The Electoral College, the antiquated but Constitutional mechanism that keeps delivering Republican presidents who have lost the popular vote, meets today to formalize the election results. Some liberals horrified by the prospect of President Trump have floated the idea of of peeling off electors and denying Trump the White House. The idea is fanciful at best; you can’t change the rules after the game has been played.
The fact remains that, although Trump lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes, he won the Electoral College by compiling a razor-slim margin of 75,000 votes combined in three key states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
There are a lot of reasons why Trump managed to pull off his upset: his appeal to the white working class, the Clinton campaign’s mistakes, Russian interference in the campaign, the FBI blundering through the bogus email scandal, fake news. But a major problem that hasn’t gotten as much attention in the post-mortem is turnout.
According to exit polls, Clinton got virtually the same percentage of the LGBT vote as President Obama did in 2012. But the percentages were offset by mediocre Democratic turnout this time around. While more voters showed up in the conservative counties that Trump carried, liberal strongholds (aka urban areas) in the key swing states often saw fewer voters than in 2012.
That means you can blame Clinton, Trump or Putin all you want for the results from the Electoral College, but the first place to look, especially if you are in a swing state, is the mirror. Using Clinton’s flaws (and overlooking her many strengths) as an excuse for not voting only served to minimize the massive policy–to say nothing of character–differences between her and Trump.
Turnout is a perennial problem for Democrats, especially in off years–like 2018. But the electoral map favors Republicans when it comes to Senate races, meaning that the GOP could not only solidify its control of the legislative branch but actually increase its stranglehold.
The Trump administration promises to give us daily reminders on what we lost with Clinton’s stunning defeat. But unless we learn to remember the policy stakes in the election and take action accordingly, we’re bound to see the same pattern over and over again.
You think Trump’s first term will be awful? Imagine what the second would be like.
Mo Bro
Mr. Gallagher is right. Don’t blame the electorate, blame . . .
-A lying, corrupt candidate people couldn’t relate to
-8 years of Obama belittling and weakening America
-The suffocating culture of political correctness
-A primary rigged in advance by the DNC
-The welfare state
-Refusal to acknowledge Muslim terrorists
-A media so painfully biased their lies are epic
-Liberal hypocrisy raining down like snowflakes
Until libs acknowledge what ails them, they’ll never get well.
Chris
This is the second time in less than 20 years that the will of the people for our president has been thwarted. For that, I blame an antiquated electoral college that was developed by a group of slave-holding racists, women-can’t-vote misogynists, and only-the landed-can-vote elitists known as the founders.
They were the best and most educated of their generation; but they were the products of their times.
Just as this nation has changed other out-of-date constitutional structures, it needs to get rid of the electoral college.
1EqualityUSA
Resident Trump. Thanks, Mika. How you slipped that in on President Obama was super slinky. Are you a toy, “consisting of a flexible helical spring that can be made to somersault down steps.” The next four years will focus on money, forsaking all else.
Goforit
John Gallagher…. One correction. This is not changing the rules after the game. There was an even more important reason for forming the electoral collage in addition to (in theory) protecting the rights of smaller states. The founding fathers did not trust that an ill-informed electorate would not vote for an unqualified candidate. They wanted to have an override button. Just because this option has not been needed in the past, should not prevent it being used today. Donald Trump is the definition of an unqualified candidate that should never be allowed to step foot in the oval office.
oddchild1
Don’t blame me; I voted for Bernie in the primaries, then I held my nose and voted for Hillary; now my only consolation is I have a right to criticize those who are truly to blame. The only people responsible for Trump winning is Hillary and the DNC. They ran the weaker candidate. They gamed the system to hand Hillary the nomination believing that they owned the votes of the coalition of millenials and independents that got Obama elected; they were wrong and they reaped the whirlwind. At the end of the day it is not the responsibility of people to vote against the Democrats opposition; it is the responsibility of Democrats to run a candidate people will vote for.
1EqualityUSA
If Putin didn’t want her, one has to wonder why.
1EqualityUSA
Russia’s entire economy is less than California’s. To level the playing field is to lower others. Snake in the grass, can we not go lower?
Captain Obvious
@oddchild1: Thank you! But of course this truth nugget always falls on deaf ears. They don’t want to hear it. Not the Hillary supporters and not even most Trump supporters.
It was told to Hillary supporters time and time again that Bernie beat Trump in every poll and Hillary lost in every poll. They acted surprised on election day anyway. They made history alright…
ErikO
Well said oddchild and MoBro. The Democrats have not ran or picked an actual liberal or progressive candidate in decades.
Thad
Can’t blame me. I voted for Hillary in Pennsylvania. Apparently not enough of my neighbors did. But judging from the multiethnic crowd voting at my local library that day…well, there must have been an awful lot of rednecks in Western Pennsylvania who got up and voted that day.
NateOcean
Michigan? Screw ’em. Obama saved the auto industry (at great political expense) and Clinton reflected similar policies.
Meanwhile, Trump fellates a bunch of moron Michigan voters, and they all fall for his lies. Lies that often contradict themselves, even in the same sentence.
Hopefully all the automaker jobs will be shipped to China. Better yet, to Russia.
highestbidder
@Goforit: there would be violence from one end of this country to the other if the Electoral College dared to relieve Mr. Trump of the presidency. And what would that accomplish, anyway? It would send the election into the House Of Representatives, who would then select the next president and vice president. Do you think they would select someone better than Mr. Trump? And how long would it take them if they descended into infighting and schemes? 6 months? 2 years? The US is already tottering on the brink of collapse, let’s not push it over the edge just yet.
1EqualityUSA
Euphrates dry yet?
JessPH
Low Democratic turnout in battleground states and the gullibility of many to believe in the promises of a snake oil salesman cost Hillary the election.
captainburrito
@highestbidder: If enough pledged to Hilary to give her 270 then it wouldn’t go to the House right?
1EqualityUSA
I wonder if that frog’s leg was difficult for Romney to swallow?
Ronbo
I did not realize that recognizing how neoliberals (Republican economics and Democratic socially) have hurt the Democratic party would void the comments policy. Is that true?
“Your comment is awaiting moderation. Our system might have erroneously auto-flagged your comment as spam; if so, we’ll fix it quickly. Or maybe you previously abused your commenting privileges, violated our Comments Policy, included a link to a known SPAM/harmful site, posted comments that detracted from the conversation, or have been repeatedly flagged by other users for being a jerk — in which case we won’t publish your comment.”
redzebra1
@oddchild1: “They gamed the system to hand Hillary the nomination”
And where is the actual evidence that proves that?
As far as I can see it’s just a vague rumour with no outright evidence