LOST THE PLOT

Vance Drops Bonkers Excuse for Election Rigging Plot

The vice president was asked whether the DOJ’s election lawsuit insulted Alaskans’ intelligence.

JD Vance offered a head-spinning excuse after being cornered on the Trump administration’s preemptive lawsuit challenging a potential Republican defeat in Alaska’s Senate election.

The vice president was put on the spot on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to block the election’s certification if GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses to his Democratic opponent Mary Peltola.

President Donald Trump has admitted to personally ordering the lawsuit, which claims Alaska voters will be confused by another Republican on the ballot named Daniel J. Sullivan, even though the senator is clearly listed as the incumbent and Daniel J. Sullivan will appear on the ballot with no party affiliation.

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Vance was challenged on whether the DOJ’s premise amounted to an insult to Alaskans’ intelligence.

“Why shouldn’t Alaskans find it insulting that the administration appears to be suggesting they can’t read the word ‘incumbent’ on their ballots and know the vote for Senator Sullivan?

“Well, I think the question presumes quite a bit,” Vance responded, before offering a convoluted answer that seemed to land him right back at the reporter’s original point. “I mean, look, a lot of Alaskans are going to go and look at the ballot and realize exactly what you said, that this is all a big fraud.”

He then veered in the opposite direction with a bizarre excuse as he tried to justify the lawsuit.

“But people are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud. And I don’t think that we should endorse it,” the 42-year-old vice president said.

He then took a page from his boss’ playbook, turning his fire on the press and suggesting the media would cry election fraud if the situation was reversed.

“So I think you guys should actually do your job and ask some difficult questions of the Democratic Party,” he said.

Obama-appointed District Judge Sharon Gleason on Monday fast-tracked Peltola’s effort to dismiss the Trump administration’s lawsuit. Meanwhile, Alaska’s election officials have also asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit; the motion to dismiss was filed on behalf of Alaska’s GOP-led elections division, according to Anchorage Daily News.

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Alaska’s election officials had initially fought to keep Daniel J. Sullivan off the ballot, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that both Dan Sullivans would appear on the ballot on Election Day.

Peltola, who suffered minor injuries after her vehicle was struck by another driver on Saturday, has maintained a narrow lead over Dan Sullivan in polls. A Times/Siena survey conducted late last month put her ahead of the incumbent 50 percent to 43 percent.

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