> CNN ran a story that Trump was bashing Pence as betrayer who wants him to lose.
As a rule, I assume CNN is full of shit until proven otherwise. Which is rare.
In any case, I like the idea that one man has the power to step in at the end, after every other institution has failed to stop an injustice, and say “No.” To be honest, I didn’t subscribe to the theory that the VP had this power until I started seeing it pop up in articles by serious journalists; in my layman’s reading of the 12th amendment, I just didn’t see any other role for the VP other than simply opening the votes and reading them.
If this happens (and I’m still dubious), I expect pandemonium to erupt in Congress. Which would lead to the most exciting couple of hours in C-SPAN’s history, no doubt. We’ll see when he gets to the first contested state, which way he’s going (and does he even need anyone to raise an objection if he’s going this route?)
There’s also the possibility that, if he decides he can’t legally do this, he appoints an alternate to do the reading of the votes and doesn’t show up (in order no to lend the farce any more legitimacy than necessary). We’ll see...
The Constitution says the Vice President SHALL open the votes of the electors.
SHALL means he must, there is no discretion, basically his role is ceremonial...
As with all of these hair brained ideas lately this seems designed to get more money out of Trump supporters....
What serious journalist have you seen that’s reporting Pence has this supposed power to do anything other than count the votes?
I haven’t seen any serious journalists say that myself - just click-bait websites.
Be more than dubious. He doesn’t have that type of power. (Can you imagine the Constitution “really” giving one person the power to toss or change EC votes? If so, that’d be one messed up Constitution. Imagine Al Gore or someone like that having the final say so on which EC votes to count. Constitution doesn’t say that, and it shouldn’t say that. What it does provide for is at least 1 Senator and 1 Congressional rep to submit a written objection, at which point both houses vote separately on what to do. They need to agree to change the result - which in this case obviously would never happen).