It’s called ‘Sauce for the Goose, is Sauce for the Gander’ as in if it’s okay for you, it’s okay for me.


Sen. Josh Hawley Isn’t The First — And Won’t Be The Last — To Object To The Electoral

Jan. 6 won’t be the first time partisan lawmakers alleged that a wide conspiracy should nullify the results of a presidential election.

As Americans witnessed in 2017, such challenges also have the effect of weakening American trust in institutions. Two out of three Democrats, for example, believed Russia actually changed vote tallies despite no credible evidence, according to a 2018 poll from YouGov. Similarly, Trump’s crusade has led nearly 80 percent of Republicans to believe the election was stolen.

Just this week, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley set off a flurry of criticism when he announced Wednesday his intent to object to the Electoral College certification Jan. 6. Hawley cited suppression from big-tech platforms as interference in the election along with election laws in Pennsylvania.

Hawley’s objection isn’t quite on the same level that we’ve seen from elements of the #stopthesteal movement, namely that somehow George Soros teamed up with Venezuela to rig voting machines (another election anxiety with a long history).

Still, the sentiment recalls liberal efforts in January 2017 to cast poorly made Russian memes on Facebook and mean emails about Chelsea Clinton as the deciders of 2016’s election, rather than the plurality of Americans who voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton.

America saw a situation similar to Hawley’s Pennsylvania contention in 2005, when a group of Democrats objected to counting Ohio’s 20 electoral votes after insisting Ohio’s election was riddled with widespread “irregularities” that favored former President George W. Bush, according to CNN.

Joined by Democratic California Sen. Barbara Boxer, objectors, including Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, said that a report by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee found “numerous, serious election irregularities” in Ohio that led to “a significant disenfranchisement of voters,” according to CNN.

“How can we possibly tell millions of Americans who registered to vote, who came to the polls in record numbers, particularly our young people … to simply get over it and move in,” Tubbs Jones said at a press conference with Boxer, according to the report.

In order for a formal objection to be considered, a member of both the House and the Senate must question a state’s electoral votes in writing, according to The New York Times (NYT).

As required by the rules, lawmakers were sent back to their chambers for two hours to debate the challenge and vote on it, CNN reported. Ultimately Ohio’s electoral votes were awarded to Bush.

Bush’s 2001 highly contested win in the Supreme Court also led to attempts to object to the certification of electoral votes.

The 2000 election was overshadowed by conspiracies, including one that then-Governor of Florida Jeb Bush threw the election to his brother.