Trump’s presidency isn’t final. Candidates do not actually recieve electoral college votes until December 19 when appointed individuals (called electors) vote, which finalizes the presidency. Electors generally vote the way their state suggests, but they are only obligated to do so in 26 states. The electors can choose to cast their votes for any candidate. There’s more that happens should they choose to vote for someone besides the majority suggestion, but the point is that nothing is final until December.
If you know an elector, please encourage them to vote for HRC!
If anyone has contact information for electors in swing states, now is the time.
Hey everyone, I know this and other efforts like it are well meaning and coming from a good place, however, they’re not going to yield any fruit and could actually be more problematic. Hear me out, because I want us to fight, but we need to focus our efforts and energy on feasible outcomes.
The electors aren’t going to upend “the will of the people.” They can’t and they won’t because a pillar of American democracy is the peaceful transfer of power & acceptance of free & fair election results. I know you’re going to say “but it’s not official until the electors vote” but the people have voted, the electoral votes divided, & the electoral college vote is mostly just a ceremonial ratification of what has already happened. Also, the need to accept the result of a free and fair election is precisely why you won’t hear President Obama or Hillary Clinton expressing outrage and calling for people to rise up against Trump. They can’t and they won’t. Because if they do and if the electoral college goes against free and fair election results, it sets a terrible precedent: It means that should the tables be turned, a decent and qualified candidate who properly won an election could be ousted because the people who voted for Trump this time around don’t like the newly elected president. In short, the electoral college defying election results effectively ends the veneer of American democracy and the tradition of peaceful transitions of power (because if you think Trump’s supporters won’t take to the streets with their guns if this victory is taken from them by 60 or so unknown electors, you’ve got another thing coming). It’s not going to happen and it can’t because it would destabilize the entire democratic system (which probably needs to happen, but not like this).
So what can we do?
1. Before the transition of power, folks need to take personal precautions and secure themselves and their families. Get an IUD if you need one, go to the doctor and get checked for things you might lose coverage for, get a VPN, etc. Save money because the economy is about to significantly change. Make sure you and your family have Passports and any necessary documentation as to your identity and citizenship. There are lots of good posts going around on this stuff. Read up. This is important, because it’s infinitely harder to successfully organize if we don’t have our basic needs of health, safety, and shelter met.
2. Congress is up for re-election in 2018 & we have to stop the Republican majority. Two years might seem like a long time, but the Presidential election went on for nearly two years. In order for challengers to have a chance they need to be working and organizing right now! Folks need to figure out who their Representatives are, what party their from, and who their potential challengers are in the next race. Build that voter base right now!
3. Donate to, volunteer at, & join progressive legal organizations & nonprofits giving direct services to marginalized communities.
It’s important that people really understand the situation we will soon be in. We haven’t had a Republican dominated Executive, Legal, and Judicial branch since 1928. Then we had the Great Depression. These people are about to do their best to literally reset the clock to the 1950s…and they can make it all legal because they now have the power to do so. The rest of us are literally in survival mode. The language we will use in Amicus briefs to the Supreme Court must now change. The arguments lawyers use in court rooms to protect and defend marginalized people will have to change when Trump appoints more federal judges. The goals and tactics of our organizing and mobilizing must change.
I’m not trying to be an alarmist. It is vitally important the people understand what the situation in and what’s at stake so that we can concentrate and focus our efforts on things that have a chance of working.
We are in survival mode. Our efforts must focus on taking back the Legislative branch and working to mitigate the damage and impacts on the most vulnerable among us when new policies and altered laws start going into effect.