Endgame.
My God, I haven’t seen a turn like this since Darth Vader threw the Emperor into the Death Star’s reactor. Unfortunately for Pence, this is likely to turn out for him the same way it did for Darth. Maybe he’ll exist politically from now on the way Anakin Skywalker did — not quite alive but still capable of manifesting before admirers. They’ll trot him out at some Mitt Romney Senate fundraiser in 2024 to a standing ovation from establishment Republicans. He’s not going to block the counting of the electoral votes today because, uh, he has no legal authority to do so. Congress decides. The VP is just a clerk. You can read the full letter here. Pence is doing his best to compromise with Trump and MAGA, endorsing the view that it’s appropriate for legislators like Hawley and Cruz to try to block certification of different states’ results under the Electoral Count Act. He’s punting, in other words — which is the appropriate move legally in this case. If the election’s going to be overturned, it’s up to Congress. The election’s not going to be overturned: Sen. Josh Hawley just told me at Capitol that his objective today is not overturning Biden’s win ‘No, I don’t think so.
