A recent Wall Street Journal article titled "An Electoral College Coup: The Clinton campaign now suggests the election was rigged," explores attempts by supporters of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid to persuade electors to abandon their duty and vote for Ms. Clinton. This would, indeed, amount to a coup and the fallout would be disastrous.
Consider the following.
Both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans.
All cabinet appointees and Supreme Court nominees must be ratified by the Senate. In the face of a coup, it is unlikely that any appointee or nominee put forward would receive approval. The United States would be without senior leadership for the foreseeable future and the Court would remain split with at least one vacancy.
All budget bills must originate in the House of Representatives. There is little reason to expect that the House, believing the Presidency is held illegitimately, would fund any function of government beyond the minimum required services.
The United States would be leaderless and essentially unfunded while political factions battled in court for at least two years.
Anyone believing this is a good thing is genuinely an enemy of the country.
They are playing with fire.
I cannot fathom the WSJ scenario ever playing out. Too many factors are in play and the probability of all those factors lining up is outside my ability to seriously consider them. Consider the following to understand my thinking:
ReplyDelete1. If enough presidential electorates failed to vote as dictated by their state and Trump fell below 270, they will likely select another Republican as their alternative;
2. If an alternate candidate is unanimously selected by disenfranchised electorates, it is not remotely possible they would all select the same alternative. So, the chance of an alterbate candidate amassing 270 votes is absurd;
3. The possibility that a Democrat alternative would be selected by Republican electors is almost comical. So, no HRC selection is possible without at least 38 flips. The last I heard, 20 flips were being discussed, but not guaranteed. We find out the real number next Monday;
4. If by some chance HRC is flipped in, budget funding, etc. will be the least of our worries since our second civil war could well start December 20, 2016.
Good analysis, Bob. My concern is that the folks beating the drum the loudest have given no thought at all to what they think might ensue.
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