INDIANAPOLIS — On Tuesday Jan. 6, the whole world will be watching Vice President Mike Pence. He will find himself in the most conspicuous set of circumstances that any Hoosiers ever has.
As president of the U.S. Senate, he will preside over a joint session of Congress, taking what would normally be about a half hour to count the Electoral College votes for the 2020 president race. The 50 states and the District of Columbia have certified 306 votes for Democrat Joe Biden and 232 for President Trump.
This is a critical component for this cornerstone of our democracy and the fragile American experiment: The acceptance of defeat by a losing presidential candidate prior to the peaceful transfer of power. When this process went awry in 1860, seven Southern states seceded the Union, resulting in the Civil War and more than 600,000 deaths.
The reason the world will be transfixed on Pence is that President Trump has expressed his intent to "overturn" (as he tweeted) the will of the American people. "GREATEST ELECTION FRAUD IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY!!!" this sophomoric president tweeted. He told WABC on Dec. 21, "It’s the most corrupt election this country’s ever had, by far."
Trump's unsubstantiated allegations and his use of the Twitter pulpit have had an impact. A Fox News poll found 77% of Trump voters believe the election was stolen. A Reuters/Ipsos Poll found 68% of Republicans believe the election was "rigged."
Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump and his allies have filed more than 50 lawsuits contesting the results, winning only one case. In case after case, judges assailed the Trump campaign for providing no substantive evidence of any vote fraud. Votes in Georgia have been counted three times with no change in results. In Pennsylvania, U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann, the Notre Dame graduate who is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, compared the Trump campaign legal arguments as a concoction "like Frankenstein’s Monster.” Brann said that it “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” in its effort to throw out millions of votes.
There was a lawsuit from Texas which sought to subvert Biden's victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court with this terse statement on Dec. 11: "Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections." In amicus briefs, this "hail Mary" attempt was supported by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, Attorney General-elect Todd Rokita, and U.S. Reps. Jackie Walorski, Jim Banks, Jim Baird, Trey Hollingsworth and Greg Pence.
Now Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and an alternative slate or Arizona Republican electors have filed suit against Pence, saying he should throw out congressional procedures in place since 1889 to count the Electoral College votes. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has broken ranks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying he would seek to contest the Electoral College results. “At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act,” Hawley said.
Attorney General William Barr doused Trump's allegation of a "rigged" election, saying in late December, "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election."
Sen. McConnell has accepted the fact that Biden is president-elect when the Electoral College voted on Dec. 14. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun said, "Today, the Electoral College has cast their votes and selected Joe Biden as the president-elect. State legislatures, state courts, and the United States Supreme Court have not found enough evidence of voter fraud to overturn the results of the Electoral College vote."
And a number of Trump supporters see his gig is up. Televangelist Pat Robertson said on his "700 Club" show, "The president still lives in an alternate reality. I think it would be well to say, 'You've had your day and it's time to move on.'" And the conservative New York Post editorialized, "Mr. President, it’s time to end this dark charade. You’re cheering for an undemocratic coup. If you insist on spending your final days in office threatening to burn it all down, that will be how you are remembered. Not as a revolutionary, but as the anarchist holding the match."
So on Jan. 6, the eyes of the world will be on Mike Pence. Will he do what Vice President Dan Quayle did on Jan. 6, 1993, presiding over a joint session, counting the ballots and ending the proceedings by saying, ""Members of the Congress: The purpose for which the joint session of the two Houses of Congress has been called having been accomplished pursuant to Senate concurrent resolution. The chair declares the joint session dissolved."
Or will he succumb to the invective of Trump and his allies, who are pressuring Pence to recognize those seeking to foist a coup d'etat, forever damaging one of democracy's most precious components?
Pence has been silent on what he'll do on Jan. 6. He attended a White House strategy session with six House Republicans intent on challenging the election results. He said in Florida, “We’re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted” as the crowd screamed, “Stop the steal.”
The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
