CodyyyGardner Authors Jed Shugerman
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The joint congressional session just started. Pence had already issued a statement rejecting the Trump “theory” that a VP can unilaterally ignore certified electors, consistent with @maggieNYT reporting.
But Pence didn’t read it live
Here is Pence’s statement rejecting the crazy coup theory, but stretching to “both sides” this debate with a strawman: “Others believe that electoral votes should never be challenged in a joint session... Neither view is correct.”
Who says “never”? Sincerely I have no idea.
3/ As the states are called alphabetically, @amyklobuchar recognizes Arizona's electors for Biden as valid.
Far-right nut from Arizona @DrPaulGosar rises to challenge the Arizona electors, and cheers and applause erupt from the nut gallery.
Shame on them.
4/ @SteveScalise speaks first with a failing grade on con law. He says Article II gives the electoral vote process only to state legislatures.
He ignores that state legislatures PASS LAWS THAT CREATE A PROCESS FOR RUNNING ELECTIONS.
This is so insulting to basic literacy.
5/ Article II: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors"
What does Scalise think Article II requires? That state legislators do all the counting of all votes? That the Framers did not know about legislation?
Idiocy.
But Pence didn’t read it live
Here is Pence’s statement rejecting the crazy coup theory, but stretching to “both sides” this debate with a strawman: “Others believe that electoral votes should never be challenged in a joint session... Neither view is correct.”
Who says “never”? Sincerely I have no idea.
NEW FROM MIKE PENCE: pic.twitter.com/RkDCmD0Lk4
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) January 6, 2021
3/ As the states are called alphabetically, @amyklobuchar recognizes Arizona's electors for Biden as valid.
Far-right nut from Arizona @DrPaulGosar rises to challenge the Arizona electors, and cheers and applause erupt from the nut gallery.
Shame on them.
4/ @SteveScalise speaks first with a failing grade on con law. He says Article II gives the electoral vote process only to state legislatures.
He ignores that state legislatures PASS LAWS THAT CREATE A PROCESS FOR RUNNING ELECTIONS.
This is so insulting to basic literacy.
5/ Article II: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors"
What does Scalise think Article II requires? That state legislators do all the counting of all votes? That the Framers did not know about legislation?
Idiocy.
The Hawley-Cruz faction & most House GOP are now "Bleeding Kansas" Republicans:
I've been thinking about Kansas 1854-59 for a while.
Let's be clear about what happens when political parties reject elections and democracy:
Violence & bloodshed.
Thread.
2/ The Compromise of 1850 & the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 undid the Missouri Compromise (see map), leaving the question of slave state/free state to voters in the territories, leading to local violence, disputed elections, & ultimately the Civil
3/ The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened what would become Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana to a territory-by-territory vote on slavery vs. freedom.
Pro-slavery Missourians moved west into Kansas to vote for the westward expansion of
4/ Soon after 1854, Kansas became a local preview and a microcosm of the coming Civil War. Violence, intimidation & murder preceded these slave v. free local elections, mostly from the pro-slavery side, and pro-slavery forces used fraud to win.
5/ Missouri organized pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" to cross into Kansas, use violence and vote illegally. One estimate is that they added 5,000 illegal votes to the pro-slavery side to swing the elections. Congress investigated and found massive vote fraud.
I've been thinking about Kansas 1854-59 for a while.
Let's be clear about what happens when political parties reject elections and democracy:
Violence & bloodshed.
Thread.
The die is cast for the Republican Party. It will be destroyed on January 6th in much the same way the Whig party was destroyed by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The act unraveled the Missouri compromise and allowed for the westward expansion of slavery. 1/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) January 3, 2021
2/ The Compromise of 1850 & the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 undid the Missouri Compromise (see map), leaving the question of slave state/free state to voters in the territories, leading to local violence, disputed elections, & ultimately the Civil
3/ The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened what would become Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana to a territory-by-territory vote on slavery vs. freedom.
Pro-slavery Missourians moved west into Kansas to vote for the westward expansion of
4/ Soon after 1854, Kansas became a local preview and a microcosm of the coming Civil War. Violence, intimidation & murder preceded these slave v. free local elections, mostly from the pro-slavery side, and pro-slavery forces used fraud to win.
5/ Missouri organized pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" to cross into Kansas, use violence and vote illegally. One estimate is that they added 5,000 illegal votes to the pro-slavery side to swing the elections. Congress investigated and found massive vote fraud.