The fake electors plot is accustomed to playing second fiddle. Back when it was a going concern, it was the heart of the planned overthrow, but the spotlight veered over to the January 6 riot. Mayhem, destruction, and death beat faux paperwork every time for clicks and eyeballs, even if the approved paperwork is what would’ve actually gotten the dirty deed done.

And now, the stunt that came one Mike Pence away from upending our electoral system is landing yet again below the fold. This time, its shameless epilogue is losing out to another plot, one to use straight-up hunger among non-affluent Americans as leverage to jack up health insurance premiums for millions of people. If you’re reading that and thinking, “Hey, that sounds like a win/win for Republicans,” then congratulations, you’re paying attention.

The hunger/insurance move may be appalling and more recent, but it still can’t top the fake electors scheme for outright unAmerican activity. Which means that President Trump’s blanket pardon of the principles involved in that elector gambit is another notch worse, if a thousand times more predictable.

“Yes, baby, I’ve been drinking …” If your whiskey consumption has compounded over the last few years, then my condolences, you’ve also been paying attention.

But tell me, who’s guiltier: unscrupulous scumbags who screwed up our perfect record for peaceful transitions of power, or the country who stuffed that whole experience in its back pocket and went back to the same old shallow election-season mentality the next time around?

The scumbags, of course, but we’ve made that game a lot closer than it should be.

There’s no fix here, no silver lining. They got away with almost getting away with it, the ultimate validation (well, so far) of David Frum’s prescient insight about the centuries-old rot at the heart of the U.S. right wing.

By the way, I missed that earlier this year, Rudy Giuliani officially met the obligations of his civil suit settlement. Funny how Republicans seem to come up with the money. Kind of like you might wonder who’s paying Kim Davis’ legal bills in the bid to undo marriage equality, or who will pay the $360,000 in damages she now owes one couple. I don’t know who, but I know it won’t be Kim Davis.

As for Rudy, he might be off the legal hook for his electoral shenanigans, but he’s still on a train to nowhere.