This will be short today because 1) I am tired and 2) I need to go rip out my kitchen counter to get ready for the install guys showing up on Tuesday with a new counter. I only have about 50 pages left to finish Rage, Bob Woodward’s latest book on Trump. I will have more comments when I finish. I will just preface those comments by saying that after reading this book and the books by John Bolton, Mary Trump and Michael Cohen I am full of RAGE that this man is in the Oval Office. And I’m also full of RAGE that people, particularly on Capitol Hill, continue to enable and defend him. But, like I said, I will have more comments when I finish the book.
What do John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Donald J. Trump (2016) all have in common? They are the five presidents who have lost the popular vote and won the election through the electoral college. Given that the electoral college is likely to place an extraordinarily important role in this year’s presidential election, it seems to me that we should all become more familiar with this institution and how it works (or doesn’t.) To that end, I have included the link below about the electoral college and some of the pitfalls1.
There is no doubt that Trump’s ‘win strategy’ involves contesting the election results at every turn with the ultimate hope that it will end up in the Supreme Court similar to what happened in the Bush/Gore election of 2000. And, no doubt, many of the lawsuits will involve mail-in ballots, selection of electors for the electoral college and possibly ‘faithless electors.’ The electoral college does not meet to cast their ballots to officially ‘elect’ the president until December, and you can bet that whatever the results are on election night, Nov. 3rd, they will be challenged. So, the more we all know about the electoral college, the better we will be able to follow along as this misadventure in American democracy plays out.
The best way to ensure that Trump’s attempts to undermine the election results don’t stand up is to ensure a Biden blowout. If Trump continues to focus his attention on winning the election rather than dealing with the COVID crisis, that is a distinct possibility. All of the health experts are predicting this crisis will worsen over the fall and winter months which means that more Americans will die in unprecedented numbers. Trump’s reckless handling of the pandemic (pretty evident in Woodward’s book) and his cavalier dismissal of tens of thousands of Americans dying will be a hard thing to overcome – even in the courts. No doubt the historians will be writing about this chapter in American electoral politics for years to come. We’ll see how it plays out.
Have a great weekend and be safe. See you on Monday with comments on Woodward’s book.
I have also included the link to Professor Richardson’s blog. Always excellent.
My friend, Rich, wrote this: Part of the misery of these four years is there is no art in this White House.
There is no literature or poetry in this White House.
No music.
No Kennedy Center award celebrations.
There are no pets in this White House. No loyal man’s best friend. No Socks Clinton, the family cat.
No kid’s science fairs.
No times when this president takes off his blue suit, red tie uniform and becomes human; except when he puts on his white shirt, khaki pants uniform and hides from Americans to play golf.
There are no images of the first family enjoying themselves together in a moment of relaxation.
No Obamas on the beach in Hawaii moments, or Bushes fishing in Kennebunkport, no Reagans on horseback, no Kennedys playing touch football on the Cape.
Where did that country go?
Where did all of the fun and joy and expressions of love and happiness go?
We used to be a country that did the ice bucket challenge and raised millions for charity.
We used to have a president that calmed and soothed the nation instead dividing it.
And a First Lady that planted a garden instead of ripping one out.
We are rudderless and joyless.
We have lost the cultural aspects of society that make America great.
We have lost our mojo. Our fun, our happiness. The cheering on of others.
The shared experiences of humanity that makes it all worth it.
The challenges AND the triumphs that we shared and celebrated.
The unique can-do spirit Americans have always been known for.
We are lost.
We have lost so much in so short a time.
Let’s see if we can get some of these things back starting when we vote on November 3rd.”
These are the symptoms of soullessness. We need to recover our soul to survive as we have until recently.