The “lawyer” who is telling him that is full of shit. Logically, this would mean that any sitting Vice President who lost a presidential election could just give himself the presidency.
As far as “fraudulently chosen electors”, that would be determined in a court of law. There have been around 60 cases brought to court and all but one has been rejected by the courts. I think this says it all about that:
Gosh, I wonder why Lou?
The intention of the writers of the constitution was clear:
In light of tomorrow’s congressional session to record the electoral votes, and for conservatives and Republicans who claim to look for guidance to the Founders, a short thread from Federalist #68:
It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any pre-established body but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.
It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. But the precautions which have been so happily concerted in the system under consideration promise an effectual security against this mischief. As the electors, chosen in each state, are to assemble and vote in the state in which they are chosen, this detached and divided situation will expose them much less to heats and ferments, which might be communicated from them to the people, than if they were all to be convened at one time, in one place.
Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption.
They have not made the appointment of the president to depend on any pre-existing bodies of men who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes; but they have referred it in the first instance to the immediate act of the people of America to be exerted in the choice of persons for temporary and sole purpose of making the appointment.
And they have excluded from eligibility to this trust all those who from situation might be suspected of too great devotion to the president in office. No senator representative, or other person holding a place of trust or profit under the United States can be of the number of the electors.
Another and no less important desideratum was that the executive should be independent for his continuance in office on all but the people themselves. This advantage will also be secured, by making his re-election to depend on a special body of representatives, deputed by the society for the special purpose of making the important choice.
Originally tweeted by Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) on January 5, 2021.
I think the electoral college is an abomination but if you’re going to hang your re-election on it, you need to at least follow those rules. It was never intended that the Vice President would decide who the next president would be, nor the congress. There were some early glitches, and in 1876, there was a real mess in which some states didn’t send electors to be counted and they jerry-rigged a system that ended up disenfranchising Black Americans for almost another hundred years in return for the presidency. I’m sure Trump would be thrilled to make that deal again. In fact, in many ways, that’s exactly what they are attempting to do.
This election was smooth and the votes were properly counted and then the whiny, little man-child who can’t admit he lost was given the opportunity to litigate many cases in the courts, all of which were denied him because he has no evidence.
It’s done.
But the Republicans have decided it’s to their advantage to blow up our democratic system and assert that no election is valid unless they win it. That’s where we are today (and sadly, it’s likely where we will be tomorrow in the state of Georgia.)
FYI: this is how it’s normally done:
Here’s one in which the VP had good cause to be angry:
Here’s how Vice President Joe Biden handled objections to Donald Trump’s election in 2016:
Objections happe. It’s not a big deal. What is a big deal is if they actually turn the process into such a circus that people believe the election was stolen on the basis of absolutely no evidence. Unfortunately, that ship has already sailed.