In an histrionic gesture of Moral Certitude, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) just floated the most disingenuous head-fake of a "retracted his endorsement of Donald Trump" press sensation of them all, and his formula of appearing the heroic traitor to his Party only to redirect back to his Party’s nominee may become a model for other "disavow-don't disavow" ploys by those that follow.
Portman is posing as a principled man that will NOT vote for Trump, but WILL vote for Pence as president instead:
“I continue to believe our country cannot afford a Hillary Clinton presidency,” Portman’s statement also said. “I will be voting for Mike Pence for President.”
I presume (who knows?) he plans on writing in Pence as his presidential pick.
There may be an expert in election law, here, that can shed more light, but I gotta assume that the Republican Party has a slate of Electors that are the ACTUAL VOTERS in our presidential sweepstakes, and whomever goes to their state capital to cast their vote for president & vice-president on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December will vote as their Party’s state convention dictated, more-or-less.
In other words, a write-in Pence Elector will be the same REAL Repubican voter for president as the Republican Party's Trump Elector.
(Yes, the ability of Electors to go squirrely in the clutch
is notorious and fodder for many "Did You Know?" human
interest sidebars in limited-circulation history magazines,
and, yes, I know that a few eccentric Republican Elector
votes might be swung to Pence versus Trump by some
write-in ballots cast and whatever other influences may
sway them in Ohio, but it would take a concerted effort
to make such a protest vote significant -- even in Ohio,
much less across the country.)
So, Portman now has a press release and a "bold statement" of his retracting an endorsement of Donald Trump. But, where the rubber meets the road, it's not a retraction of his vote at all. His endorsement of “Pence” Electoral College party hacks is, in fact, a vote for Trump after all.
It's the sneakiest ‘abandonment-not abandonment’, mealy-mouthed head fake of a "Principled Stand" floated so far this cycle.
Kudos, Rob. You're the most duplicitous asshole afloat, near as I can see.