After announcing voter investigation Pence to take on new role as Sycophant in Chief

AROUND THE BLOCK

News with a Twist

Trump plans full evaluation of U.S. voting system

Investigation announced by VP Pence who was also named to head new White House office

Following up on President Donald J. Trump's tweets concerning voter fraud, Vice-President Mike Pence said that the Trump administration will “initiate a full evaluation of voting rolls in the country and the overall integrity of our voting system in the wake of this past election.”

The White House is expected to release an executive order on voter fraud in the coming days. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, described the effort to reporters as an attempt “to understand where the problem exists, how deep it goes.” Spicer indicated that potential fraud only happened in “the bigger states.”

It is believed that in Trump administration-speak, “bigger states” is a euphemism for states that voted for Hillary Clinton. (It is unclear however, if anyone in the administration actually knows what a euphemism is.)

The investigation is going on despite the fact that most experts do not believe there has been massive voter fraud and specifically that Mr. Trump received almost three million less votes than Hillary Clinton because of fraud.

“The claim that there were millions of illegal voters in this past election is false and unsupported by any credible evidence,” Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California Irvine, wrote. “The National Association of Secretaries of States, made up of the chief election officers of all 50 states, just issued a statement saying so.”

In response to Professor Hasen’s comments, press secretary Spicer said, “Please be aware that Hasen is from a “bigger state” and as such might not be trustworthy.”

The investigation into voting irregularities is going forward despite reports that a number of Trump aides have been registered to vote in multiple states, the issue that the president, beyond the illegal immigrant voting, has been very vocal about.

These aides include top adviser Steve Bannon as well as others in his circle, including his daughter, Tiffany; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Steven Mnuchin, his nominee for treasury secretary. Having multiple voter registrations is not illegal, and there is no evidence that any of these individuals violated election law by casting multiple ballots in the same election. But there is no evidence that they didn’t. And, while it is hoped that the investigation will uncover the truth in these specific cases, it is unlikely it will.

While it is not clear whether Pence himself will lead the voting investigation, his statements announcing it and his unwavering support of both the investigation and absolutely everything else President Trump says or does has led the President to appoint the Vice-President to lead a new White House agency, the Office of Sycophantory. In taking on this new role, Mr. Pence will retain his title as Vice-President, but will in addition be known as White House Sycophant in Chief.

There is some controversy regarding the office and, indeed, the word "sycophant." It is believed that despite the fact that almost everyone in the administration is a sycophant, no one actually knew the word itself until Pence, who's been rigorously practicing sycophantory since his selection as vice-presidential nominee, brought the word itself to the attention of senior staffers.