Vice President Pence and the Sedition Caucus
A shameful day for our republic
Today, 11 Republican Senators have joined Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) Sedition Caucus in objecting to the certification of the Electoral College’s results of the 2020 Presidential Election this upcoming Wednesday.
The 11 Senators in question are Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Lankford (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Senator-elects Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
“We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,” they wrote. “Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”
In addition, at least 140 Republican U.S. House Representatives, led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), are also expected to object to the certification of the Electoral College’s results, including notable Trump ally Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), and controversial Representative-elects Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA).
“Vice President (Mike) Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election. The Vice President welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th.”
However, is this all part of Vice President Pence’s plan to run for President himself in 2024?
By requesting the dismissal of the lawsuit challenging the Electoral College results, Vice President Pence wants the election results to be fully finalized when he certifies the Electoral College results on Wednesday.
However, at the same time, by openly signaling his support for the GOP congressmen’s challenge to the Electoral College’s results on Wednesday, Vice President Pence wants to leave a lasting impression in the eyes of President Trump’s base as a firm supporter of the President.
Given his Vice Presidency, should President Trump and his family become too entrenched in lawsuits and criminal investigations to be able to run in 2024, Vice President Pence would be the odds-on favorite to win the GOP nomination, serving as a nostalgic reminder to Trump’s base of his administration.
Throughout the Trump presidency, Vice President Pence has notably stayed out of the limelight, catering to President Trump’s ego by letting him soak up all the media attention whilst silently casting himself as his supportive right-hand man.
And in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Vice President Pence is continuing his political calculations in remaining a top favorite amongst the GOP, even when it comes at the expense of undermining our democracy.
Much like Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, whom are most likely also seeking the GOP nomination for President of the United States in 2024, Vice President Pence’s willingness to undermine our democracy by supporting the GOP congressmen’s fruitless challenges to a fair and transparent Presidential Election is the very definition of sedition and reeks of absolute, unabashed, naked political ambition.
Pence, Hawley, and Cruz are the brand of conventional, Trump-esque candidates that are a long-term threat to our republic.
By dressing up their willingness to continue and further President Trump’s anti-democratic authoritarianism under the guise of well-mannered, establishment politics, Pence, Hawley, and Cruz are the kind of insidious, calculating politicians that will stop at nothing to attain political power.
And the treachery involved at baselessly objecting to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory doesn’t just stop with them.
Three of the senators in the Sedition Caucus: James Lankford, Ron Johnson, and John Kennedy are up for re-election in 2022.
After seeing President Trump calling for Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) to be primaried in next year’s midterm elections, in response to Sen. Thune shooting down the possibility of a successful congressional challenge to the Electoral College’s results, the three aforementioned senators have stooped to openly undermining our democracy to avoid upsetting the outgoing autocrat-wannabe whom maintains a cultish, political stranglehold over the Republican Party, in the hopes of keeping their Senate seats come 2022.
For Sen. Johnson, this must be particularly worrying for him, given that President-elect Joe Biden flipped Wisconsin in the 2020 Presidential Election.
So instead of standing behind democracy, he instead has chosen to sell it down the river, just so he can have a solid chance of fending off a competitive challenge to his Senate seat.
In response to the GOP Sedition Caucus’s treasonous attempts at overturning the election, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) has once again called on House leaders to refuse to seat members of the Sedition Caucus, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which expressly disqualifies any individuals from public service whom seek to undermine democracy.
For historical reference, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified following the American Civil War, four years after 14 senators whom refused to recognize then President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Election victory and betrayed the country to join the Confederacy were expelled from the United States Senate.
At that time of their expulsion, the country was in danger of being permanently fractured and dissolved.
Whilst we’re not at the point of another civil war (yet), the hyperpartisanship and unashamed willingness of GOP congressmen to commit sedition by aiding and abetting President Trump’s attempts to overturn a fair, democratic election out of their political interests, has once again threatened the long-term future of our republic.
In short, this is treason.
Full stop.
Vice President Pence and the Sedition Caucus might actually be victorious in their future political gains from this destructive act of treason against our democracy, but their legacies will forever be shamed upon the backside of history.
