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Trump's BIG NEWS? Blatant Lies About Pence's Authority to Reject Electoral Votes on January 6th [1]

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Date: 2023-08-16

For nearly three years Donald Trump has been claiming that the 2020 presidential election, where he lost decisively to Joe Biden, was "rigged and stolen" from him. And for nearly three years he has failed to produce a shred of evidence to support his claims, despite dozens of opportunities to do so in court, on television, and at his cult rallies.

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Now, with four criminal indictments pending, Trump continues to whine that he's the victim of a vast conspiracy orchestrated by Democrats, even though almost all of the evidence and testimony against him has come from Republicans, and largely from his own administration and campaign staff. On Tuesday Trump promised that next Monday he will hold a press conference where he will expose the whole nefarious scheme and unveil a "CONCLUSIVE Report" that will result in all charges being dropped and "complete EXONERATION!"

SEE THIS: YEAH, RIGHT! Trump Promises an ‘Irrefutable,’ ‘Completely Exonerating’ Report on Election Fraud

If anyone believes Trump about any of that, they are terminally naïve. It's just a pitiful display of dishonesty, weakness, and paranoia, that his glassy-eyed disciples somehow view as veracity and strength. And on Wednesday he posted what may be a preview of his "irrefutable" report on his failing social media sham, Truth Social. He quoted from a Newsmax report about something Mike Pence said in his autobiography last year...

"Big News! Mike Pence said, ' I met with the Parliamentarian of the Senate, Elizabeth MacDonough, to discuss the procedures for the upcoming joint session on January 6. She told me that Congress always receives miscellaneous slates of electors every four years.' Greg Kelly, 'That’s huge! A game changer in terms of information. It really turns upside down everything the Democrats said about January 6th, and this latest Federal Indictment.' DROP THE FAKE CASE!"

So Trump is babbling about allegedly "Big News" that he is presenting as affirmation of his preposterous position that Pence could have single-handedly thrown the election to Trump. The problem is that he is not only wrong, he is purposefully misquoting Pence in order to deceive his flock of willfully blind devotees.

In his autobiography, "So Help Me God" (published November, 2022), Pence relates how he had told Trump many times that "I did not believe that I possessed the power under the Constitution to decide which votes to accept or reject." To which Trump complained that "You're too honest," and threatened that "hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts," and that "people are gonna think you're stupid." Then, after Trump warned him not "wimp-out," Pence wrote what Trump quoted above, but Trump left out some significant parts (in bold below)...

"Later on Sunday, I met with the Parliamentarian of the Senate, Elizabeth MacDonough, to discuss the procedures for the upcoming joint session on January 6 [...] I mentioned that I had heard that some alternate electors had been sent from several of the disputed states, and she told me that Congress always receives miscellaneous slates of electors every four years but that there was no alternate slate bearing what was known as a certificate of election from any competing state authority from any of the disputed states."

That is neither "huge," nor a "game changer." It's old news that has no bearing whatsoever on Trump's current legal predicament. And Trump is severely demented if thinks that it "turns upside down everything the Democrats said about January 6th." It certainly isn't cause to drop any of the charges against him. To the contrary, Pence's account provides more proof that Trump knew that he had lost the election and that his efforts to alter the outcome were deliberately dishonest and illegal.

Pence's decision to comply with the Constitution and certify the Electoral College vote count was not so much heroic as it is expected of every public servant. Still, many of his GOP confederates will chastise him for daring to defy Trump and declining to go along with his anti-democratic, authoritarian aspirations. But that's where the Republican Party is today. And it's why no patriotic American should vote Republican tomorrow, or any day thereafter.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/16/2187679/-Trump-s-BIG-NEWS-Blatant-Lies-About-Pence-s-Authority-to-Reject-Electoral-Votes-on-January-6th

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