It has become all too common for Republicans, confronted with obviously false and reckless statements by Donald Trump, to either defend him or look the other way. So it’s good to see that Mike Pence has criticized Trump — forcefully and by name — for claiming that as vice president, he had the authority to overturn the election.
“I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election,” he said during a speech today before the Federalist Society, as Caroline Downey reports. “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone.”
He went on to say, “Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Well said.
Looking back on the 2020 election and Capitol riot, it’s easy to despair at how many Republicans who should have known better went along for the ride. But we averted a potentially much worse crisis because during key points in the drama, important figures were willing to do the right thing.
Luckily, Pence was the vice president, and his commitment to the U.S. Constitution and deep faith made him do the right thing in the face of tremendous pressure.