Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and a former chief economist for Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), labeled recent remarks by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as "disqualifying."
Specifically, Riedl was responding to Vance's declaration this week that he would not have certified the results of the 2020 presidential election had he been in Vice President Mike Pence's shoes on January 6th, 2020.
After being repeatedly pressed by podcaster Jason Calacanis on Monday night whether he would have done as Pence did and allowed the certification process to go through, Vance dodged the question before eventually acknowledging he would not have.
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"I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we have," Vance said.
"The important part is we would have had a big debate. And it doesn't necessarily mean the results would have been any different, but we would, at least, have had the debate in Pennsylvania and Georgia about how to better have a rational election system where legal ballots are cast."
Riedl, who has been critical of the campaigns of both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter that this remark from Vance was too much for him to take.
"Sorry, but this is disqualifying," he argued. "He is endorsing a coup."
