It's Electoral College Day and Donald Trump is STILL Going to Be President

In the unlikely event of a large revolt of "faithless electors," Congress will still make Trump president.

Bastiaan Slabbers/ZUMA Press/Newscom

It's finally here, the election day after election day, where 538 well-positioned Democratic and Republican party insiders are set to make Donald Trump's improbable election as President of the United States official.

Electors will cast their vote in each state's capitol, after which the governors and secretaries of state are expected to certify the vote and send them to Washington, DC, where a joint session of Congress will convene on January 6, 2017 to make the vote official.

A great many of Trump's opponents have pulled out all the stops to prevent him from taking office, wheeling out everything from misty-eyed B-list celebrity pitch videos, to promises to pay the fines imposed on rogue electors, and even street protests in states where Hillary Clinton is going to get every electoral vote.

A number of electors have claimed to have received attempted bribes, hate mail, and been inundated with email requests to vote for anyone but Trump. In Pennsylvania, all of the state's 20 electors will receive protection from a plainclothes state trooper.

For all the talk about "Hamilton Electors" — so named because of the founding father's warning in the Federalist Papers against the election of someone not "qualified" to be president or one improperly influenced by a foreign government — even in the highly unlikely case that the Electoral College denies Trump the requisite 270 votes he needs to win, all signs indicate that eventually the Republican-controlled Congress would just make Trump president anyway. Republican leadership may have been skeptical of Trump for much of 2015 and 2016, but after he received the party's official nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, pretty much all of the elected GOP has fallen into line.

While there have been a handful of electors who have indicated they won't vote for Trump despite being legally bound to do so (though no one has ever been prosecuted for violating these state laws), the massive revolt needed to present a speed-bump on Trump's road to the White House is still a longshot.

At the moment, only one elector has officially gone rogue — David Bright of Maine — and he has reportedly cast his vote for Bernie Sanders, denying a vote that would have gone to Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump.

Read my report on "Hamilton Electors" here, and stay tuned later today for a full roundup of electoral votes.

Comments

[Brian]

Clearly, this calls for only one thing.

[Princess Trigger]

I was expecting the pep talk scene from 'Animal House'.

[R C Dean]

I prefer to look on the bright side:

Hillary Clinton will never be President of the United States.

[John Titor]

That truly is the greatest Christmas gift. Part of the reason the Clinton supporters went so goddamn nuts about 'her turn' is that she's not going to get another chance. Clinton's political career is effectively over, and that's likely to be Trump's greatest achievement.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Pledged donors to her Foundation were backing out the day after the election. Salt in the wound! So delicious! Chelsea better watch them like a hawk or she won't have anything left.

[TheZenomeProject]

Trump's win was awful news for dynastic, entrenched political families like the Bushs and the Clintons. That alone is enough for me to celebrate the election results.

[chemjeff]

I still don't understand the absolute loathing for Hillary.

I get it, her policies suck, she's amoral and unprincipled, and she's a corrupt hag who's been at the levers of power for far too long. But that describes a lot of politicians not just Hillary.

But with Hillary, it's a new level of hate. I truly don't understand it.

And no I don't think it's because of sexism. That is just stupid.

[R C Dean]

Hillary explored new frontiers in monetizing the sale of a public office. She is on a pretty short list, even for politicians, of being a compulsive liar. She is almost uniquely unqualified for office, with a career that is almost entirely devoid of actual accomplishment in the private or public sectors.

She's not different in kind from the run of the mill politico, but she is different in degree.

[WoodChipperBob]

A chunk of it, which is especially poignant for those of us from New York, is the sheer nepotism with which she gained her power. "Hello, New York! I'm Bill's wife, and I'm here to be your new senator, despite having no connection to your state except a newfound love for your Yankees football team... I mean basketball team... wait, who was supposed to do the research on this? Anyway, I Love New York, just like your tourist slogan says, and because my husband was president and being a lawyer in Arkansas is such an important job qualification for it, you're going to elect me to the Senate!"

[chemjeff]

I mean, we literally had people on the Right comparing the election to Flight 93, where the election of Hillary was analogized to flying the airplane directly into its intended target and causing mass death and terror. Not even Obama's election or re-election inspired that kind of morbid talk.

[R C Dean]

chem, I find that ignoring the nutters on all fringes is generally the way to go.

[chemjeff]

I tend to agree. But with Trump, the nutters have taken control of the Republican Party. That is the challenging part. Hard to ignore the nutters when they are in charge.

[R C Dean]

But with Trump, the nutters have taken control of the Republican Party.

I disagree that Trump's crew are nutters, or beholden to nutters.

[chemjeff]

Trump has picked a few good apples.

But Trump himself is prone to believing in conspiracy theories and is not exactly a disciplined fellow.

[Monty Crisco]

Jeff, I think you are being intentionally disingenuous. Did you not see the bile directed at Mitt Romney of Sarah Palin in the previous two elections. The left LITERALLY accused and honorable mormon family man of GIVING A WOMAN CANCER.

Doesn't get more "nutter" than that, and that was a mainstream Obama PAC that produced that ad....

[TheZenomeProject]

The question, though, is how much of that "belief" is genuine, and how much of it is a calculated move to appeal to the base.

[Tronald_Dump]

Then you are clueless.

[steve walsh]

For me it is her dishonesty and unbridled quest for power. You're correct that many politicians are this way but somehow she is an extreme case.

[chemjeff]

Would you say that she is any worse than, say, Al Gore was in 2000? From what I recall in that campaign, Al Gore was another one of those people who came from a political family, felt entitled to be at the levers of power, and was willing to do or say anything to get elected. And he also had his own fundraising scandal to boot. And sure Algore got mocked and laughed at. But the level of absolute loathing, I didn't think it compared at all to Hillary.

[Gene]

Manbearpig never had a snook in its snizz, it didn't even have a snizz, only Patrick Duffy.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Would you say that she is any worse than, say, Al Gore was in 2000?

Yes, because Al Gore went away in 2000. He ran for President, got picked up as Veep, tried to run as the incumbent extension of the Clinton legacy, failed, and quietly retired to the private sector where he files baseless political lawsuits against his enemies.

That is orders of magnitude better than Hillary, who took her position as First Lady to be a political mandate to directly involve herself in the business of state, employing secrecy and and a complete lack of transparency to completely reshape the role of the federal government-- this all before she had been elected to anything. From thereon out, she engaged in ever larger cynical quests for power-- all with a direct road to the whitehouse, poll testing districts and moving to them just so she could better guarantee a national office win.

Obama's biggest mistake was nominating her to Sec. of State as an Olive branch after the 2008 elections. She really damaged his legacy and presidency, and arguably got us President Trump. I won't even comment on her tenure as the Sec. because that speaks for itself.

[Animal]

I really don't think her nomination as SecState was an olive branch. I think it was a case of "keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer."

[Darth Squirrel]

I suspect money and/or favors changed hands to get her the SoS position.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

She really is Eva Peron, minus any particle of style.

[Dr. Jonathan Crane]

I find Barack far more loathsome than Hillary simply for the fact that he is able to get away with 8 years of shit and still have a 50%+ approval rating.

[TheZenomeProject]

The thing with Barack, however, is that he is more of a true believer and ideologue than Hillary ever was. To some in the Bernie base that may pass as "genuine and likeable".

[John Titor]

Personally for me it has a lot to do with the fact that she's able to get away with it so easily, and she's blown up to such a polar opposite of what she really is. Clinton openly exposes her incompetence and corruption and the media flocks around her to construct a fortress of white noise. Suddenly any criticism or questioning of her ethics is sexism, and the entire narrative frames her as some Weberian perfect public servant who personifies good government. Even without the scandals that wouldn't be true, but they insist that it must be, despite any evidence to the contrary. It's just such a profoundly elitist way of looking at people, like they're too stupid to figure out what you're doing. That little girl getting past the security line to hug Clinton after the 9/11 memorial controversy is a great example. An obviously constructed photo-op that Clinton expects you to eat up because you're a stupid pleb who doesn't know better.

[Lurk Diggler]

I think part of it was just 8 years of an ideologue made everyone weary. But I don't think she was an ideologue, I do think she was corrupt enough though to target her opponents to cripple fair elections in the future.

[AlmightyJB]

Hillary represents everything that is wrong with politics.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I think a lot of the hate is not rational and you'll just give yourself a headache trying to find "reasons". A lot of people are simply put off by her imperious and elitist personality, and by her attitude that she's entitled to rule.

Then too, I think some of it is due to the nature of her supporters. They come across as hateful, spiteful people who were planning to lord over the "lesser" folks when Hillary won.

I see a certain amount of this in the fear that Trump arouses; many of my prog friends have expressed the fear that Trump's ascension will "encourage" racism, gay-bashing, etc.

[John]

I still don't understand the absolute loathing for Hillary.

I get it, her policies suck, she's amoral and unprincipled, and she's a corrupt hag who's been at the levers of power for far too long.

I think the juxtaposition of those two sentences might be your problem.

[Bill Dalasio]

I'll give my own take. Hillary isn't just a standard issue lefty. With them, there's at least some areas where you won't find them absolutely execrable. It's that, if there's ever an issue where the right is more anti-freedom than the left, she'll side with the right there. And she's just about Nixon-level corrupt. As a result, for a lot of people, she's become the embodiment of everything that's wrong with American politics today.

[Mickey Rat]

Part of this has been her cheerleaders in the media proclaiming her the best qualified candidate ever (they were even doing this before she was First Lady). It was dishomest and her supporters would shout sexism at anyone who questioned it.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Yeah, the press has been really transparent over the last 20+ years that they expected Hillary to be the first woman president, and have pushed that narrative this whole time. It says a lot about the quality of female politicians in the Democrat party, or at least their internal perceptions, that Hillary is the only one who they considered worthy of holding the slot the entire time she's been in the national spotlight.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

For me, it was the revelation of the email server and the aftermath of that revelation--including the deliberate obtuseness of her supporters in regards to the saga--which turned my distaste for Hillary into full-on, "I hope she gets a stroke during one of the debates" hatred.

Any one of us would be hanging by their balls in Leavenworth for doing 1/10 of what Comey let her get away with, and that includes lying that she turned over all her emails and lying that there wasn't any classified material in said emails, all of which was a complete violation of classified information law, State Dept regulations, and the President's own executive orders on such matters.

It's also why I have no fucking sympathy for the Wikileaks emails supposedly damaging her campaign--if she and her cronies had taken cybersecurity even remotely seriously, their malfeseance would never have been known.

Not to mention the fact that she endorsed weapons deals for nations and defense contractors that donated to her family's foundation, in larger numbers than even the Bush administration approved over a similar time period. These things all showed how utterly amoral she is, and the lengths she would go just to soothe her daddy issues for Papa Rodham not showing her enough love.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

The first thing I hated her for was attacking Bill's accusers when it became known they were right. I don't hate her for backing Bill; but she should have stayed out of the mess with some bland "stand-by-your-man" statement. Instead she went on the attack.

Now that was just ordinary politics. Cause for disgust but not much more. Where I truly began to despise her was the 2008 elections where her air of entitlement and destiny just stank too much. Her behavior while waiting her turn in 2016 was the equivalent of joggers jogging in place at red lights. Her entitlement in this campaign ws far worse than in 2008, and that's when the despite turned rock solid. She was NOT the princess-in-waiting, and I despised her for thinking she was, for thinking that it was treason to not think she was.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Chemjeff, I have a new method of figuring out is someone is a true libertarian. It is based on the question "who do you hate the most?" If your hate is directed at Hillary, then I am sorry bud, you are a conservative, not a libertarian. If, however, your hate is directed to other libertarians, welcome to the club, buddy.

[Sanjuro Tsubaki]

I don't understand how anyone would defend her much less support her.

[Tronald_Dump]

Add it to the millions of things you'll never understand.

[Malvolio]

Well, her policies suck, she's amoral and unprincipled, and she's a corrupt hag. Is that really not enough?

I guess it's her smugness about the whole thing. That and the fact that unlike most other politicians, I haven't been able to avoid seeing her harpy-like visage on TV for 25 GODDAMN YEARS.

[Libertarian]

Dec 19, 2016 10:29 AM EST Protesters in Indiana are protesting inside of the capital because temperatures are in the single digits outside, one said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation.....8tEviTATN/

[R C Dean]

Kick 'em out, and if they won't go, arrest them for trespassing, disorderly conduct, etc.

[commodious buggres alle]

Better yet, maybe they can go disrupt whatever the state legislature is up to today. Do something useful for a change.

[Brett L]

If this was FL:
1) Single digit temperatures would presage a new Ice Age
2) They could all gather round the Festivus Pole for Airing of Grievances (although no Nativity Scene or Satanic Church display this year).

[Tronald_Dump]

RC Dean would've made a great brownshirt!

[steve walsh]

Childish and feckless boobs, all of them. How about we make the issue moot by returning the power of the President to that designed by the founders and established in the Constitution? Protest for that why don't ya.

[commodious buggres alle]

They didn't think they'd ever lose, and now they think they only need to win one more time.

[bacon-magic]

I read feckless boobs as "freckle-less boobs" and had a sad.

[Chipwooder]

The new Cult of Hamilton on the left these days is kind of hilarious, given that it springs largely from some dipshit musical on Broadway.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

Hamilton was the worst of the Founders. So typical that they'd latch onto a (black) version of him.

[Dr. Jonathan Crane]

To be fair to Hamilton, some points that he made in the Federalist Papers are actually quite good and have been used to constrain government (somewhat).

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

Speaking of the Federal List papers, a fraud named Eric Garland recently went on a conspiratorial rant (that he apparently believes was 'game theory') about Russian interference in the election, on Twitter. Leftists all over creamed their pants with some dubbing it the Federalist Papers of our times.

You know its bad when Slate is telling you to get a grip:
http://www.slate.com/articles/.....erals.html

[Dr. Jonathan Crane]

If that's the Federalist Papers of our times, then anything Trump says is the Gettysburg Address of our time.

The left has really proven how disconnected from reality they are.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Unfortunately, they believe that everyone else is disconnected.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I did not know until today that progressives were big fans of federalism. Undoubtedly they'll soon be joining the Federalist Society in huge numbers.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Thanks for the link. Clearly progressives have devolved into a formerly unknown species.

[NoVaNick]

"it springs largely from some dipshit musical on Broadway"

If you want proggies to take an interest in something, you first need to REALLY dumb it down to practically a preschool level. Perhaps there will be a "Sesame Street on Ice Presents James Madison"

[commodious buggres alle]

Get some millennial chick bathing in fruit loops to explain it ironically.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

I'd watch that. And possibly masturbate to it. While muted.

[bacon-magic]

No. No you wouldn't. Google is your friend that will make you go blind if you search for this.

[commodious buggres alle]

Also, it turns out she's over a decade north of millennial.

[chemjeff]

"Harry Potter and the Federalist Papers"

[Bill Dalasio]

Of course, for the types latching on to this cult, it really is appropriate. Hamilton was the founder most into cronyism and big government. All you need from there to progressivism is to switch the beneficiaries.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...where a joint session of Congress will convene on January 6, 2017 to make the vote official.

THIS IS OUR ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE TO CORRECT THE TAMPERED ELECTION RESULTS. So lobby our most cherished, most woke celebrities to tailor a special YouTube video for each of your representatives in Congress. It's not too late!

[Sevo]

I know getting a lecture from some lefty twit who has spent his entire working life pretending to be someone else is gonna convince me!

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Ah celebrities. Is there anything they can't teach us?

[John Titor]

So now the angst is going to reboot, and the whiners' families will have to deal with them over the holidays. By January I'm sure they'll be to the point where there's less freakouts and more just passive aggressive moaning, but the next four years are still going to probably sound like this.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

It was hard to imagine their Trump hysteria being worse than it was under Bush, but they always manage to top themselves. I don't know why I end up surprised.

[NoVaNick]

"It was hard to imagine their Trump hysteria being worse than it was under Bush"

I think Trump has already pre-empted a lot of the anti-hysteria by throwing shit right back at the media. Bush sat silent as they dumped on him. With Trump, they basically can't say anything worse than what has already been said about him, or what he has said himself.

[TheZenomeProject]

The thing about the way that Trump campaigned was that though he played dirty, he IMO very rarely attacked opponents first; he let his enemies throw punches at him first before he threw it all back at them.

[DJF]

Your Monsters!!!!! Runs crying from the room.

[WTF]

Not my monsters!

[Citizen X]

They're not sending their best monsters.

[Citizen X]

I looked at that picture and i had a flashback to the last time i saw the Flaming Lips in concert.

[John Titor]

So Clinton supporters were 'Waiting for Superman'?

[Citizen X]

Well, she don't use jelly...

[chemjeff]

Nov. 7, 2016: Those founding fathers were just old dead racist slave-owning white guys! Who cares what they had to say?
Nov. 9, 2016: You should listen to this Hamilton dude, totes seriously!

[R C Dean]

Even better - Hamilton was a slave trader, and likely a slave owner.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Ruh Roh.

Russian ambassador just assassinated.

[Playa Manhattan.]

err... attempted. He may or may not be dead.

[Swiss Servator]

He gone.

/Hawk Harrelson

[R C Dean]

In Turkey. Kind of an important detail.

Well, this will set the cat among the pigeons in the ME.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, the president did suggest there would be retaliation...

[Brett L]

Let the Great Game resume.

[Princess Trigger]

I fear for their stability.

[commodious buggres alle]

What did Trump do this time?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Seems like more of a Hillary thing.

[DJF]

How soon before the NYT or Wash Post puts out a fake news story claiming that Putin ordered the assassination attempt?

[Playa Manhattan.]

I heard that the Russian ambassador to Turkey is a Clinton elector. I should tweet that and see if they run with it.

[Swiss Servator]

Oh Gawd, I bet it would get legs - do it!!!

[Playa Manhattan.]

Unfortunately, I only have 6 followers on twitter.

[Swiss Servator]

It only takes one RT...

[bacon-magic]

That is not good. At all. *continues digging bunker started way before election 2016

[DOOMco]

shit

[Sanjuro Tsubaki]

The middle east is irrevocably turning into a gigantic Somalia, and I see no way we can stop it. Russia got involved, and now they're going to pay for their stupidity. Putin will overreact and pull them in deeper. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey are to blame for much of the violence, and I don't think they're going to learn from events when things get worse for their countries. Saudi Arabia is going to probably sew the seeds of its own civil war by funding groups like ISIS and fighting in Yemen. Iran is a state that needs outside conflicts to keep its regime healthy. Turkey is turniing into another Iran, it cannot win a war with Russia but is headed towards war. The best thing for the US is for ME petroleum/energy to become expensive compared to other sources, help protect Europe, but for our involvement in the region to be minimized. Maybe Putin thinks that disorder in the region benefits him, but that's very short sighted.

[Swiss Servator]

Election time
Open all the doors and let your vote into the world
Election time
Turn the lights up over every elector and every electoress.
Election time
One last call for votes so finish your ballot in fear.
Election time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

I know who I want to take office.
I know who I want to take office.
I know who I want to take office.

Election time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from.
Election time
This college won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters come.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits
I hope you have found a candidate.

[The Last American Hero]

Michael Moore has publicly stated he will pay the state fines for electors that break the law and vote against Trump in states where they are mandated to do so.

I wonder what would have happened if Hillary had one and say, the Koch brothers, made a similar offer?

[bacon-magic]

I think you have to use a different example. I believe our Overlords actually donated to her? campaign.

[Brett L]

Or Donald Trump in the reverse.

[NoVaNick]

It would be entertaining, if nothing else, if the EC votes against Trump. The progs now say Hillary has won by 3 million votes (it keeps getting bigger), but what they fail to understand is that in parliamentary democracies, the ruling party often wins with a mere plurality of votes that can sometimes be less that 30% if there are enough other parties running. Maybe this is why Europeans tend not to take politicians seriously.

[Pro Libertate]

JUST LIKE HITLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dantheserene]

incredibly, SNL is *still* doing pro-Hillary skits. It came up in my YouTube suggestions. Kate McKinnon does a dylanesque attempt to influence an elector. Some people think it's the funniest thing ever. I just had a WTF? moment.

[Brett L]

You're not married to a young lady are you? That's right out of Love, Actually, which is Liam Neeson and the adult cast of Harry Potter doing a Christmas Rom-Com from a while ago.

[dantheserene]

No, my wife is age appropriate. I've heard of that movie, but never seen it.

[0x90]

There is an alternate universe where the opposite result occurred, and where none of this folderol is taking place.

/s

[Rockabilly]

NYTImes in deranged mode:

Donald Trump, This Is Not Normal!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12.....egion&_r=0

How Republics End

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12.....eft-region

[BradA]

Just wait for it.
Somehow Hillary is going to find a way to blame Trump and the Republicans for HER faithless electors.

[fasagilis]

my friend's sister makes $79 /hour on the laptop . She has been out of a job for 10 months but last month her payment was $19847 just working on the laptop for a few hours...

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ http://www.homejobs7.com