MaddowBlog: On the Electoral College's future, maybe Democrats should call Trump's bluff

[Dennis Donovan]

MaddowBlog - On the Electoral College’s future, maybe Democrats should call Trump’s bluff

If Trump is serious about prioritizing the popular vote and discarding the Electoral College, Democrats have plenty of reasons to endorse the overhaul.

Dec. 10, 2024, 11:18 AM EST
By Steve Benen

During his latest appearance on “Meet the Press,” Donald Trump brought up the election’s popular vote unprompted. “One thing that’s very important, in terms of the election, I love that I won the popular vote — and by a lot,” the president-elect boasted.

The claim was demonstrably foolish: Trump won the popular vote, fair and square, but according to the latest tallies, the margin was 1.48%. It might make the incoming Republican president feel better to think he won the popular vote by “a lot,” but in reality, the margin was among the closest in American history.

But the morning after the “Meet the Press” episode aired, the president-elect published an item to his social media platform that was apparently intended to extend the conversation. The entire missive read in its entirety:

The Democrats are fighting hard to get rid of the Popular Vote in future Elections. They want all future Presidential Elections to be based exclusively on the Electoral College!

Even by Trump standards, this was bizarre.

There are no Democrats “fighting hard” to eliminate the popular vote in future elections. That doesn’t even make sense at the most basic level: The popular vote simply refers to the cumulative total of ballots cast for each candidate. To “get rid of” the popular vote would mean ending the practice of counting votes.

/snip

[walkingman]

1. The mental POTUS-elect has no idea what he says - push the issue.

[Grins]

2. From the link

If Trump is serious about prioritizing the popular vote and discarding the Electoral College, Democrats have plenty of reasons to enthusiastically endorse such an overhaul.

Would the Republican leader take yes for an answer?

The real question is whether Democrats will take him up on it?

[Blue_Roses]

3. If only.

“One thing that’s very important, in terms of the election, I love that I won the popular vote — and by a lot,” the president-elect boasted.

I wish there was a vaccine that made your mind immune to his constant boasting, bragging, and lying...

[Wiz Imp]

4. If there was no electoral college, there is a much better chance that Harris would have won

Voter turnout was down significantly from 2020 in California, New York & Illinois, the three largest democratic states which Harris won easily. If people in these and other non-swing states knew that their votes actually counted as much as anyone else's, I have no doubt, more Democrats would have voted in those states. Would it have been enough to win the popular vote? maybe, maybe not. But given Democrats had won the popular vote in 7 of the previous 8 elections, I would have liked their chances.