Trump / Kaine 2017 ?
More than half of America , terrified at the prospect of a Trump presidency, is desperately seeking a way to prevent him from taking office. Some have turned to the Electoral College, hoping that Electors might not vote Donald Trump in as President on December 19th. More than 4.3 million US citizens have signed a petition for the Electoral College to elect Hillary Clinton instead of Trump.
Although it would be constitutional, will 38 Republican Electors deny Trump the presidency? Probably not. However, supporting Tim Kaine for Vice President over Mike Pence may actually offer a political compromise, and the Constitution gives us a way to do it.
Many argue that the Electoral College is undemocratic, a political compromise designed to deny the common man access to political power. Yet its origin may in fact be both relevant and prescient. It was built not only to give political weight to slaves, who had no voting rights, but it was also, clearly, created to correct errors of judgement.
Alexander Hamilton, writing in the Federalist Papers (Number 68), insisted that the Electoral College was designed to ensure that “the process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
He explains: “Talents for low intrigue, and little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honor of a single state.” In modern terms: a candidate might bamboozle his way into office by being a raging populist. Hamilton adds, however: “. . . but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States.”
In other words, if the Electors don’t think that the person voted for by the populace is suitable to serve as President, they have the right and responsibility to change it. An Elector changing their vote is called “faithless.” That is, no faith in the voter’s choice.
As appealing as the prospect might seem to Hillary supporters that the Electoral College somehow flip the vote — there are many potential downsides. To name a few: violent insurrection; the endless cry of illegitimacy for whoever occupies the White House; and physical violence to faithless electors (let’s face it — these are not benign times.) Therefore, with all the unforeseen issues as well as what many consider a dangerous precedent, the likelihood of the Electoral College flipping its vote for the President is highly remote.
A different approach to the problem might leave both Democrats and Republicans furious, but America ultimately better off. In the original Constitution, the popular vote was an act of political theater used to appease the common people; popular vote tallies weren’t published until the 1820s! Under the original Constitution, the Presidential candidate who received the second-most number of Electoral votes from the states automatically became Vice President. Yes, the runner up was Veep!
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By 1800, the new Republic was already in trouble, as five candidates battled for the office of the Presidency. After a bitter electoral battle, rife with personal attack, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of Electoral Votes (73). It was ultimately Alexander Hamilton’s endorsement of his rival, Thomas Jefferson, that led to Jefferson’s victory, and his opponent, Burr, becoming his Vice President. In 1803, Jefferson introduced (and Congress passed) a Constitutional amendment requiring two separate Electoral College votes, one for the President, and another for the Vice President, to prevent the vicious draw that had arisen three years earlier from ever happening again. (Listen to the song “The Election of 1800” from Hamilton, the musical. It’s all right there.)
The Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution states that Electors “shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President.”
In modern politics, the Electoral College has never defied the winner-take-all projection of the victor based on state-by-state popular votes, but is has also never considered Vice-Presidential candidates separately from their up-ballot partners. Maybe it’s time.
For those hoping against hope that President Trump might be a kinder, gentler version of Candidate Trump, that does not seem to be the case. The recent Steve Bannon appointment as chief adviser to the President puts a white nationalist in the president’s inner sanctum. Congress is already preparing “Build The Wall” legislation for the President to sign. Kris Kobach, on the Trump transition team for immigration issues, is already planning mass deportations of possibly millions of immigrants. These are the facts. Trumpism is happening. Donald Trump is taking his narrow victory and treating it as a mandate. America appears to have a President-elect for whom at least half of those who voted actually fear, viscerally, that he will be as extreme as his words in the campaign. His actions to date seem to make that fear realistic.
What’s an Elector to do? Agreeing that most Republican Electors will think it unconscionable not to vote for Donald Trump as President, still they have now been thrust into the maw of a roiling, potentially devastating political debate. So why not take the advice of King Solomon? Split the baby, and the ticket! To temper Trump’s actions, the Electors could back a countervailing force as the Vice President. Really, they can.
Electors can vote for Trump if they must. But they can also vote for Tim Kaine as his Vice President, making the impeachment and removal of President Trump a handcuff on his extremism and a motivator for his responsiveness to the electorate. If electors can’t go Full Faithless, maybe than can go Half Faithless.
Electing Donald Trump as the next President of the United States would likely stay any extreme backlash from the Right (and the Alt-Right!) while electing Tim Kaine as his Vice President would motivate Trump to make good on promises most Americans can get behind, while possibly removing the fangs from his more odious inclinations. Many well-meaning Republicans might also understand this as a necessary hedge against blossoming Trumpian extremism.
A little crazy? Probably. Maybe even a lot crazy. But for everyone at a loss about “what to do,” Trump’s own words from his campaign to American inner cities might say it best: What have you got to lose?
A few states collectively would only need to find 38 Faithless Electors to pull this off.
Trump / Kaine 2017? It’s legal. It’s constitutional. And possibly good for what ails you.
