Trump won the popular vote?
Trump won the popular vote?
Based on reports in mainstream media, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for President. The facts, however, indicate otherwise. Before getting into that, we should consider why that is important.
The answer is that most people think that whoever gets the most votes is supposed to be the winner. The Constitution, on the other hand, says otherwise. When the Constitution was written, it was understood that the federal government was beholden to the states that created it, not to the general citizenry. Voters chose their state representatives, but the states chose the Senators and the President.
It was an excellent arrangement to diffuse political power and preserve state supremacy. To make it work, the President is to be elected by delegates chosen by the political parties within each state every four years for that task. This group is called the Electoral College.
When Americans vote for President, they really are merely participating in a poll, the outcome of which instructs the the members of the Electoral College how to cast their votes for President. In all but two states, there is a winner-take-all rule, which means that, if a candidates receive 51% or more of the vote within a state, then they receive all of the Electoral College votes for that state. In this way, it is possible for a candidate to receive a higher percentage of Electoral-College votes than the national popular vote. That is the situation, we are told, that developed in the recent election. But is that true?
First, let’s be clear. It makes no difference if it is true or not. The President is chosen by the Electoral College, not citizen voters. That’s the way it is done in America, because that’s the way the Constitution says it must be done. If Americans want it done differently, the method is to amend the Constitution, not riot in the streets.
In truth, however, it is now certain that Donald Trump actually did win the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote. Details are in the following stories.
G. Edward Griffin
2016 November 18