Properly translating the Republican National Committee’s Orwellian statement that the Jan. 6 Capitol marauders and rioters were “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell dropped the Newspeak and said in plain English: “We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.” What a crying shame this seems to be a minority view in today’s GOP.
Yes, it was a “violent insurrection” egged on by a president who had lost and was trying to cheat and steal in order to illegally and unconstitutionally cling to power. But his ever-loyal vice president, showing a welcome spasm of principle after years of servility, refused to go along, even with the rampaging mob howling, “Hang Mike Pence!” It took Pence a year to summon the courage. He now says plainly, “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.”
Correct. To make it clear to everyone, even Donald Trump and his zombie-like followers, the antiquated, confusing and contradictory Electoral Count Act must be clarified and modernized before the 2024 presidential election. McConnell must put his full weight behind this needed repair, joining the bipartisan effort in the Senate.
Written in 1887, a full decade after a deal to resolve the disputed 1876 election, the Act has an early “safe harbor” provision from the horseback courier days that a GOP-favoring U.S. Supreme Court used in 2000 to stop the Florida recount, handing victory to George W. Bush over Al Gore. It also has the vice president announce the winner, which the Trumpers claimed (and still claim) grants the veep authority to discard results.
Fixing the law would push back the calendar on when states can report their results and clearly strip the veep of any meaningful involvement — so next time Congress counts the votes, the mob can stay home.
