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By now, you’re probably aware of the movement within the Electoral College to prevent Donald Trump from becoming the 45th President of the United States on January 20.
But in case you’ve spent the past five weeks unable to hear any media reports over the sound of your own weeping, allow us to bring you up to speed:
While the last sliver of hope for Democrats and moderate Republicans remains the longest of shots, it’s not entirely impossible.
As we reported last week, it’s beginning to look as though there’s growing support for Trump being stopped by faithless electors.
Republican elector Christopher Suprun has vowed to vote against Trump, and he’s encouraged others to follow his lead.
One Florida elector has decided to step down rather than cast a vote for Trump, but he’ll almost certainly be replaced by someone willing to toe the party line.
So that means the 36 more Republican electors would need to defect in order to prevent Trump from being appointed America’s next president.
Seems like too much to overcome, right? Not necessarily …
The Hamilton Electors (so named for the Founding Father’s Federalist Paper No. 68, from which they draw their inspiration) aren’t losing hope for two very important reasons:
For one thing, there are reports of a new strategy, wherein Democratic electors would not vote for Hillary Clinton, but choose a suitable Republican.
The goal? Encouraging their GOP counterparts to follow suit for the good of the country and elect a suitable alternative like Mitt Romney or John Kasich.
Additionally, rumblings from within the EC are offering hope to electors who may have been on the fence due to concerns that their dissent is fruitless.
There’s strength in numbers, after all. But can they get the numbers – and have enough faith in one another to follow through on this?
Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig tells Politico:
“Obviously, whether an elector ultimately votes his or her conscience will depend in part upon whether there are enough doing the same.”
“We now believe there are more than half the number needed to change the result seriously considering making that vote.”
Lessig – who has been offering free legal counsel to potential faithless electors – says he believes at least 20 electors are planning to defect.
If that were true, the Hamilton movement is already succeeding to a degree, and could snowball, picking up more supporters as it grows in size.
“[Electors] are looking at is the best chance we have of stopping Trump than at any other point during this process,” Lessig says.
The Republican National Committee, for its part, maintains that Suprun is the only faithless elector that they are aware of,
Meanwhile, Salon reported Tuesday that potential Hamilton Electors have been threatened with political reprisal.
The Electoral College results won’t be known until December 19, when the group of 538 meets to vote on the presidency.
Whatever the outcome, this is the first time in modern history that the EC’s final tally is considered anything less that a sure thing.
That fact alone should remind Trump of how much work he has to do if he’s genuine about his professed desire to re-unify a divided nation.
Think he’ll listen to that message?