On Monday, members of the Electoral College will convene in their states to cast their votes for the next President of the United States. In most election seasons, electors serve as little more than human rubber stamps certifying the results of a free, democratic election for president. In most election seasons, they vote for the same person who won their state’s popular vote and let the (albeit flawed) representative democracy we inherited determine the next Commander-In-Chief. But this is not most election seasons, and this year all 538 electors have a unique responsibility: stopping Donald Trump from ever sitting in the Oval Office.
via politicsusa
On Monday, 538 electors will have the opportunity to save us from dictatorship and safeguard democracy. On Monday, 538 electors will be faced with their responsibility to do what they were in fact appointed to do: save the republic from itself. By voting against Donald Trump and for Hillary Clinton, electors on Monday from red states can end the circus of our President-Elect’s dangerous incompetency and affirm the democratic majority which voted for his opponent and her policy platform.
I am here to encourage you to encourage them to do just that.
Since November 8, 2016 — a No Good, Very Bad Day in which Donald Trump somehow eked out a mathematical win for the highest office in the land despite losing the popular vote by around 3 million votes and crushed Hillary Clinton’s dreams and, along with them, my very soul — a lot has gone down. Each and every day since his surprise upset, the news emerging around his transition, his plans for the future, and his erratic tweets has proven only more cause for concern for the future of our country.
First, the hate crimes began. Hundreds of them. Swastikas painted on public land. Little boys grabbing girls “by the p*ssy.” Muslim women being physically and verbally harassed. America began a slow descent into an era in which we are, indeed, stripped of “political correctness.” In its place we now have white nationalist celebration parades and Nazi salutes.
Then, the political games began. Donald Trump, a man with no political experience, began his tenure as President-Elect by announcing that his campaign’s CEO, Steve Bannon, would become his Chief Strategist. Bannon, who built the right-wing media empire Breitbart and then willingly allowed it to become a platform for white supremacy, anti-semitism, and outright sexism, among other No Good Very Bad Things, said in his first interview that darkness was certain to come in the time ahead of us, comparing Trump to Andrew Jackson and harkening where we’re going back to the Great Depression. (But like, in a good way?) In the time since, Donald Trump has announced his intentions to appoint a slew of incompetent, unqualified right-wing extremists to his cabinet.
His picks include a Secretary of Labor whose own businesses have been sued time and time again for wage theft, a Secretary of Health and Human Services who refuses to believe women can’t afford birth control and wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who is a neurosurgeon with no idea what HUD is probably, a Secretary of Education who has never been a teacher or sent her kids to public school but nonetheless sees them as vehicles for spreading God’s word, a Director of National Security who hated Muslims too much to be in the military, an Attorney General who was too racist to be appointed to the bench decades ago and doesn’t mind when the KKK kills Black people, a Secretary of State who runs a gas station corporation, and a Secretary of Transportation who is married to the man who dropped the cone of silence on that whole “Russia stealing the election away from millions of empathetic and compassionate Americans” thing.
Oh! Right, then there was that thing. Then there was the CIA announcement that Russia not only purposefully interfered with the election, but that they didn’t just do so for funsies or to flex their muscle as a hostile foreign power. No, they did so to elect Donald Trump! The dude who insisted if he lost, it would only be because the election was “rigged.” The dude who hasn’t held a press conference since the press conference over 145 days ago in which he asked Russia to hack more of Hillary Clinton’s emails. The dude who now refuses to accept the conclusions of every national intelligence agency – the ones he would hypothetically soon be beholden to the knowledge of to make his decisions as POTUS – and insists his personal relationship with Vladimir Putin had nothing to do with a hack he won’t admit happened.
Like, can we hold up at this point? Can we pause? A foreign power intervened in our election. Donald Trump’s party leaders chose not to sound the alarm, knowing full well that the interference would benefit an alleged serial rapist and noted demagogue and also hideously uninformed and disrespectful ugly piece of human garbage hijacking their party so that he could have wet dreams about his ceaseless pursuit of power.
As all of these events transpired, as all of these painful and ugly moments in time passed slowly by while we contemplated our existences in the cruel world, Donald Trump snuck his business-owning daughter into meetings with foreign leaders, announced he would be using taxpayer money to make more traffic in New York, went on a victory tour literally like Hitler, evaded questions about how he would stop his businesses from fueling international turmoil and how he would stop himself from using his office to boost his own income stream, sent over 1,400 tweets but not one condemning the Nazi violence, dispatched spokesmen to invoke internment camps on television, asked President Obama for advice on How To President, asked Paul Ryan for tutoring lessons on the Constitution, interfered in completely constitutional, legal, fully-funded recounts, and continued to have the ugliest little eyes I’ve ever seen.
Last month, a bunch of queers – including yours truly! – launched a campaign that empowered folks like you to reach out to your electors and demand that Donald Trump be blocked from assuming the presidency through a legal, fully constitutional process of rejection by the Electoral College. Since then, it has only become more and more clear that our drive to stop him from ruling the country is a true act of patriotism.
This is not about partisan ideology. This is not about who I voted for or who I supported or who you voted for or who you supported. This is about an unqualified, dangerous leader rising to power by way of an electoral mishap in the midst of rumors and proven instances of election fraud, corruption, and the politics of division.
These things that have occurred are not normal. They say in an autocracy that humans adapt too quickly to recognize that, so let me say it over and over and over again: This is not normal. The facts? They’re here, plain as day: A man who sympathizes with Nazis and the KKK stole the election and plans to use it to instate policies that lack a public mandate and would, explicitly, be put in place to set us back over 70 years. A man with no experience is meddling in global affairs to benefit his family’s wealth while also threatening our own stability and safety as Americans reliant on the person in his position to keep us safe and temper international conflict, not sew it. A man who did not win the presidency is about to claim it.
Many have said that we should lose faith. We haven’t. Since Donald Trump’s speech on November 8, developments across the country have indicated that we are not screaming into a void – we are making a difference. Electoral attorneys are at the ready to protect anyone who goes “faithless” and abandons Trump on Monday and faces punitive action in their states. Multiple campaigns like ours – including a petition to electors with nearly 5 million signatures, various campaigns enabling person-to-person contact between electors by civilians, and even campaigns coming from electors themselves – have popped up and made waves. Electors have gone on the record as saying they will not be voting for Trump in their red states. Others have admitted they feel conflicted.
On Monday, 538 electors will convene in 50 states. Before they do so, Donald Trump is not president. Before they do so, make yourself heard.
Summon hope and channel faith one more time. Email the electors in your state. Tell them why this matters to you. Tell them that the entire country is counting on them to do what is right and just. Tell them the entire world is watching. Tell them that their one act of resistance could be the line in the sand between an America that lives up to its potential and one in which those in power did not do all they could to protect its values.
On Monday, 538 electors will convene in 50 states.
I wish I could email the electors but alas (or luckily for me depending on how you look at it), I do not live in the US.
I have been so stressed about this, I can hardly imagine how it must be for US residents.
I applaud your efforts and hope really really hard the electors are sensible enough to not vote for that wanna-be tyrant on Monday.
So butt out if your not a US citizen. We don’t care what you think!
Hey don’t lump alla us with you.
Considering the rise of nationalism and fascism happening all over the world she does have a right to be concerned.
The United States of America is influncial.
If we fall the rest of the world comes tumbling after.
Also considering the things our government has done while being “cuddly and real democratic” I’d say anyone has a right to be concerned for us and applaud any efforts not to have a Third Riech Version Y2K happen to us and the rest of the world.
Thanks guys.
Thank you Janet for your great comment! Let me address it.
Just because I don’t live in the US doesn’t mean I cannot
1) empathize with all the US residents this WILL impact negatively (and already has, as Carmen stated in her article). I also happen to have people I care about who ARE US residents, by the way.
2) be extremely concerned about the global rise in nationalism and populism which is legitimized more every time someone like him wins anything, seeing more extremist, neo-nazi propaganda and “concerts” (read: hate-spewing conventions) and more homophobic attacks than ever before (admittedly, I am only in my late twenties, there has been worse before my time)
3) Worry that this election will directly affect me, as a non-white genderqueer person living in Switzerland, because of what I stated in 2).
Ignore Janet- she sounds like a real peach, bless her heart, but she doesn’t speak for all of us. I was as appalled by Brexit as anyone, and I’m not British. I’m appalled by what’s happening in Syria, and I’m not Syrian. Our world is interconnected, and what happens in one country affects what happens elsewhere. Anyone trying to pretend that Trump’s election has no impact on the rest of the world, or that people from other countries don’t have a right to express an opinion on our elections, is at best misinformed and at worst willfully ignorant.
Change we can believe in starts with each of us. We all need to do whatever we can.
“A foreign power intervened in our election” This indignation coming from US is just ridiculous. Otherwise good article.
FACT
Payback for years of American-assisted coups?
Yessss, this is especially rich when people get indignant on behalf of Hillary Clinton after the State department and US decision to recognize the coup government in Honduras in 2009.
The US overthrew so so so many democratically elected governments in Latin America and on the African continent – not by sending letters or emails or releasing information but by training actual death squads, assassinating leaders, manipulating economic circumstances that people getting so salty about Russia makes me laugh-cry a little.
Like I feel bad when it appears the general US electorate doesn’t have the critical thinking skills to thoughtfully evaluate the content of the emails released and realize they were pretty insignificant, but I’m not against the release of more information.
Oh, exactly. Especially since there’s no actual proof for now. But hey, when the US does that, they’re only helping! Putin supports Trump? What a monster!
The e-mails were pretty significant I would say. I mean it mostly confirmed what we’ve already knew but still, though people didn’t actually focus on what’s important.
Like it or not, Trump won the election. What would you think of Republicans calling for similar action if Clinton had won? Democracy means you don’t win every election. The Democrats abandoned their bedrock white working class voters and are paying the penalty. The attitudes expressed in this article are symptomatic of those which caused the Democrat’s defeat and refusing to learn from the election result will doom you to repeat it.
Did you not read or pay attention to anything about this election or how the presidential in the United States work?
TRUMP LOST THE POPULAR VOTE
The vote of the people. Yes that includes the working class people you believe the Democrats “abandoned”
The vote he “won” was electoral college. Do you even know what that is and why it’s an affront to democracy America claims itself to be?
Democracy means “demo” people “cracy” rule
RULE of the PEOPLE
Not some instituted oligarchy whose votes count for more that the vote of the people.
Then why didn’t you protest against this system before the election?
How do you know I haven’t?
Before I was eligible to vote it was one of the “cuckoo-cuckoo” things I’d rant about, be noooo traditionally the EC votes in line with the popular vote of their state why should we be concerned. And a president has never been elected without the popular vote.
Or my personal favorite the federalist stance, the original stance “the people” are idiots and would elect a fellow idiot rather than a person from the right class, education and family background so we stop them by creating an electoral college but make make them think their vote still matters when an oligarchy has been instituted.
There are reasons I dislike Alexander Hamilton and his support of the creation of an electoral college is one of them.
He came from the wrong background, made it and then pissed on others like him.
No one listens to people like me, not until it’s too fucking late and it turns out the crazy person was on to something.
Well, I’m sorry then. Though I got the impression no one was talking about this before in general.
Hahaha. Pretty sure it’s been part of the national dialogue and consciousness since at LEAST 2000. :P
No… he DIDN’T win & there is more than enough proof of this. Obviously you haven’t been paying attention. Between the proof of tampering, all the facts about citizen’s votes being completely ignored & the rest of the absolutely criminal political lying & tampering, no he did NOT actually win the goddamn election. We the people did not vote for him & therefore we no longer have a democracy. There’s a difference. If the American people actually did all vote for him, it would be a COMPLETELY different story. There is a crime being perpetrated on the American people & we have to do something.
Also, lots of people did protest this system before the election and have been protesting it for more than a decade now- I’m not sure if Alex is too young to remember protests surrounding the Electoral College in 2000 or what, but people (including Donald Trump himself!) have been saying we should get rid of it for years. But it directly benefits GOP candidates (because it gives rural, predominantly white states- states that typically go Republican- a significant advantage), so good luck getting a Republican-led Congress to even consider axing it. That’s not even getting into the fact that the Electoral College was explicitly founded in white supremacy and in an effort to make Southern, pro-slavery states more powerful than they would be otherwise.
Yup, I’m too young but I’m aware of them. But before this election? Nothing. If Hillary won, I highly doubt anyone (besides Trump supporters who would be called pathetic for that) would even discuss this.
Trump was never going to win the popular vote. Maybe you’re just not around people who talk election politics during non-election years?
I didn’t mean it like there wasn’t debate at all, I mean right before the election that wasn’t such a problem. It’s not about people I’m around because I’m talking more about social media and all, I don’t know, general mood?
I totally agree with you Bill and with Lex! The question how the hell do we stop this?
Yepp!
“What would you think of Republicans calling for similar action if Clinton had won?”
they wouldn’t have. because donald trump did not want to be president. he just wants to stand in front of large groups of people while they clap for him and cheer for him and tell him how great he is.
i think if clinton had won and trump felt it was unjust, he’d just milk the unrest but i doubt he’d pursue or encourage the GOP to pursue action against it. he’d really enjoy himself with that, i think.
You can add your own two cents on that form in the link guys.
…We all need clean air and clean water. Clean water is needed to make beer.
Vote4Trump=NoMoreBeer!
If they do vote for him, we will either have another war for profit , have another great depression, or both. The GOP is so greedy and corrupt now.
For the sake of the rest of the world as well as your own sakes in the US, I wish you the best possible outcome on Monday.
A Trump presidency will be disastrous for all of the worlds’ people not just your own.
Once again, Good Luck for us all.
Pathetic. Simple minded childishly pathetic.
Waa waa waa
Go have your temper tantrum somewhere else.
Yes, this is a very accurate description of Trump. Thank you!
I for one am not willing to let my life be ruined by this man. I couldn’t vote in this election, as I was just months away from turning 18, but now my fate rests in the hands of everyone else. I’m going to college in the US, but what is it to say that Trump’s economic plans will raise the tuition? Or will undermine some of our most sacred educational institutions? How can we be sure that he will protect those who are already discriminated against from going to college?
And another thing: one of my class mates (a proclaimed alt-right neo-nazi) has spent the entire time since Trump got “elected” (and lost the popular vote) harassing and belittling me, my friends, and minorities in our school. How can we be sure that this isn’t what the Trump administration will be like? News reports from all over the US show that this isn’t just a few people using their new-found power over others. This is an epidemic that has just escalated because of Trump and his normalization of sexist, homophobic, anti-islamic, anti-semitic, racist, and nazi-like ideas.
And not only will the US potentially fall under this Hitler-esque figure, but my home country of Canada will be hit hard as well. Trump supports closing many of the trade agreements with Canada, which means that their economy will possibly tank (maybe irreversibly so) because of the dependency on Americans buying their oil and maple syrup. If Canada’s economy fails, what is it to say that all the recent expats fearing Trump will be sent back due to economic strain? Why should our neighbors to the north potentially bear consequence to the outcome of our flawed representative democracy? This doesn’t only affect the US.
This is why we need Hillary Clinton. Not because I hate republicans (some I’m friends with outside of the election season). Not because I want to see another democratic dynasty. Not because I’m a butt-hurt millennial who only wants Hillary because she takes selfies (I am a butt-hurt millennial, but only because I see the effects of Trump on my friends and others). No, I do not want Trump because of the horrible things he has done and most likely will do in his presidency.
Just want to thank you again for posting this and promoting it. I sent in my emails to the electors; it was very convenient and I’m glad to be able to contact them about Monday’s decision.
Thank you.
I emailed the electors last week and got two auto-replies addressing the main talking points and a bunch of bounced email notices.
I think the electoral college is a long shot, but our efforts should be on letting the electors know that we have their backs. There are protests / vigils planned in each state where the electors meet (Springfield in IL).
We blue state folk wish you red state folk the best of luck in this endeavor.
Stronger together!
Love reading this classic liberal meltdown. Although the liberal routine that is charaterized by ”call the person you disagree with a racist or hitler” is getting old and by looking at the election results it is no longer working either! I also like to take this opportunity to give you liberals who are so concerned about racism an important tip. Please stop calling everybody you disagree with a racist when you don’t have clear evidence to support your accusation. This is important because throwing the term racism around like that actually devalues the meaning of the term. This becomes a problem because then society is no longer able to identify true racism and therefore will become unable to tackle it.
Can a liberal please answer the following question regarding character? It’s been documented that HRC, together with the family members, awaited the coffins of those Americans who were brutally murdered by radical islamic terrorists in Benghazi. As they sat next to her son’s coffin, a mother asked HRC, what happened? At that moment , while looking a mourning mother straight in the eye, Hillary lied about the death of her son by blaming it on some youtube video. No account of even remotely the same magnitude can be given about Trump. Therefore I conclude that she has a character problem. A profoundly rotten one. And yes, some pussy grabbing comments won’t do it. Do you agree liberals?
Love this classic paternalism and ignorance post and leave routine. You didn’t read any of it, but you’ll call it a melt down.
But you are correct about one thing people have mistakenly compared many deplorables to Hitler so when we have actual comparable person, a thin skinned populist who spews fascist rhetoric, to Hitler it’s like crying wolf.
If anything Trump is far worse because he doesn’t believe in the ideology of the white nationalist he stokes. This is about his ego, this is about power.
Not service to the people of this nation.
He is conscience-less opportunist.
Hey bro – here’s the politifact link where they discuss Clinton’s alleged comments on Benghazi (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/18/checking-patricia-smiths-claims-about-clinton-and-/) and conclude that not only are reports mixed about whether she actually blamed the attack on the video when talking to grieving parents, but that there’s a non-zero chance that if she did, that’s what she believed to be true at the time.
On the other hand here’s a link to 230 terrible things that Donald Trump has said and done (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/07/donald_trump_is_unfit_to_be_president_here_are_141_reasons_why.html), conveniently organized by whether they’re lies, misogynist, racist, or just straight up awful. Greatest hits include the one where he called Mexican immigrants rapists (racist), the one where he said that you have to treat women like shit (misogynist), and the one where he said he’d force the military to commit war crimes (straight up awful).
I’m not entirely clear on how you can say that Clinton has a character problem, and Trump – who has been repeatedly documented lying (I mean, fact-checking his twitter feed is a full time job), who has been in court multiple times not only for fraud but also sexual assault, and who often uses his followers to attack people who criticize him (whether their criticisms are well-founded and politely worded or not) – apparently somehow…doesn’t have a character problem? Like, you see how that doesn’t make sense, right?
I’m not even judging you for saying Clinton has a character problem, regardless of the veracity of that statement, I’m just baffled that you think it’s worse than Trump’s…everything.
If you feel like actually reading and learning at the same time purse at least the the first one
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/trump-lies/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jun/16/10-biggest-falsehoods-year-trump/
Having no government experience beyond bribery it is true nothing like Benghazi has happened with Trump, but if the overgrown cheeto stain makes it into the Oval Office it’ll only be a matter of time.
But unlike with Hilary Clinton the people who may dare report such a thing under Trump’s reign might find their careers ruined, find themselves harassed or ignored by mainstream media because they have a bias, an agenda and aren’t real journalists.
Who knows he may even take a page out of Putin’s book and have them killed for the affront to his ego.
I hope that the energy around the electoral college carries into 1) fighting voter suppression laws that are getting quietly passed in many states (including Michigan where I live), 2) preparing now for the 2018 midterms and 3) pressuring state-level reps and members of congress. If we can call and march and badger electors who do not answer to us at all, we can, and must do the same every week/day for our members of congress who do answer to us.
The Democratic party is very weak in so many states, lots of room for good people to step up and run.