"May you live in interesting times." —Ancient Chinese Curse

There has been considerable discussion since Trump attorney Jenna Ellis tweeted out my proposal for Pence to do his constitutional duty and refuse to accept any electoral votes from contested states.  My argument was based on subversion of election law, not fraud, but recent data on fraud (e.g., this), demonstrate further how election law was simply disregarded.

A friend wrote:

Let us say the vice president did as you suggest and declared [that] ... Mr. Trump wins with the required "majority of votes cast (recognized) in the Electoral College."

Of course there would be the riots in the streets. There already are. ...

The problem is the media would immediately scream for the president and vice president's heads, and a significant number of wishy-washy elected Republicans would go along with them. ... 

In the Senate, it might not be that difficult for the Democrats to find 20 +/- Republican senators [willing to declare "abuse of power"] to join the Democrats in providing the two thirds majority in order to impeach [convict] Trump and Pence.  The list of traitors would start with Romney. ...

The power of the Senate to remove is constitutional, undisputed, and not subject to judicial review.

If the president and vice president were both removed ... Ms. Pelosi would immediately become president.

Welcome to war games.  What would actually happen?  Before I go further, please note that I attempt to avoid predictions.  They tend to bite you in anatomically unpleasant places.  One prediction is almost certainly correct: in the short run, there will be riots, almost exclusively in Democrat-run cities.  Dems will reap what they sowed.  President Trump will allow them to continue for a short period and then invoke the Insurrection Act to establish a semblance of peace.  After that...

Suppose Trump and Pence are impeached, convicted, and removed from office.  It's far from clear that Nancy Pelosi would succeed to the presidency.  The Presidential Succession Act, passed under the authority of Article II, paragraph 7 of the U.S. Constitution, states that the speaker of the House is next in line.  But it's far from clear that the act is constitutional.  The issue here is that Article II allows Congress to determine which "officers" would stand in which position in the line to fill the presidency.  There are powerful legal voices saying an elected official (such as the speaker of the House) is not an "officer" and similarly respectable voices that say she is.  Welcome to the Supreme Court.  And until SCOTUS rules, we might not have a chief executive.  And then it could be either Nancy Pelosi or Mike Pompeo.  Tea leaves, anyone?  A real constitutional crisis could be in the offing.

Suppose only Pence is impeached and convicted, but Ossoff and Warnock win in Georgia.  That leaves the Senate to confirm a replacement for the V.P.  Would Pierre Delecto Romney vote with the Democrats to confirm a Democrat, meaning the Dems have a majority in the Senate, blocking any further Trump judicial picks?  Would Joe Manchin vote with Republicans, allowing the Trump revolution to continue?  It's like the ketchup bottle.  Anticipation!  When will we have an answer?

Let's throw in another twist.  As soon as Pence counts the votes and declares Trump the winner, Dems will be on the steps of the Supreme Court with a lawsuit.  Doubtless, it's getting its finishing touches as I write.  Dems leave nothing to chance in their headlong rush for power.

But what will the SCOTUS justices do?  Will they dance and dodge to try to prevent weighing in?  After all, they have proven themselves very political in their attempts to appear non-political.  Or will they try to see which side their bread is buttered on and vote to elect the candidate of that side?  Do they want great taste or less filling?

If Pence disallows E.C. votes from the disputed states, Democrats and their media allies will scream that he has bought into "discredited" claims of fraud.  Republicans will properly point out that while state legislatures have held multiple hearings with evidence of rampant fraud, the lamestream media haven't reported on it.  They will also note that no court has held an evidentiary hearing on fraud.

What will happen?  Your guess is as good as mine.  None of us would have predicted what has happened already.  All I can suggest is that you get another tub of popcorn.  This movie isn't over.

Ted Noel, M.D. posts as DoctorTed and @vidzette on multiple social media platforms.

Image: Michael Vadon via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.