Last night on CNN, Van Jones and Rick Santorum got into a discussion on this, based on Lindsay Graham saying the PA legislature should send its own slate of electors, ignoring the vote. It got a bit heated, until Santorum and Jones realised they were so busy trying to make the same point they were talking over each other: they both said it shouldn’t happen.
Santorum pulled out his phone and sent a text to the majority leader in the Penn State Senate, who texted back that the PA electoral code says the electors are chosen by the voters, that is the law, it can’t be changed, and he would oppose any effort to do so.
I’m curious though…what if Biden just puts a bunch of “acting head of the department of XXX”?
How is that functionally different than a duly nominated person?
It’s not like these departments will just stop operating without an official head and someone will be the top boss at each place no matter what the senate does.
Donald Trump avoided getting cabinet members confirmed by making them “acting” cabinet members, which is intended to be for emergencies until a person can get confirmed. But, Republicans were fine with letting them all stay acting, because they didn’t want to have to confirm some of his more odious picks. So, Biden is free to use this new found power of the presidency as well.
I think someone here already said it. NV is probably ready to make it official, but are coordinating with AZ so as to put AZ in position to get Biden over the 270. “McCain’s Revenge”.
Poor Rick. He was doing his darndest to defend Trump and the party line and still maintain a sense of logic and decency. It was an impossible task, but he did the best he could.
While I agree with you, I wonder if having definitive proof will stop the fraud allegations. Even Fox New is getting hate for calling AZ. There may not be enough proof that will satisfy some people who are listening to Trump, ever.
There’s no “level of proof” in play for tens of millions of Trumpists. The rhetoric is terrifying in its violence and religious certainty; the election cannot be fair because Trump lost. Therefore, any action is justifiable in keeping Trump in office, including killing and imprisoning Democrats.
I hope that somewhere a political cartoonist is working on a sketch of McCain with angel wings in heaven, looking relaxed and giving a thumbs-up, as he smiles down on an electoral college map showing Arizona going for Biden.
Kornacki just said regarding the uncertainty in PA that keeps everybody from calling it right now, it breaks down like this:
There are a certain number ballots that are included in the “still uncounted” pile that may not end up being counted, because they’re spoiled or for some other reason. This would reduce the projected final lead for Biden.
There are also 100,000 provisional ballots and, while in a normal year they’d be Democrat-friendly, this year they’re favoring Trump (he used the example of people who requested an absentee ballot but decided to vote in person because the president told them the mail was bad).
I thought it was typical for the cabinet to resign on 1/20 or maybe 1/21. I hope this isn’t a sign that Trump is planning to purge the top generals and admirals.
I heard this breakdown, too. Not really worried because while I think Biden’s final total may not be quite as large as originally projected, his lead will remain insurmountable.