The current count:

HRC:  64,155,272  (47.91%)
DJT: -62,214,222  (46.46%)
————
= 1,941,050  (  1.45%)

These figures raise, at the very least, two very distinct issues which should not be confused or conflated with each other (but which seem to be by Trump and those speaking for him these days).

First, as is appropriate, justified and expected in a democracy, they call into question the legitimacy of the right of one to assume an elected office without winning the popular vote. The rejoinder to this is invariably the legal argument that these (the method of selection through the Electoral College system) were the rules, he played and won by the rules, get over it.Read More »

My niece writes:

Do you think the electoral college should be somehow reformed or changed? It just seems crazy to me that we have a president for the second time in 16 years who did not win the popular vote (or so it seems for this election).

I am really sad, Tio. I am sad that such a hateful campaign was rewarded with this victory. I am scared for my children. I am scared that this is the world they are growing up in and that the leader of their country is someone whom I cannot respect as a human being.

Call me dramatic but I am truly heartbroken and devastated. I feel like we’ve failed. Read More »

Even though it’s now come full circle, I want to write about this FBI thing. For two reasons. First, because the initial Fox News report from Bret Baier about likely indictments, combined with a tightening in the polls, sent me into a bit of the Chicken Little mode, messaging my friends and posting how the sky seemed to be falling. That deserves a thorough reassessment from the perspective of 7 several  days hence and the other information that has hit the street on this matter.

Second, because this one event is all too revealing of the problems we now face with our democratic system and some of its essential institutions. In particular, law enforcement and the media.Read More »