Electoral College Stupidity

It’s obvious that a significant part of the American public simply cannot and will not accept, fathom or get over Donald Trump’s election as president.

There won’t be any “uniting” or “coming together” for any kind of presidential “honeymoon.” No, Trump haters have decided he’s not their president — whatever that means — and that he must be de-legitimized even before he’s sworn in.

Among the cheerleaders for this point of view are two of the nation’s allegedly “important” newspapers — the New York Times and the Washington Post. Day after day since Nov. 8,. the papers’ opinion pages have been filled with a series of vicious, slashing, outrageous “hit” pieces, denigrating everything Trump says or does – even when he says or does nothing — and making the wildest predictions about the doom that has descended on these United States.

This anti-Trump hatred is being led, in print, by the likes of Paul Krugman and Charles Blow in the Times and by Dana Milbank, Eugene Robinson and Jennifer Rubin in the Post. They are far from alone, but they’re noteworthy because, since the first moments of Trump’s election, they’ve so clearly been upset that voters did not listen to their pre-election diatribes against Trump. In their minds, Trump is nothing more than a moron, and those who cast ballots for him are incredibly dumb or misguided or racist — likely all three.

Now comes the culmination of this Post and Times hatred — the suggestion — the demand — that the Electoral College disregard voters and deny Trump the presidency.

That gem of an idea has been most clearly stated by the Post’s Kathleen Parker, who says that the Electoral College should do this because, in her estimation, Trump is unfit to become president.

Well, well. How good it is for the rest of us to know that Kathleen Parker wants an outcome — an Electoral College revolt — that would likely destroy our democracy and lead to massive civil disorder. Because if the Electoral College actually did her bidding, those electors would be saying that those millions of people who voted for Trump are, really, not capable of making a decision, and their votes should not count.

Parker’s demand clearly shows the arrogance and conceit of those who consider themselves the “chosen few.” They truly want only “their favorites” to become president — or to decide who does assume the office. Voters be damned — in their minds, only the “chosen few” get to decide what’s best for the rest of the country.

It’s amazing that even the anti-Trump Post would allow Parker to go into print with her “idea.” Yes, she has a right to say what she wants — but the Post has — or used to believe it had — an obligation to edit everything that appeared in its paper so that “crazy talk” never saw the light of day.

But that was the “old” Post — the one owned by Katharine Graham and edited by Ben Bradlee — the one that, yes, helped bring down President Nixon because of Watergate — but only while reporting stories that had been checked and re-checked and then checked again.

The “old” Post would have allowed Donald Trump to actually take office — as the legally elected president — and not have allowed and encouraged, on a daily basis, the slashing and burning of the man even before he gets to sit in the Oval Office.

Unfortunately for Kathleen Parker and the Post, her demands of the Electoral College won’t be met. And whether you voted for Trump or not, you should be happy about that because who’s to say that if the Electoral College refuses to acknowledge the will of voters in those states that gave Trump his victory — the same thing won’t happen to your favorite Democrat next time around?