It’s beyond ironic that an organization known as MoveOn hasn’t gotten over the November election. On Thursday, the liberal group announced that 94 percent of its members voted to demand the Electoral College go rogue and overturn this year’s election.
Democrats are teetering on reverting to their “Tilden or blood” post-election attitude, as I wrote about in my book on legitimate post-election day disputes, “Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and Electoral Chaos of Disputed Presidential Elections.” This year, the post-election dispute is a collection of sour grapes pseudo-controversies before the Electoral College votes on Dec. 19.
It was 1876 when Democrat Samuel Tilden won a popular vote victory over Republican Rutherford Hayes. But, when it looked as if Congress would award disputed electoral votes to Hayes, Democrats took up the chant, “Tilden or blood.”
The vote among MoveOn members to demand the Electoral College stop Trump had, perhaps, more suspense than the Wisconsin recount, which reaffirmed that Donald Trump did win the state, only by more than originally thought. Courts stopped Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s recount demands in Michigan and Pennsylvania, but no matter. Hillary Clinton would have to win all three states to reach 270.
It’s not a shocker that a plea for money is involved, as MoveOn told its members, “Now, we have less than 100 hours to act. Will you chip in $3 to help run our emergency campaign to urge the Electoral College to reject Donald Trump?” That money is supposed to fund ads, massive demonstrations, calls to flood the White House and Congress.
The left’s first hysterical argument was that the Electoral College was undemocratic, so Hillary Clinton should have won. The new demand is that electors should ignore the voters of their states. Democrats aren’t calling for “Hillary or blood,” but they are nearly as irresponsible, claiming without evidence that Trump could be a Manchurian president.
“This man is not only unqualified to be president, he’s a danger to the republic,” Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn.) said. “I do think the Electoral College should choose someone other than Donald Trump to be president. That will lead to a fascinating legal issue, but I would rather have a legal issue, a complicated legal problem, than to find out the White House was now the Kremlin’s chief ally.”
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman even seemed to borrow from my book title, declaring Trump’s victory was a “tainted election.” Krugman, in a tantrum, blamed James Comey and Vladimir Putin.
Russian hackers messing with an American election is a big problem. No matter which candidate Putin wanted to help, Trump should view this as a humiliating swipe at the country he vows to make great again.
But, Russia had nothing to do with the actual votes cast or the voting machines.
Those WikiLeaks email—assuming Russia was the source—didn’t likely change anyone’s view of Clinton, no more than the “Access Hollywood” hot mic revelation changed anyone’s impression of Trump. The view of both candidates was so settled that an October surprise was impossible for this election. So, a major national security breach is not to be confused with a rigged election.
Still, while 29 presidential electors are now demanding a national security briefing before the vote on Monday, only one of them is a Republican. Meanwhile, the Hamilton Electors and other such groups are trying to convince 37 electors to go rogue - that’s how many votes Trump would have to lose to fall below 270.
Clinton campaign chief John Podesta said, “Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.”
All of this is fantasy of course, but the hyperbole is very much like what the nation experienced in the four elections I write about - 1800, 1824, 1876 and 2000 - when the outcome of the election really was in doubt. The Florida hanging chads battle 16 years ago was actually settled by the Supreme Court earlier than this. This year, days before the gatherings in state capitols, MoveOn joins a chorus of other liberals in demanding an activist Electoral College (that they still insist should be eliminated) stage a coup.
Trump won’t have 306 electoral votes on Monday, but he’ll have more than enough to win. We’ll find out then when the left is ready to move on.