Can anyone doubt that Donald J. Trump can become our first independent American president? Conservatives despise him and everything he stands for, and progressives of all stripes deplore him and his basket of supporters. The establishment disowns him. So who will elect him?
The Blue Dog Coalition represents conservative Democrats who are fed up with identity politics, empty promises to working people, the destruction of their morals, and rampant corruption among leading Democrats.
· Mainstream Republicans — have differing views on religion, sexual identity, abortion, gun rights, and immigration, but are fed up with the take-no-prisoners approach of extremists in their party. Despite criticism, they cross social, wealth, and educational lines.
The Indies – A huge group right in the middle who, like regular Republicans, avoid extreme positions, are willing to compromise, even on sensitive and personal issues, but want something done about immigration and gaps in job opportunities, education, and wealth. The Indies hate corruption more than they hate social misconduct.
These groups are furious with the banana republic culture of progressive Democrats. They know that, for all his personal weaknesses, Donald Trump is right: the system is rigged against outsiders. That doesn’t mean there’s a group of elites who arrange things their way with a few pulls of the strings. It’s a system of two major party institutions, coated in the rules of their internal philosophical tyrants. It’s a society where progressives infect our education system, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and the grossly misnamed mainstream media crowd. The federal government is no longer a traffic cop protecting our rights, but rather another corrupt tool for a progressive political agenda. Trump voters know that anyone running outside the lines had no chance of success.
Until now. Until Donald J. Trump. He is the exception. The weaker one, tired of being kicked. Despite the countless splinters, this particular example of presidential wood, Trump has beaten the odds, and from this perspective, more than a week away, November 8th seems to be more than a squeak in his favor.
Unless, of course, the election itself is stolen by Democrats who are so keen to hide their secrets. Is it possible to commit voter fraud? Absolutely. It’s not about people registered in both Ohio and Florida, entire cemeteries, or former residents of the state’s homesteads going to the polls. It’s happened and it will happen again, but unless there are a huge number of people who move a huge number of votes to exactly the right places, national elections should remain relatively immune to such machinations. Moreover, faulty voting machines have always been with us, so every citizen must pay close attention to what’s going on before they pull the lever. What they don’t see is an undetectable third party, electronically spliced between county elections offices and their state capitals, flipping votes a few thousand here and there. If THAT happens, we will not preserve the republic that Ben Franklin and the Founding Fathers gave us. But let’s hope for the sake of this discussion that it won’t.
If Hillary Clinton is “elected,” her administration will be hounded by journalists and other investigators who will dig deeper into the pile of political garbage that represents the bulk of Clinton’s pay-to-play activities. And if the FBI “gets religion” this time, that cancer will be incurable.
If Trump weathers every storm and achieves electoral victory on November 8,t is one hurdle, but others remain before Inauguration Day. If possible—despite Hillary’s pious promises—progressives will challenge the vote wherever they can. Assuming those challenges fail, the next hurdle is the Electoral College vote itself.
There are currently 538 electors (out of 435 representatives, 100 senators, and three assigned to Washington, D.C.). Excluding Maine and Nebraska, which award their electoral votes by congressional district, the remaining 48 are winner-take-all. Electors are usually chosen by each political party and are more likely to be faithful to their oaths. But this year, when Trump is not the Republican of Republicans and Democrats have no shame in muddy tricks, the issue of fidelity matters. Only 24 states have laws punishing faithless electors—those who cast their votes for someone other than the person to whom they took the oath—so the potential for faithless electors in the remaining 26 states and D.C. is greater than ever before.
Faithless electors aside, they will meet in their state capitals on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December – this year on December 19.tand ordinarily this process should be no more than a formality required by the Constitution.
Then there is the Twelfth Amendment, which requires Congress to convene a joint session on January 6, 2017. There, the newly installed House of Representatives declares the winner of the election. The gist of the matter is that if one member of each house objects in writing to the counting of votes in a state, the entire House, after separate debate in its chambers, decides whether to accept or reject the objection. It is basic to imagine how, in this particular election, the process could be manipulated by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.
Trump’s final hurdle will be to dispel the fears of many Americans, so powerfully stoked by those opposed to him, and then unite all but the most die-hard progressives in rebuilding America as the last best hope for humanity on this planet. It’s a daunting task, but Donald Trump is the only candidate with the political balls to do it.
Well, let’s get to work!
