“If Vice President Mike Pence comes through for us, we will win the presidency. Many states want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect and even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!”
(Trump)
As the ceremonial gathering for January 6 arrives, the newly elected Congress is all set to certify the electoral college votes that President-elect Biden won on December 14. The meeting is usually considered a formality, but the weird and illogical ambitions of pursuing a vice-presidential election overturn by President Donald Trump alongside a handful of Republican members of Congress have drawn attention to this event.
Trump wants Mike Pence to do a vice-presidential election overturn to dismiss the electoral college certification of Joe Biden to win Trump the presidency again.
As Republicans lost both the Senate runoffs in Georgia and Democrats get the Senate control back, the illogical rhetoric of Donald Trump is making the relatively simple process more complicated.
Trump claimed that Vice President Mike Pence “has the power” to reject “fraudulently chose electors.”
However, Donald Trump’s approach is hugely flawed and depicts his poor knowledge about the role of the vice president in this ceremonial meeting.
What can Pence do, and what is beyond his efforts now? Let’s have a look.
Vice-Presidential Election Overturn by Pence: The Legality of Trump’s Wishes
In one of the rallies for the Georgia runoff election, Trump said that if he (Pence) doesn’t come through (to overturn the election result), “I won’t like him as much.”
Trump is overestimating Vice President Mike Pence’s legal powers, hence asking him to do the things he can’t do even if he wants.
As a matter of fact, the role of the VP is to preside over the joint session of Congress on January 6 to announce the election results. As the VP is also the President of the Senate, he will call a group of lawmakers, also known as tellers. Tellers then count the electoral votes sent by all fifty states. After that, Mike Pence will announce the winner.
The Electoral Count Act of 1887 governs the whole episode in Congress. Legal experts believe that the act intentionally restricted the powers of the VP to save democracy from conflicts of interest. This restriction of the power of the VP in 1887 seems a good move after almost 133 years, as the power-hungry Trump left no stone unturned to overturn the results.
This negation to give the absolute right to the VP is also a sane approach, considering the fact that any such powers in the hands of the VP would have been resulted in the concentration of power in a single hand, giving him the sole authority to overturn the American mandate in a matter of a few seconds.
In order to overturn the election results, lawmakers can legally take some steps, but they are also unlikely to overturn the elections considering the Democratic majority in the House. Similarly, a hand full of Republicans, including the majority leader Mitch McConnell, also congratulated Joe Biden for winning the elections, so a congressional overturn from the Senate is also not possible.
Trump and his circle know well that they will not even get the support from every Republican Senator in this dramatic episode. This is the reason why Eric Trump warned Republicans that,
“I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator / Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud – they will be primaried in their next election, and they will lose.“
(Eric Trump)
Mike Pence, however, supports thirteen Republicans who wanted to initiate the congressional overturn. Until now, he has not mentioned anything regarding the vice-presidential election overturn.
Legal experts and the former Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin also said it is impossible, stating,
“If Pence were to somehow attempt to go rogue, the House and Senate chambers should be able to overturn whatever he does with a vote to appeal the ruling of the chair.”
(Alan Frumin)
So, Biden’s victory is cemented, and this attempt by Trump will only land him a further disappointment.
Trump’s Nonsense Cost Him the Georgia Elections
The unsubstantiated lawsuits of Donald Trump, along with pocketing the election funding money of Republicans, have also cost the Republicans two Senate seats in Georgia as well. Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their respective races in the Georgia runoff. So, the Democrats are all set to control the Senate for the next two years.
With this much nonsense coming from the White House without any legal advisory, it seems that Donald Trump just wants to fuel the fire on which he has already put America on. The idea of the vice-presidential overturn is just a pipe dream and a conspiracy theory that will be fluttered like the other plans of Donald Trump soon.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.