Trump cruises to Electoral College victory despite protests

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Trump cruises to Electoral College victory despite protests

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday — ensuring he will become America's 45th president.

 

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump's polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

 

Even one of Trump's fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

 

"We want unity, we want love," Kasich said as Ohio's electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

 

With Hawaii still to vote, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 224. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

 

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party's winning candidate.

 

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania's capitol, chanting, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!" and "No treason, no Trump!"

 

In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang "Silent Night." In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, "Don't let Putin Pick Our President," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Despite the noise outside state Capitols, inside, the voting went pretty much as planned.

 

In Nashville, Tennessee, one audience member tried to read out some Scripture before the ballots were cast, but was told he could not speak.

 

"We certainly appreciate the Scripture," State Election Coordinator Mark Goins said from the podium. "The answer is no."

 

With all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich, the Ohio governor; the other voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

 

Clinton lost four electors in Washington state — three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle.

 

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Clinton or were replaced.

 

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

 

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Many of the emails are part of coordinated campaigns.

 

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, elector Charlie Buckels reached out to Trump's opponents after the New York businessman got all of the state's eight votes.

 

"For those of you who wished it had gone another way, I thank you for being here," said Buckels, the state GOP finance chairman. "I thank you for your passion for our country."

 

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state — though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

 

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

 

Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

 

Some have also tried to dissuade Trump voters by arguing that he is unsuited to the job. Others cite the CIA's assessment that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favor of the Republican.

 

"When the founders of our country created (the Electoral College) 200-plus years ago, they didn't have confidence in the average white man who had property, because that's who got to vote," said Shawn Terris, a Democratic elector from Ventura, California. "It just seems so undemocratic to me that people other than the voters get to choose who leads the country."

 

A joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 6 to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, the winner — almost certainly Trump — will be sworn in on Jan. 20.

___

Associated Press writers Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Erik Schelzig and Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Kathleen Floody and Alex Sanz in Atlanta, Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Marina Villeneuve reported from Augusta, Maine, and Juliet A. Williams in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.

___

Online:

AP interactive on election results: http://interactives.ap.org/2016/road-to-270/

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-12-20

[JHolmesJr]

Yay!!!!!

[Jingthing]

Victory for idiocy now official!

Quote

Bill Clinton says President-elect Donald Trump "doesn't know much," but that "one thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him," according to a local paper near the Clintons' New York home.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/19/politics/bill-clinton-interview-trump/index.html

[Pimay1]

Just now, Jingthing said:

Victory for idiocy now official!

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/19/politics/bill-clinton-interview-trump/index.html

More sour grapes.

[JHolmesJr]

3 minutes ago, Pimay1 said:

More sour grapes.

 

Makes a good Christmas whine

[Emster23]

I'd like to say "Let the games begin" but considering what has gone down already, safe to say Trump has jumped the gun.

[Luckysilk]

Must be crushing for the left 55555, I'm loving it. 

 

Out with PC fat left propaganda, we now have freedom of speech and freedom of thought without the liberal loonies name calling. Well I suppose they can still call us names but who cares lol

 

Now get to work President Elect Trump, undo most of what Barry did, get the Supreme Court fixed so the next generation can live in a great Nation.

[CMNightRider]

Wow, what great news.  I really enjoy hearing the liberal hysterical sobbing over Trump becoming our new president.  This will truly be a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

 

To the Republican electors that abandoned their party's winning candidate, I truly hope the fleas of a thousand Camels infest your nostirls.

 

 

[lannarebirth]

35 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Victory for idiocy now official!

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/19/politics/bill-clinton-interview-trump/index.html

 

Or considered another way. One thing both Bill and Hillary Clinton know how to do is to get angry white men to vote for Trump.

 

edit:  Actually, that's only partly true. Though Trump voters don't especially like Bill, his political skill is far greater than Trump's. If Hillary had listened to Bill the electors would be endorsing her today.

Edited December 20, 2016 by lannarebirth

[Jingthing]

trump is so excited he did a flashy retweet!

 

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump

So presidential. 

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by Jingthing

[Silurian]

Good...now that all that messy electoral stuff out of the way congress can concentrate on impeaching Comrade Donald for a variety of reasons such as colluding with a foreign government or any of the multiple conflicts of interest due to his world wide business dealings or heck even his DC Hotel conflict of interest. Spin the wheel...pick a reason.

 

Get him fattened up for the impeachment slaughter and subsequent humiliation. Then after he is ceremonially booted from office he can slink his way into obscurity taking with him any semblance of value to the "Trump" name. Let the game begin!!!

 

[WaywardWind]

Let's see what happens to all the cheering in a couple of years when he and his deplorables have taken the US to the edge of the abyss.

 

In the meantime, maybe we should all brush up on our Russian language skills....

[Ulysses G.]

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

trump is so excited he did a flashy retweet!

 

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump

 

 

 

He has a point.

 

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

We did it! Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media).

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Trump is 'draining the swamp'. Or perhaps not. Get used to this. Trump is going to become a real billionaire. 

 

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/19/20564/donald-trumps-sons-behind-nonprofit-selling-access-president-elect?platform=hootsuite
 

 

[hdkane]

27 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

Wow, what great news.  I really enjoy hearing the liberal hysterical sobbing over Trump becoming our new president.  This will truly be a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

 

To the Republican electors that abandoned their party's winning candidate, I truly hope the fleas of a thousand Camels infest your nostirls.

 

 

I like the fact that more democrats tried to change their electoral votes than republicans...7 compared to 2...

[hdkane]

8 minutes ago, oilinki said:

Trump is 'draining the swamp'. Or perhaps not. Get used to this. Trump is going to become a real billionaire. 

 

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/19/20564/donald-trumps-sons-behind-nonprofit-selling-access-president-elect?platform=hootsuite
 

 

Really...sniffs of fake news...

[Ulysses G.]

6 minutes ago, hdkane said:

I like the fact that more democrats tried to change their electoral votes than republicans...7 compared to 2...

 

Can you blame them? Clinton lost four electors in Washington state. Three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle. She also lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, hdkane said:

Really...sniffs of fake news...

So, when this proofs to be true even by your selected medias, you will condemn it?

[Chicog]

This was never going to be an issue. The whole lot could have changed their vote and the House could (and probably would) still have overturned it. 

 

 

 

[Gary A]

The fact remains that if  Kalifornia were put aside, Trump would have also won the popular vote. Hillary got 4.3 million more votes from this rabid democrat state than Trump. No one knows and we will likely never know how many of those votes were cast by illegal voters. Kalifornia refuses to verify whether or not voters are citizens. Thank our founding fathers for the electoral college. Since I lived and worked in that state for five long years and watched Grey Davis, I know for a fact what a disaster democrats created.

• 0

[lannarebirth]

40 minutes ago, Silurian said:

Good...now that all that messy electoral stuff out of the way congress can concentrate on impeaching Comrade Donald for a variety of reasons such as colluding with a foreign government or any of the multiple conflicts of interest due to his world wide business dealings or heck even his DC Hotel conflict of interest. Spin the wheel...pick a reason.

 

Get him fattened up for the impeachment slaughter and subsequent humiliation. Then after he is ceremonially booted from office he can slink his way into obscurity taking with him any semblance of value to the "Trump" name. Let the game begin!!!

 

 

And to what end? There are worse things than Trump, though I guess you don't believe that yet. Use this time to get your own house in order and present a candidate that doesn't make Trump seem like a good option to half the country.

[lannarebirth]

33 minutes ago, WaywardWind said:

Let's see what happens to all the cheering in a couple of years when he and his deplorables have taken the US to the edge of the abyss.

 

In the meantime, maybe we should all brush up on our Russian language skills....

 

Wouldn't it be easier to find a viable opposition candidate instead?

[kamahele]

1 hour ago, Luckysilk said:

Must be crushing for the left 55555, I'm loving it. 

 

Out with PC fat left propaganda, we now have freedom of speech and freedom of thought without the liberal loonies name calling. Well I suppose they can still call us names but who cares lol

 

Now get to work President Elect Trump, undo most of what Barry did, get the Supreme Court fixed so the next generation can live in a great Nation.

Glad you love that your fellow Americans who may have a differing opinion are "crushed". How is Trump going to fix the Supreme Court? What exactly needs fixing? As it has had a conservative majority for 40 years, if you consider it broken, you must mean it needs more left leaning judges.

[55Jay]

1 hour ago, Silurian said:

Good...now that all that messy electoral stuff out of the way congress can concentrate on impeaching Comrade Donald for a variety of reasons such as colluding with a foreign government or any of the multiple conflicts of interest due to his world wide business dealings or heck even his DC Hotel conflict of interest. Spin the wheel...pick a reason.

 

Get him fattened up for the impeachment slaughter and subsequent humiliation. Then after he is ceremonially booted from office he can slink his way into obscurity taking with him any semblance of value to the "Trump" name. Let the game begin!!!

 

What could Trump do to ease your concerns about his business conflicts of interest?   If you were in his shoes, what would you do? 

 

Edit: Saying you wouldn't run for POTUS in the first place, while a fair point, would just be dodging the question.  Seriously, if you were in his shoes this moment, objectively, what would you do?

Edited December 20, 2016 by 55Jay

[DiamondKing]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Victory for idiocy now official!

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/19/politics/bill-clinton-interview-trump/index.html

 

Bill Clinton is a sexual Predator and an idiot says a lot about you posting this 

[Geoffggi]

Unbelievable the number of cry baby's out there just suck it up, Hillary lost (thank goodness) & Donald won, that is the bottom line now get behind your new president and grow up.

[Ulysses G.]

7 minutes ago, kamahele said:

 How is Trump going to fix the Supreme Court? What exactly needs fixing? 

 

It is missing one justice. Trump will nominate a Conservative who will make it a Conservative majority again. That will fix what ails it.

[DiamondKing]

And there are a few on their last legs in the Supreme court also and it is anticipated Trump may be able to install up to 4 Supreme court Justices (over his 2 terms) AND THAT should save America from the left loons for another 5 years or so 

Edited December 20, 2016 by DiamondKing

[55Jay]

2 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

It is missing one justice. Trump will nominate a Conservative who will make it a Conservative majority again. That will fix what ails it.

I would prefer justices without any political and social/morality leanings, especially those informed by religion.

.

 

 

 

 

[Ulysses G.]

4 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

I would prefer justices without any political and social/morality leanings, especially those informed by religion.

.

 

 

 

 

 

I might agree with you, but that is not likely to happen. Under the circumstances, a balanced court with the conservatives having a slight advantage is about the best I can hope for. Hillary would have destroyed the balance with lefties.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Ulysses G.