WHO’S MORE IN LOCKSTEP — REPUBLICANS WITH TRUMP, OR DEMOCRATS WITH BIDEN? There was an extraordinary Senate debate Monday night in Orem, Utah, between Sen. Mike Lee and challenger Evan McMullin. It was extraordinary in part because McMullin, who is running as an independent and says that, if elected, he will not caucus with either Democrats or Republicans, agreed with Lee in many policy areas, such as federal spending and regulatory overreach. “I think our difference is in approach,” McMullin said at one point.
Instead, McMullin slashed Lee repeatedly over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. McMullin accused Lee of urging the Trump White House “to find fake electors to overturn the will of the people.” It wasn’t true — a look at the texts Lee sent to then-chief of staff Mark Meadows shows that Lee thought that only a constitutional process could challenge the results of the election and that he hoped some state legislatures would submit competing slates of electors “pursuant to state law.” In the end, Lee saw that Trump did not have the evidence on his side, and there was no action by state legislatures. Lee became concerned by the dead-enders who, without compelling evidence, still wanted to overturn the results, and he voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory.
