The elections of 2000 and 2016 have highlighted the role of the Electoral College and they met today. On election night it appeared that Mr. Trump won 306 electoral votes to Secretary Clinton’s 232.
Today electors in state capitals all over the country met and voted. Some states demand that the electors vote for the candidate who won their state, others allow the electors to vote for whomever they choose, and some did.
Mr. Trump won the state of Texas, but one elector cast a ballot for Ohio governor John Kasich and another elector chose Ron Paul.
Mrs. Clinton won the state of Washington, but three electors cast ballot for Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, a woman from South Dakota and a member of the Sioux Nation.
I write this as background for Mr. Trump’s claim that he won “in a landslide.”
Despite the fact that Mr. Trump lost the popular vote by 2,500,000 and won the electoral college by only 76 votes, he insists that he won in a landslide. He wrote this in a tweet on November 27th: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
Mr. Trump is famously thin skinned. Next month he will assume office with little to no mandate. A true leader would recognize this and work to build the trust of the American people.
Strong leaders command respect; poor leaders crave approval. Mr. Trump cannot abide the fact that the majority of Americans voted for someone else and he can’t accept the fact that only 12 Presidential elections were closer than his. Fifty elections awarded the winner more electoral votes.
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a tough ride as the role of government switches from serving to nation to propping up a frighteningly fragile ego.