What if Trump Won by 10,000,000 Votes and Lost the Electoral College?

People claiming the electoral college should be abandoned have no earthly clue what they’re saying.  They see that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a scant 500,000 or so (as of my writing this) and think that should mean she wins the presidency.  However, when you look at  the numbers more closely, what you find is that she won California and New York by a combined 4,000,000 votes (it will probably be 5,000,000 when California finally finishes counting).  Note this means across the other 48 states Trump won by over 3,500,000 votes.  Those who want to abolish the electoral college are essentially saying they want California and New York to determine the presidency every four years.  In addition, Mrs. Clinton won only 20 states and the District of Columbia.  Does it not strike any of these folks that it’s a bit odd to imagine a candidate who can’t win more than 40% of the states becoming President?   Moreover, do they not understand that all Mrs. Clinton needed in 2016 was to win Florida and Wisconsin in addition to the states she did win and she’d be President (with a razor thin 271 electoral votes)?

This is the genius of the electoral college and the reason it makes sense.  It gives each state a proportional share in deciding the presidency, rather than making it a simple popularity contest.  Every candidate knows this, which is why it matters who wins Ohio and Florida as well as Iowa and West Virginia and Montana.

What’s even more ironic about the whining is that Mrs. Clinton started the day with 185 electoral votes in her back pocket because the Northeastern states (excluding New Hampshire), Washington D.C., Illinois, the West Coast states and Hawaii are inevitably Democratic strongholds. (I don't count Pennsylvania as a Northeastern state).  She won every one of these states by a 10% margin or more.  She only needed to capture 85 more electoral votes – Florida and Wisconsin representing 39, are over half of what she needed.  Toss in Pennsylvania and Ohio and she would have had another 38, leaving her 8 short.  Given Virginia’s recent turn toward the Democrats there’s 13 putting her well over the top by just winning 19 states and D.C.!  In other words, she only needed five states beyond the 14 she had in the bag before the day started.  But she couldn’t do it. 

The electoral college insures that a president gathers votes not just where it’s easy, but also where it takes some convincing.  Shouldn’t we want the person who is president to convince people across the country that he or she is the best person for the job?  Does the vote of a farmer in Kansas or waitress in Alabama matter less than the vote of some sophisticate in New York City or some movie actor in Los Angeles?  If we get rid of the electoral college, that’s what we’re saying. 

The United States has always been a representative democracy and never a direct democracy.  Why?  Because the founders knew that direct democracy can result in what Alan Dershowitz calls the “tyranny of the majority.”  That’s exactly what the silly protesters demanding the end of the electoral college are seeking – mob rule.  Fortunately, the founders of our country put the electoral college in place to quell that impulse and provide broader and more even handed representation of all.

As I have noted on this blog many times, people who behave this way don’t think it through.  Do they not understand that if we really did get rid of the electoral college, the result might be even worse next time?  The law of unintended consequences will kick in and who knows what kind of person might become president.  Trump is bad enough, but without the electoral college, the chances some out of control demagogue could win are significantly higher.  Hitler rose to power through DEMOCRATIC  means.  Moreover, what happens when the popular vote doesn’t go your way?  What kind of stupid mantras will you come up with then?  You would have no one but yourself to blame.

Most of this protesting will quiet down within a few days because it’s not going to matter and those who are protesting will run out of energy and steam.  Much like the so-called Occupy movement from several years ago.  The petulant foot stompers who are saying “not my president” are, simply put, wrong. 

The final nail in the coffin, though, as always, is the simplest one.  Would the protesters be complaining if Trump crushed Hillary by 10,000,000 votes nationwide, and won 31 states, but she won those 19 states (and DC) and won the electoral college and, thus, the presidency?  Hmmm.  We all know the answer.