Trump/Vance Electoral Victory Confirmed (One Is Still Disqualified)

Trump aided and abetted the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, which was an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. 

After a violent attempted insurrection, the electoral votes were counted early the next morning. The 14th Amendment specifically addresses keeping such people out of federal and state office:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The Supreme Court, not even showing up to announce the unsigned opinion (5-4 on some points), blocked a state attempt to keep his name off the ballot in Trump v. Anderson. Later, they split by ideological lines regarding criminal immunity for such presidential acts. The case was well named: Trump v. U.S. 

As Rep. Jayapal noted:

I know that many Americans across the country are still processing how it is possible that a President, who resisted the peaceful transfer of power four years ago and is also the first ever convicted felon elected, could enter the Oval Office.

Since the days of John Adams in 1793, vice presidents have presided over official counts even if they were one of the candidates. Vice President Humphrey skipped it in 1969. Might be the best policy.  

There often were a small number -- not a majority of one party as with House Republicans in 2021 -- electoral vote challenges. 

There was a proud but bipartisan tradition of using Jan. 6 to make technical objections within the byzantine electoral college system. And I think all of that got washed away with the attempted political coup and the mass insurrectionary violence of January 6 the last time around,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who had made a symbolic objection along with other Democrats to Trump’s victory in 2017.

Such challenges were not "election denial" generally speaking. They might have been picayune or wrongminded in certain cases. I think there was a reasonable ground to challenge after the 2000 elections. But, it is quite different when it is done after the Capitol is attacked as in 2021. 

A majority of Republican House members (under 10 senators) furthered the lies that motivated the violence. That was wrong. We now will bend the other way. For instance, it would have been appropriate for someone to go on record to argue Trump was not constitutionally qualified.  

They did not but a peaceful token resistance would not be what happened last time. As Jayapal reminds:

What we do today will be in stark contrast to what happened four years ago, when insurrectionists—fueled by sitting President Donald Trump — attacked the U.S. Capitol in the most violent attack since the War of 1812. That day, U.S. Capitol Police officers were killed, and hundreds — including over 140 law enforcement officers—were injured.  

We still are processing "how it is possible" that Trump will be in power in two weeks. We should not just move on and congratulate ourselves on a peaceful transfer of power (when one specific side wins). 

On a basic level, Trump won in the end, even if it took a few years.  Rick Hasen continues the effort -- oh so reasonably -- of helping him to resist even largely symbolic consequences. For instance, reference to Trump's sentence "hanging over him" is some reason to block even an unconditional discharge.  

(Hasen opposed the prosecution in the first place. I'm not going to shade his analysis generously here.) 

What was the New York trial judge supposed to do? If he sentenced Trump before the election, there was a reasonable concern that it would be deemed problematic. Maybe wrongly, but his fears were well founded. So, he waited.

The sentencing process then involved some more procedural stuff that would take time. The appellate courts, especially the Supreme Court, have not shown much inclination to speed things along. Months upon months of appeals would still have occurred. 

Same result: he runs out the clock. We failed as a nation in November 2024. It was a joint effort. We should at least remember what happened and still is happening. The voice of the people is not god.  

We saw that in 2016. The person who tried to violently overturn the election last time gets a peaceful transfer of power this time. Rightly so, putting aside the whole 14A, sec. 3 issue, though I think it was a bit too easy. Still, shades of ...

Two more weeks of sanity.