. What does he have to lose in issuing such a pardon?  Certainly most of Trump's family will receive pardons.  While I certainly don't agree that acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt, as some have argued, I have little doubt that the Trump children have an actual need for federal pardons.  The problem is they have a bigger need for state pardons because their bigger problem is with prosecutors in New York.
• Numerous Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, were caught on video saying they believed they were acting at the request of President Trump.  Since their arrest, the rioters have said the same thing.  Since most of the charges against them are federal, Trump could issue a blanket pardon to the rioters and they could walk free.  But Donald Trump won't do that because such a pardon does not help Donald Trump.  Those Trump supporters are about to learn an important lesson.  At the end of the day, Trump cares only about himself and what is in his best interests.  The rioters were being used by Trump. They were Trump's Chumps.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita Refuses to Condemn Armed Insurrection of Nation's Capitol

On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump, egged on by the President Donald Trump's speech and that of his son, Donald, Jr., Rudy Giuliana, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) and others, engaged in an assault on the nation's capitol in an effort to stop the counting of electoral votes which would officially elect Trump's opponent, Joe Biden.   During the assault, rioters broke into the Capitol, beat police officers, and searched the Capitol building looking for members of Congress to kidnap and/or kill.  A gallows was constructed with a noose to carry out the executions.  Rioters angry at the Vice President for not agreeing to carry out Trump's request that he simply not count Democratic electoral votes, chanted "Hang Mike Pence" as they hunted for the former Indiana Governor during their search.  Fortunately, a quick-thinking Capital Police officer led the approaching mob away from an open door to the Senate chambers where the Pence was located.

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita

Rioters also targeted other politicians, in particular, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  They called her a "bitch," a "traitor," and said that they were "coming for her."  One of those involved in the assault said he was thinking of "putting a bullet in [Pelosi's} noggin on Live TV."  Another man at the rally was armed with an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, which the man told friends, was going to be used to kill Pelosi.

During the invasion of the Capitol Building, doors were broken down, windows smashed, and government property taken.   A police officer was lying on the ground as protesters hit him and beat him with a pole attached to an American flag.  Other protesters ironically used poles attached to "Trump 2020" and (ironically) "Thin Blue Line" flags to beat police officers.  Another officer was crushed in a door and yet another police officer's head was bashed in by a insurrectionists wielding a fire extinguisher.  Explosive devices were found located on the grounds of the Capitol and at headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees.  A pickup truck with 11 homemade bombs was found parked just two blocks from the Capitol.  

During the assault on the nation's capitol, five people died, including the officer whose head was crushed by the fire extinguisher.

In response to the attack on the Capitol, the National Association of Attorneys General crafted a letter condemning the attack on our nation's capitol:

“We, the undersigned state attorneys general, are committed to the protection of public safety, the rule of law, and the U.S. Constitution. We are appalled that on January 6, 2021, rioters invaded the U.S. Capitol, defaced the building, and engaged in a range of criminal conduct—including unlawful entry, theft, destruction of U.S. government property, and assault. Worst of all, the riot resulted in the deaths of individuals, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer, and others were physically injured. Beyond these harms, the rioters’ actions temporarily paused government business of the most sacred sort in our system—certifying the result of a presidential election.

We all just witnessed a very dark day in America. The events of January 6 represent a direct, physical challenge to the rule of law and our democratic republic itself. Together, we will continue to do our part to repair the damage done to institutions and build a more perfect union. As Americans, and those charged with enforcing the law, we must come together to condemn lawless violence, making clear that such actions will not be allowed to go unchecked.”

The letter was signed by 50 attorneys general, hailing from virtually every state and four territories.  Newly-sworn in Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita though refused to sign the letter.  In doing so, Rokita joined such notable Attorneys General as Texas'  Ken "Desperately Seeking a Pardon" Paxton, who is under felony indictment for securities fraud and is currently being investigated by the FBI for bribery and abuse of office.

Instead, Rokita issued a letter he released on Twitter, in which he took the "we must condemn violence in all forms" approach.

Earlier today, I shared this letter with my fellow attorneys general, many of whom signed the letter to @TheJusticeDept.

We must condemn violence in all forms with our loudest voices. It does not matter what political protest is at the root of the violence. https://t.co/vGZSEKMK92 pic.twitter.com/mjChaLvgYU

— Todd Rokita (@AGToddRokita) January 13, 2021

Apparently, Attorney General Todd Rokita is unable unwilling to distinguish between random acts of street violence and an organized attempted coup that stormed our nation's Capitol, in an effort to kidnap or kill political leaders and stop the transfer of political power. 

Rokita a a smart guy who knows better.  What he is doing is a craven act of political opportunism, an effort to curry favor with President Trump and the Trump base.  One would think he would learn from the experience from other elected officials, especially Vice President Trump who, while hiding out in the Capital as marauding group of Trump supporters looked to possibly kill him, suddenly realized that his undying loyalty to Trump over the years meant nothing to the President.

Rokita is likely misreading the political winds.  Trump is unlikely to be on the ballot again in 2024 when the Secretary of State is seeking re-election or, perhaps, running for Governor  In that election, GOP turnout in the more rural parts of Indiana will almost certainly return to pre-Trump levels.  Meanwhile, Indianapolis is solidly Democratic and its formerly Republican suburbs have steadily trended more Democratic.  Whatever office Rokita runs for in 2024, he will be the No. 1 target for Indiana Democrats.  Rokita's unwillingness to condemn the armed insurrection of our nation's government won't be looked at too favorably by suburban voters who like to vote Republican as long as the Republican isn't a crazy Trumper. 

Further, it's just a matter of time before someone starts looking through Rokita's campaign finance reports and contact his large contributors to see if they support the Secretary of State's refusal to condemn the armed insurrection of the nation's Capitol.  I believe Rokita also supported the attempt of certain members of Congress, i.e. the Sedition Caucus, to throw out the electoral votes of several states and thus toss out the votes of millions of Americans.  In recent days, big political donors have decided to stop funding politicians, like those in the Sedition Caucus, who refuse to honor the result of American democratic elections.

OOP's short takes:

• It seems Donald Trump is angry at Rudy Giuliani who he says is to blame for his being impeached for a second time.  Trump has ordered his staff to stop paying Giuliani his reported $30,000 a day legal fee.  Hmmmm, Donald your second impeachment, like your first, is the result of what you did.  As far as Giuliani, who knew that his extreme, undying loyalty to Trump would not be rewarded?  Pretty much everyone.
• Can we stop pretending Melania Trump is not as awful as her husband?   It took her nearly a week to condemn the riot at the nation's Capitol and only did so after criticism had started to build. Donald Trump has proven himself to be someone devoid of morality and human decency, someone who cares only about himself.   That he could find someone to match his immorality and selfishness is a love story for the ages.  Not sure how the two birds of a feather met, but I imagine it went like this.

Trump's Future in Republican Party Looks Doubtful As Impeachment Conviction Looks More Likely

President Donald Trump could have walked away from his 2020 election defeat as the certain nominee for 2024, should he have wanted it.  Even if he did not want to run for President again, he could have been a king maker within the Republican Party, picking his successor and nominees for other offices.  Instead Donald Trump repeatedly lied to his followers that the election was stolen, made calls to state and local elected officials trying to get them to alter the results in his favor, and then encouraged members of Congress (i.e. "The Sedition Caucus") and the Vice President to challenge the counting of electoral votes.  When none of that worked, Trump invited a mob to Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, the day the electoral votes were counted, then spoke to them, lighting the fuse that led Trump supporters to storm the Capitol.  

It was that last development - inciting an armed insurrection of our government - that many Republican members  of Congress decided went too far.   Apparently, during the couple hours they spent hiding out from marauding Trump supporters who had broken in to the Capitol building to kidnap or kill them, those Republicans came to the realization that Donald Trump is a threat to the American democracy.  Who knew?

Ali Alexander

Actually a lot of us knew.  Many of us warned that the survival of the American Republic was at stake in last November's election.  During his time in office, Trump had shown utter contempt for our Constitution and democratic institutions.  He expressed admiration for brutal dictators and their tactics in suppressing democratic uprisings.   He clearly longed to be an autocrat and had fully intended to seize dictatorial power if given a second term.  And, if about 45,000 votes in three Biden states had gone differently, Trump would have received his wish.  

This afternoon, the United States House of Representatives will vote to impeach Donald Trump, the first President to be impeached for the second time.  The articles of impeachment will be immediately transmitted to the Senate.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is demoted to Minority Leader on the 20th, initially resisted the idea of impeachment and said it couldn't be taken up until the 19th, the day before Trump leaves office.

In the last 24 hours, McConnell has changed his mind.  McConnell and future Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are discussing using emergency rules to possibly bring the Senate back from its recess early.  What's worse for Trump is that McConnell is now indicating he may support the House's impeachment articles.  He would no doubt bring with him at least 16 more Republicans, enough to secure Trump's conviction.

But that's not the vote McConnell and the other Senate Republicans are most interested in.  Following Trump's conviction, a second vote would be taken on whether to disqualify Trump from ever holding federal office again.  The disqualification vote would take just a simple majority.  Most Republicans in the Senate want Trump gone. 

Over the last four years, the GOP has jettisoned its conservative principles to become a personality cult which feeds on Trump's lies and wild conspiracy theories.  Supposedly McConnell is bothered by the GOP's loss of its conservative principles.

Back in the real world, McConnell cares little about conservative principles, but cares a lot about political power.  The fact is last November Trump ran behind virtually every Republican statewide candidate in the country.  Then the Georgia runoff election came, and in a protest vote against Trump, Republican voters crossed over to elect two Democrats.  McConnell now views Trump as a political albatross.  He realizes the Democrats are about to hand him and his fellow Senate Republicans the opportunity to remove the Trump albatross from the neck of the Republican Party.  And they make take it.

OOP's short takes:

• Three GOP members of Congress, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, both of Arizona, are being questioned about their role in assisting Ali Alexander, leader of the Stop the Steal group whose rally culminated in the storming of the Capitol.  Alexander is claiming he needs $2,000 a day for security since the rally because he is being targeted by “witches and Wiccans” who “are putting hexes and curses on us." Alexander has been convicted of two felonies, property theft in 2007 and credit card abuse in 2008.
• Don't be surprised if the attempted insurrection of the Capitol on the 6th turns out to involve a lot more planning and assistance than has so far been revealed.
• Congressional criticism of Vice President Pence not implementing the 25th Amendment to remove Trump is beyond unfair.  Pence simply does not have the authority to do that on his own...he has to have a majority of the Cabinet members support his decision.  Given that three have already resigned since the coup attempt last week, Pence is left with several acting cabinet members i.e. Trump stooges, who would never vote to remove the President. The real blame for Pence's inability to use the 25th belongs with Congress as it has never used the option under the 25th Amendment to create another body to replace the cabinet when it came to considering the fitness of the President.  That should have been done decades ago.
• Indiana's Eli Lilly's PAC has announced that it expects the Congressional candidates to whom it contributes should show “respect for people and respect for our democratic process and institutions" and that it would "suspend political giving to those who voted against certification of the 2020 election results.”  That includes, four members of Indiana's congressional delegation, Jim Banks, Jackie Walorski, Greg Pence, and Jim Baird.  Other Indiana members of Congress bailed on challenging the results after the attack on the Capitol.
• The Lincoln Project has played a lead role in encouraging Corporate America to defund members of the Sedition Caucus.  Scores of companies have announced that they are cutting off contributions to those members of Congress who pulled the stunt of trying to challenge the electoral college results.
• Some Republicans balked at wearing masks when members of the House were moved off floor to a more secure location.   Now they're angry at metal detectors being installed at the entrance of the House chambers.  Geez, when did my GOP become the party of stupid?

Nikki Haley Attempts to Pivot Away from Trumpism; It is Time for Conservatives to Retake the GOP from Trump Cult

Following the Trump mob assault on Congress last Wednesday, I have watched a lot of Republican officials suddenly decide it was time to distance themselves from Trump.  One was former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.  From Politico:

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley sharply criticized President Donald Trump over the Capitol riot and his behavior since the election, telling Republican National Committee members in a closed-door speech Thursday evening that Trump’s actions “will be judged harshly by history.”

That makes my blood boil.  Donald Trump's character was not suddenly revealed to Nikki Haley by what he did on Wednesday.  Trump's character was well-known to many of us Republicans before he was ever nominated in 2016.  Even if Haley was somehow in the dark about what type of person Trump was, she certainly knew what type of person he was by the time she ceased working for his administration in October 2018.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley

For four years, Trump has embraced conspiracy theories, encouraged violence, and cozied up to white nationalist organizations.  For two months, he has been claiming, without any proof whatsoever, that the November election was "stolen" from him.   He's developed a cult following over the years and his followers would do anything he told them to do.  With the fuel already poured, Trump lit a match on Wednesday.  Following his speech to supporters/seditionists, they walked to the Capitol building and stormed it in an attempt to stop the counting of the electoral votes.  That is exactly what Trump wanted to happen.

Another Capitol Police officer died this morning, making six people who have died as a result of the insurrection instigated by Trump.

Haley is one of the few officials who managed to escape from the Trump administration with her reputation mostly intact.  It was even suggested her resignation was perhaps a protest against the President she would occasionally criticize.  But then she published a book, "With All Due Respect," in which she outed other administration officials who had worked behind the scenes to protect the country from Trump's excesses.  With the book and subsequent attacks on "Never Trump" Republicans, Haley had made the calculation that her career would be best served by fully embracing Trumpism and kicking traditional conservativism to the curb.  On Wednesday, she suddenly realized she had made a bad bet with her book.  Haley's speech Thursday was an attempt to walk back her embrace of all things Donald Trump.

When I saw the news about the speech, I couldn't help but send her a tweet:

@NikkiHaley Oh, hell no Nikki Haley. Some of us Republicans risked our political futures to do the right thing to stand up to Trump and warn about him. What did you do? You enabled him and attacked us. We will NEVER forget.

— Paul K. Ogden (@ogdenonpolitics) January 8, 2021

Last week, I've heard Trumpers who claim to be "conservative" argue that Congress should be able to override state elections, that the Vice President has absolute authority to disregard state electoral votes, and that government should tell private companies they have to publish objectionable material on their internet websites.  Throughout the four years of Trump, I have watched these same people applaud Trump's attacking free trade, his running up huge budget deficits (during a time of economic prosperity), his playing footsies with America's enemies, dictators who suppress human rights, while undermining our allies at every opportunity.   But it didn't stop there. These Trumper "conservatives", who claim to support the Constitution, had no problem with Trump's assault on free speech,  his refusal to submit to congressional oversight mandated by the Constitution, his ignoring the emoluments clause which limits his ability to personally profit from his position, and his continued pursuit of autocratic powers.

No real conservative would support any of this nonsense.  But you know who would?  Someone who supports totalitarianism.  Someone like a Communist.  Or, apparently, a Trump supporter.

As I've said many times before.  Trump is not the problem.  The problem is the Trump enablers, the people who supported the President and refused to ever hold him accountable for anything he did, including undermining the conservative principles upon which the GOP is based.  This includes people in Congress, people like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Devin Nunes, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, and Mo Brooks.  It also includes people in the conservative media types, people like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt, who have enriched themselves by setting aside their conservative principles to slavishly appeal to the Trump cult.

The time is soon approaching for real conservatives to retake the GOP from the Trump cultists.  When that happens, we can never forget those who betrayed us.   The Trump enablers need to be held accountable.

OOP's short takes:

• There also needs to be action taken against those members of Congress who participated in the attempted coup by their ridiculous vote not to accept slates of electors already certified by the states.  People like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz knew Congress had no power to do that and they knew what they were doing was giving oxygen to the false "stolen election" narrative which led Trump supporters to storm the Capitol just hours earlier.  Congress should consider censuring those members who pulled that stunt.
• Another option I saw proposed, which I like a great deal, is to build a monument reflecting the attempted insurrection and sedition which took place on January 6th.  On the monument, you could list all the names of the insurrectionists/seditionists who attempted the coup so their names would be engraved in stone for prosperity. (Not only the rioters but also the members of the Sedition Caucus in Congress.)  Nothing like shame to deter one from ever pulling this stunt again.  The Sedition Monument wouldn't even have to be on government property.  It could be on private property in the D.C. area.  You could even have a museum associated with it and show videos of what happened that day.  We should never forget what certain traitors tried to do to our country that day.

Georgia Republican Cross-Over Vote Elected Democrats Ossoff and Warnock to U.S. Senate

On Tuesday, Georgia held a run-off election featuring two U.S. Senate seats.   In an upset, the two Democratic challengers, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.  The two victories gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.

Usually in runoff elections, turnout drops dramatically from the general election that preceded it. This time that did not happen. About 4.5 million Georgians turned out to vote, nearly 90% the total that voted in the general election.

Can the Democrats' two Senate wins be attributed to Democrats turning out more voters than the Republican Party?

Actually, Georgia Democrats did not beat the Republicans at turnout.  Fortunately for political analysts looking at the Georgia runoff, there was a third race on the January 5th ballot, a contest for the Georgia Public Service Commission.  

In a state like Georgia, which doesn't register voters by political parties, the best way of measuring partisanship in an election is to look at low profile races on the ballot to establish a baseline.  When entering the voting booth, voters generally know about candidates at the top of the ballot.  But as voters make their way down the ballot, they soon encounter races for which they know little beyond the names of the candidates, if they know that.  It is at that point that people's partisanship kicks in to guide their choices.

Below is a table of the election results in Georgia:

Ossoff (D)    2,247,312 50.5%
Perdue (R)   2,206,009  49.5%          D margin of victory: 41,303

Warnock (D) 2,266,333  50.9%
Loeffler (R)  2,187,042  49.1%         D margin of victory:  79,291

Public Service Commission

McDonald (R) 2,288,390   50.4%
Blackman (D)  2,243,676   49.6%   R margin of victory:  44,714

So in the Ossoff-Perdue race, 86,017 voters scratched, i.e. voted for the Democrat Ossoff and then voted for the Republican for Public Service Commission.  In the Warnock-Perdue race, it was 124,005 Republican voters scratching.

It is highly unlikely it was Democratic-leaning voters casting their ballots for Republican McDonald.  Almost certainly McDonald won because a (slight) majority of voters in the Georgia run-off election were Republican or leaned Republican.  But many of those Republican-ish voters did not like Loeffler and Perdue at the top of the ticket

I think the problem for the GOP was that the two Senate seats became nationalized.  Georgia voters, including a significant percentage of Republicans that lived in the state, wanted to send a message of disagreement with Trump and their two Senators who had tied themselves so closely to the President.

OOP's short takes:

• It looks like The House is going to impeach Trump again, and this time, there may be some Republican support for his removal in the Senate.  So encouraging foreign powers to interfere in an American election, obstructing justice, dangling pardons, refusing to cooperate with legislative oversight, and abuse of power are not impeachable...but fomenting a mob to attack the Capitol and endanger the lives of members of Congress is a step too far?   Good to know where the line is.
• Breaking news is that Trump won't attend Biden's inauguration.  In other news, water is wet.
• It is being reported that Trump is considering a self-pardon.  Yes, there is about a 90% chance of that happening.
• I hope that one thing that will be high on a President Biden's list of priorities is ethics reforms.  One thing we learned from the Trump presidency is we can't expect a future President to do things simply because they are "norms."  Might want to make those "norms" - like a President turning over his tax returns - actual laws with teeth.
• Yesterday there was yet another record set as to Covid-19 new cases and deaths.  By next weekend, the United States will be at 400,000 deaths.

The Nation Needs Vice President Mike Pence to Push for Trump's Removal Via the 25th Amendment

The year was 1987, and I was flying from Indianapolis to Washington, DC.  I had signed up for congressional campaign school which offered training for prospective candidates and their campaign staff.  The class had workshops and speakers, the most prominent of which was a young Georgia congressman named Newt Gingrich.

While getting on the plane I saw Mike Pence and struck up a conversation.  

In law school, I was editor of the law school newspaper, the Dictum.  Pence, who was a year ahead me, would occasionally submit a cartoon for the publication.  He would often stop by the Dictum's office, and we would both talk politics.  Being outspoken conservatives, a rarity at Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis, we certainly had politics in common.  We also were both from Southern Indiana (he Columbus, me Madison) and had both attended tiny Hanover College at the same time (though I left after my Freshman year.) 

Up until that plane ride, I had not known Pence was interested in running for elected office.  After returning from campaign school, I decided not to run for Congress.  Pence though did run and lost, twice, before he won in his third attempt.  

People don't believe me, but in law school Mike Pence was very personable and well-liked, even by the liberals in the school.  He was very down-to-earth and had no problem making jokes at his own expense.  His first few years in Congress, Pence was a principled conservative who wasn't afraid to take on those in powers in pursuit of those principles.

Somewhere along the line, ambition got the better of Mike Pence.  I think it was probably near the end of his time in Congress, certainly before he ran for Governor.  Like ambitious people do, sometimes they start setting aside their principles to curry favor with those who they think might help them get ahead.  That strategy ultimately led to Pence becoming VP.  For the last four years, Pence has continued selling out his principles in the hopes of courting Trump's fervent base of supporters, thus positioning himself to run for President after Trump leaves office.

Last night, I saw a Mike Pence I haven't seen in 25 or more years.  Pence stood up for his principles and the Constitution, and refused to be brow beat by Trump into doing something he could not legally do...disregard electoral votes that did not favor Trump in order to hand the President a second term.  He was impressive, a leader this country desperately needed as pro-Trump rioters were literally banging on the doors of the chamber trying to get in and stop the count of electoral college votes which would hand the election to Joe Biden.

Of course, the Trump faithful immediately turned on Pence on Twitter.  But, realistically, Pence's political career was over before he stood up to Trump anyway.  Now he is free to do the right thing.  

The nation is in crisis. There is no telling what President Trump will do in his final 13 days in office.  He's already instigated his supporters to attack and invade the Capital.   How much worse can it get. Well, Trump has the nuclear codes at his fingertips, so it could get much, much worse.  We cannot trust having Trump in office for nearly two more weeks.  He is obviously not mentally well.

Time to dust off the 25th Amendment.  If Pence led the charge to use the 25th Amendment to immediately remove Trump from office, he would be forever remembered as a hero who came through when the nation needed a leader.

OOP's short takes:

• According to a YouGov poll,  45% of Republicans approved, and 42% disapproved of Trump supporters storming the Capitol to protest Congress from certifying (not the right term) Joe Biden's election victory.  One cannot underestimate how brainwashed so many of my fellow Republicans have become by right wing and social media.  The good news, I guess, is that only 21% of those polled supported what the rioters did.  It astonishing that anyone, except maybe the rioters themselves, approved of yesterday's actions.
• Checking out my Twitter feed, the chief topics among Trumpers seems to be 1) the Republicans who turned their backs on Trump are traitors; and 2) that it was actually leftist Antifa types who stormed the Capitol, not Trump supporters.  You can't fix stupid.   FYI, I'm not seeing Trumper Tweeters criticize what the rioters did.  I guess "law and order" is only something that applies to leftists.
• Several people have mentioned to me that the police would have reacted differently to the mob trying to invade the Capitol if the rioters' faces were black instead of white.  I have to agree with that.  I also suspect to that some of the police might have been Trump supporters and restrained themselves because they were sympathetic to the cause.  The rumor is that some police officers even held open doors for the rioters.  That I have trouble believing.
• Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnell's wife, just resigned.  Too bad.  I would have liked her to stay around a cast a vote on the 25th Amendment question.
• With all the news yesterday, people may have missed that the United States set a new single day record for number of new Covid-19 cases (260,000 plus) and deaths (over 4,000).

No, Vice President Mike Pence Cannot Hand the Election to Trump

Today, scores of Republicans in the House and Senate are planning to attack American democracy by challenging the electoral vote in six separate states.  Although these members of the Sedition Caucus claim they are standing on principle and against election fraud, not coincidentally they only found such fraud in battleground states that President Trump lost.  Not surprisingly, they do not have a problem with the rest of the races on the ballots.  Apparently, the fraud conspiracy launched by Democrats and RINOs to "steal" the election only applied to the top of the ballot.

When did my Republican Party become the Party of Stupid?  That is unfair...there is GOP stupid (think Rep.  Louie Gohmert) and then you have Republicans who are plenty smart, but have absolutely no principles or integrity (think Sen. Josh Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz).  I actually think the latter is worse than the former.

The 12th Amendment lays out how the Electoral College works:

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;-The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;-The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President-The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

After the constitutional crisis resulting from the 1876 election, Congress passed the Electoral Count Act which further clarifies Congress' role as to the counting of electoral votes:

Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of January succeeding every meeting of the electors. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the hour of 1 o’clock in the afternoon on that day, and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers, having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted according to the rules in this subchapter provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any, elected President and Vice President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the Journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified. If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the electors who are shown by the determination mentioned in section 5 of this title to have been appointed, if the determination in said section provided for shall have been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of electors so ascertained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by the laws of the State; but in case there shall arise the question which of two or more of such State authorities determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section 5 of this title, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law; and in such case of more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State, if there shall have been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful electors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State, unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the legally appointed electors of such State. But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such votes, then, and in that case, the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted. When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the questions submitted. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of.

The Electoral Vote Act makes clear that the job of the President of the Senate, i.e. the Vice President, is merely to open the envelopes containing the electoral certificates and Congress' role is to count those electoral votes.  Vice President Pence has no power to pick and choose which slates of electors he is willing to accept.  Further, under the Act, Congress has no role whatsoever in terms of judging how individual states conducted their elections which led those states to certify the appointment of electors.  The only role Congress has is judging how those electors cast their votes to ensure they were done in a regular manner.  An irregular manner might be, for example, Congress finding out electors had been bribed to change their vote.  

Today highlights yet another problem with the Electoral College.  What if both houses of Congress were solidly controlled by Republicans and the vote, especially the electoral vote, had been closer?  One could see Republican members of Congress who are wanting to curry favor with President Trump simply voting to hand the election to Trump.  Sure the Constitution does not allow them to do that, but in the Trump era we have learned that constitutional limits and democratic values don't mean a lot to many Republicans.

Fortunately, it looks like a sizable group of Senate Republicans have realized that trashing the Constitution to ingratiate themselves with losing presidential candidate Donald Trump is not worth it.  This is especially true given the fact Trump's antics have now cost Republicans two Senate seats in Georgia and control of the U.S. Senate.

As I've warned on these pages before, the problem with the Electoral College is not that a President can win the electoral vote while losing the popular vote. The problem is the archaic machinery that is associated with how the Electoral College works, including that electors are real people, not numbers.  A reform to the Electoral College could be the elimination of actual electors so that the award of electoral votes is automatic upon state certification. 

Make no mistake about it, what the Sedition Caucus is doing today undermines federalism and American democratic values. There is nothing remotely  "conservative" or patriotic about what they are doing.  They are advocating burning down our Republic to ingratiate themselves with Donald Trump and his personality cult.  It's disgusting.

OOP's short takes:

• Prior to November's election, Trump had to know that it was likely that Biden would win the popular vote in states with sufficient electoral votes to win the election.  Yet, Trump seems genuinely surprised that Biden will be declared the winner today.  I expect that Trump was advised of the convoluted, archaic process leading up to today and simply assumed that Republican local, state and national officials would use their role in the process to hand him the election.
• Appointed Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler proved to be a spectacularly bad candidate.  She might even be as horrific a candidate as former Arizona Senator Martha McSally, who also only made it into the Senate via gubernatorial appointment.  Not ironically, both Loeffler and McSally stupidly lashed themselves unapologetically to Donald Trump in a swing state where Trump was not particularly popular and the voters were clamoring for someone who would be independent-minded.
• After the Georgia debacle, it appears some Republicans in Congress are finally turning on Trump, apparently hopeful that we will simply forget the fact that for four years they have enabled the very worst behavior from Trump.   Hell no.  We should never forget how how these Republicans trashed the conservative movement and the legacy of Ronald Reagan to go all in on Trump's ugly brand of politics.
• I really think Congress should consider impeaching Trump for that phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump strongly suggested that Raffensperger could be prosecuted if he didn't manufacture enough votes to give him the election in Georgia.  (Yes, an ex-President can be impeached.)  I cannot imagine any behavior being more impeachable than that.  I am not so sure that Republican Senators will be that thrilled about supporting him once again, particularly since he'll no longer be in power.  While Trump will be out of office in two weeks, the impeachment process would disqualify Trump from ever running for President again.  I know a lot of Republicans in Congress, particularly, in the Senate where the 2/3 vote is needed, would like that outcome.  Whether they would publicly vote for it is a lot more questionable.