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Democrats Will Try to Abolish the Electoral College — After Trump Ironically Fuels Debate

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“The Democrats are fighting hard to get rid of the Popular Vote in future Elections. They want all future Presidential elections to be based exclusively on the Electoral College!” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month. All presidential elections are based on the Electoral College, and Trump appeared to be unaware that Democrats have long wanted to abolish a system many consider anti-democratic and disenfranchising. As one law professor noted, it was originally designed more than two centuries ago “to empower southern white voters.”

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) took the opportunity to egg on Republicans last week, asking if any of his GOP colleagues “want to help me lock in using the national popular vote rather than the electoral college to choose our presidents? Looks like it’s a crucial priority of President-elect Trump…”

“While there is so much wrong in incoming President Trump’s Electoral College Truth Social post,” U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) wrote, “one thing is true: it is long past time to abolish this anachronistic institution and guarantee that the winner of the popular vote takes office. I welcome President Trump’s support for a national popular vote and encourage Republicans to follow his lead and support this Amendment.”

Democrats in the House and Senate are now pushing to abolish the Electoral College, and they say they have a plan—namely, legislation—to do so. The Electoral College is “constitutionally mandated,” and legal experts, including the American Bar Association, say it would require a constitutional amendment to remove it.

READ MORE: ‘Should Be Looked At’: Trump Again Speaks Against Mandates for Childhood Diseases Vaccines

Congressman Cohen said in his statement he had “reintroduced a joint resolution to amend the Constitution by abolishing the Electoral College. The archaic vestige of a compromise with pro-slavery Southerners during the 18th century debate over the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College can – and has, as recently as 2016 – thwarted the will of the American people by installing as president the loser of the popular vote.”

Five candidates have ascended to the presidency of the United States since its founding, despite losing the popular vote—three times in the 1800s, and, after more than a century, two times in the 2000s.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, on Monday wrote: “It is time to retire this 18th century invention that disenfranchises millions of Americans. The American people deserve to choose all their leaders.”

Popular vote losers became President in 1824, 1876, 1888, and in 2000 and 2016, as the Associated Press reported in 2020. The last two times, each was a Republican.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court gave George W. Bush the win when it stopped a recount in Florida. Bush lost the popular vote. The Florida vote, which decided the Electoral College win, had been disputed by Vice President Al Gore, his Democratic opponent, over the now-infamous “hanging chads.”

“In a 5-4 vote, the justices also ruled that no alternative method of recount could be established in a timely manner. In effect, the latter ruling made Bush president. That 5-4 majority was composed of the nominees of Republican Presidents George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. The four in the minority had been nominated by three presidents: Republicans Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush, and Democrat Bill Clinton,” NPR reported in 2018. “Bush v. Gore has been regarded as one of the most politically consequential decisions in the history of the court, and one that damaged the court’s preferred image of itself as an institution far removed from everyday partisan politics.”

Trump won the Electoral College in 2016, as the AP explained four years later, “304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227 — but lost the popular count by 2.8 million votes. Though the electorate has of course grown over the years, Trump lost the popular vote by a greater margin than anyone ever elected president.”

Critics of the Electoral College say it depresses the vote—Americans who live in traditionally or strongly blue or red states are less likely to vote because they believe their vote doesn’t matter. Since all but two states are “winner take all,” California, for example, effectively “votes” for the Democratic candidate, Texas for the Republican.

But if the national overall popular vote, and not each state, were “winner take all,” the only factor in deciding who wins the White House is who gets the most votes.

READ MORE: ‘Trump ’28, Come on, Man!’: Bannon Calls for Third Term

“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple. No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI).

“Our democracy is at its strongest when everyone’s voice is heard,” wrote U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), “and right now our elections aren’t as representative as they should be because of the outdated and flawed electoral college…”

Explaining just how close the vote was, The Cook Political Report‘s David Wasserman wrote on Monday: “With nearly every state’s vote count certified, Donald Trump captured about 77.3 million votes (49.81%) to Kamala Harris’ 75 million votes (48.33%) — a 1.48-point margin that’s less than half the 3.12-point margin Trump led by when we first launched our National Popular Vote Tracker two days after Election Day and the closest popular vote result since 2000.”

“The post-election ‘blue shift’ has become a quadrennial fact of life as urban areas and blue states with more liberal voting laws take longer to count provisional and vote-by-mail ballots than rural areas and red states. But it does mean Trump’s triumph now looks like slightly less of a ‘mandate’ than some pundits made it out to be in the immediate aftermath of Nov. 5.”

“In the end, the 2024 election was decided by 229,766 votes across Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin out of about 155.2 million cast nationally, with Pennsylvania (a 1.7-point Trump margin) finishing as the ‘tipping point’ state in the Electoral College,” Wasserman stated.

CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere adds, “many things happened in the election, including an overall shift more toward Trump across a lot of demographic groups, but the difference in the election going to Trump over Harris in the Electoral College comes down to about 0.148% of the votes cast.”

Back in October, James Surowiecki, author of “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations,” appeared to mock a Newsmax host advocating for the Electoral College. He wrote: “‘We have an electoral college so the minority can rule over the majority, just because of where they happen to live.'”

READ MORE: ‘Inconvenient’: Trump Wants to Kill Daylight Saving Time

 

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‘Disgraceful’: ICE Slammed After Allegedly Pepper-Spraying US Congresswoman

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U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is accusing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of pepper-spraying her in her face while she was at a local Tucson, Arizona restaurant.

Rep. Grijalva in a video on social media said she saw about 40 mostly-masked ICE agents at a restaurant she frequents weekly.

The agents were “in several vehicles that the community had stopped right here, right in the middle of the street, because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice.”

READ MORE: Warning Signs Flash as Trump Slump Raises Fears of 2018 Blue Wave Rerun: Conservative

She said that the community was “protecting their people” when she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent,” and “pushed around by others when I literally was not being aggressive.”

“I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” she continued. “So, once I introduced myself, once I did, I assumed that it would be a little calmer, but there was literally only one person that was trying to speak to me in any kind of civil tone, and everyone else was being rude and disrespectful, and I just can only imagine if they’re going to treat me like that, how they’re treating everybody else.”

Congresswoman Grijalva said she saw “people directly sprayed,” including “members of our press” and staff members.

She blasted President Donald Trump, saying that he “has no regard for any due process, the rule of law, the Constitution — they’re literally disappearing people from the streets.”

Critics slammed the agents’ action.

READ MORE: Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) wrote that Rep. Grijalva “was doing her job, standing up for her community.”

“Pepper-spraying a sitting member of Congress is disgraceful, unacceptable, and absolutely not what we voted for. Period,” he added.

“This is unacceptable and outrageous,” observed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. “Enforcing the rule [of] law does not mean pepper spraying a member of Congress for simply asking questions. Effective law enforcement requires restraint and accountability, not unchecked aggression.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted, “quite the beginning for Grijalva, who wasn’t seated for weeks, [cast] the decisive vote to get the Epstein files, and now has apparently been pepper sprayed in the face by immigration agents.”

Also calling the action “outrageous,” U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) wrote: “We are Members of Congress with oversight authority of ICE. Rep Grijalva was completely within her rights to stand up for her constituents. ICE is completely lawless.”

“First they tackle a sitting Senator,” noted U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). “Now they’re pepper spraying a Representative. It’s clear ICE is spinning out of control. We will hold the agency accountable.”

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

 

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Warning Signs Flash as Trump Slump Raises Fears of 2018 Blue Wave Rerun: Conservative

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A well-known conservative commentator has a warning for the Republican Party: take action now or face a repeat of the 2018 midterms when the GOP lost 41 House seats in a landslide. And this time, he says, the Senate could go to the Democrats as well.

Award-winning writer and journalist Bernard Goldberg reminded readers at The Hill that in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, “Republicans got walloped … and a good chunk of that had President Trump’s name written all over it.”

Trump’s “approval ratings were in the low 40s, and independents — the folks who usually decide elections — had seen enough. They broke hard for the Democrats,” Goldberg noted. “Now here we are, staring down 2026, and you can almost hear history clearing its throat, getting ready to repeat itself.”

READ MORE: Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

Goldberg noted that Trump’s approval rating is currently the lowest it’s been this term.

“Among Republicans, his support dropped from 91 percent right after the 2024 election to 84 percent last month. Among independents, it cratered — from 42 percent to just 25 percent.”

“If the trend continues,” he warned, “Republicans could be headed for another blue wave — and this time, it could wash away not just the House majority, but control of the Senate too.”

Why?

“It’s the economy — still,” he wrote.

“Trump is out there saying the economy is humming. Biden said the same thing before him. But voters didn’t buy it then, and they’re not buying it now. Why? Because it’s not GDP numbers that matter. It’s affordability,” Goldberg noted.

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

That’s a word that President Trump continues to call a “con job,” while his own administration tries to claim he is focused on.

He pointed to a Karl Rove Wall Street Journal column and wrote: “The Republicans may have ‘avoided disaster’ in Tennessee, but the result should be a wake-up call for Republicans. He’s right.”

Goldberg asked: “will anyone in the Republican Party actually pick up the phone?”

“Because if Republicans don’t wake up — and fast — they’re going to find out the hard way what happens when you keep rerunning the same movie and expecting a different ending. To lose in 2026, all they have to do is nothing. And right now, that’s pretty much what they’re doing.”

READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret

 

 

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Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

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President Donald Trump is claiming that the top priority of Democrats is the “total obliteration” of the U.S. Supreme Court. His remarks came just hours after SCOTUS gave Republicans a 6-3 win along partisan lines, in the form of approving Texas’s redrawn mid-decade congressional maps that could help add five GOP-held seats to the U.S. House of Representatives. A lower court had ruled the redrawn Texas maps were likely racially biased.

Although there are different ways to measure, one study by Court Accountability this fall found that the Supreme Court has ruled in Trump’s favor 90% of the time.

“Most of these wins for the president came from the court’s ‘shadow docket’ slate of opinions — where the court has typically, in the past, only ruled on administrative measures,” according to Truthout. “However, in recent years, the Supreme Court has been making announcements on cases, issuing injunctions or allowances of actions to remain in place, that have the same effect, essentially, as a final decision.”

READ MORE: White House Touts Trump’s ‘Track Record’ on Affordability

On Friday, the president declared that the “Democrats number one policy push is the complete and total OBLITERATION of our great United States Supreme Court.”

“They will do this on their very first day in office, through the simple Termination of the Filibuster, SHOULD THEY WIN THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS,” he wrote.

Trump has strongly advocated for Republicans to eliminate the Senate filibuster.

“The Radical Left Democrats are looking at 21 Justices, with immediate ascension,” he wrote, claiming that Democrats would more than double the current size of the court.

“This would be terrible for our Country. Fear not, however, Republicans will not let it, or any of their other catastrophic policies, happen. Our Country is now in very good hands. MAGA!!!”

Some court reform advocates have suggested the Supreme Court be expanded to 13 justices, one for each of the thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals.

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

 

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