As the Elections ended and the final Numbers came through, Joseph Robinette Biden has been declared our president-elect and is to be inaugurated on January 20th as our 46th president. However, due to the supposed miscount of ballots in the state of Michigan, President Donald Trump is trying to overturn elections in several states including Michigan and Georgia, who did a recount of their votes to reaffirm that Biden had won. It is my strong opinion that so far, we have had 43 different presidents who have willingly given up their power to another following president, and it is my hope that we will continue this through to the end. It is also my opinion that whatever Our president decides to do about his power, he will end up leaving the presidential office and Our new president will be in.
The basic reasoning around why Donald Trump is doing this in the first place however lies within his defeat to the electoral college. As most of you know, the electoral college is made up of 538 electors who decide who our next president shall be. After a while, they will come up with a rough bunch of votes with the candidate with the most votes winning the election. There have been large calls to remove the electoral college, however, due to it sometimes disagreeing with the popular vote. Something to note is Faithless electors, these are people who promise to vote for someone when appointed but vote for someone else for different reasons. as of 2016, there have been around 165 cases of faithless voting, and 63 of which were during the case of Horace Greeley, where he died after election day but before the electoral college convened. This can also be seen in the election of 2016, where president trump had won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote. A big point of this as stated in the article is in the case of Donald Trump's reelection is when His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani said that Gop state legislatures in battleground states Biden won should try to use a delay in certification to appoint their own slate of electors and ignore states' popular votes for Biden.
- Do you think that Michigan can make a substantial difference in the election currently?
- What are your views on our current President's ideas on his presidency and what he is willing to do to keep his power. Do you think that he would really go through with it or is it just a stunt?
I think that President Trump is acting very immature especially when he--in a way--represents America in the world. I have many friends from other countries that find America a joke because of how our president presents himself in media. Especially when he openly denies the fact that Biden won the election and is being hostile which is different from presidents before him. To be completely honest I believe that Trump will try his best to turn this election around in his favor because even if he is a bit foolish he is passionate about his job and beliefs.
ReplyDeleteMichigan has now been certified for Biden, as expected. Even if Michigan had not been, it would not make a difference because Biden has won by a considerable margin, which would be unchanged even if Trump succeeded in (illegitimately) overturning the election.
ReplyDeleteTrump is being willfully irresponsible. It is abundantly clear that he is trying to delegitimatize the past election because he lost. Based on his actions so far, it appears clear that he will try his best to stay in office, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that Trump's lawsuits are groundless. There seems to be no real case to be made for a Trump victory, and as more Republican representatives begin to recognize this, Trump will be forced to concede (in some form) whether he wants to or not. Notably, today the GSA has begun taking steps towards transition.
Well, being that Michigan has 16 electoral votes, if Biden lost it, he would still have 290 votes which is 20 above the amount needed to win. So if he lost Michigan it wouldn't change the results. Though the overturning of Michigan could give way to over turns of other battleground states, that trump is arguing had miss counted and false votes. That could definitely affect the election. But, Michigan as well as Georgia have been confirmed for Biden so I don't think that's really gonna change, especially since courts are dismissing Trumps cases and claims. I think that the President's ideas an unwillingness to accept the results is a bit childish and unreasonable. He's just being stubborn and won't accept that he lost. I think some of the things he's planned to stay in power could be enacted, especially because there are so many high up people and officials who trump has managed to convince that he hasn't won. I don't think this is a stunt because Trump has shown time and time again that he doesn't believe obvious statistics and facts. While I think he will eventually leave office, I'm not sure what is going to be done between now and that time.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Michigan would change their vote. I don't know if their change in vote would make a big difference in the election as it stands, but then again I don't really know. I think it is kind of despicable that he would be such a sore loser and that he would cling so tightly to office. I think that he is trying to incite a change. I don't know what his personal action would look like or if he takes any at all. I think that he is most likely just trying to incite those who do believe him to fight for him. I think that his legal action is concerning, but I don't think he will win.
ReplyDeleteIt now has been reported that Michigan has certified their votes for Biden. Even if it was not certified to change any part of the election, Trump would have to get rid of thousands of ballots. Currently Trumps only way to stay in power is to sew enough confusion that states can't verify their results. Then the election would go to the House of Representatives and they would decide. The chance that this would happen at this point is very low considering the Trump Administration's failed efforts to gain any credibility. It seems now that Trump realizes there is nothing to be done but is still fighting for his supporters. At this point the only thing he could do is to run again in 2024 which has been heavily speculated. Trump's actions around this election is an embarrassment to the entire free world. He has acted like a dictator by repeatedly claiming the election was fake and all of the media is lying to the people.
ReplyDeleteA smooth and peaceful transition of power is a fundamental part of our democracy. The controversy that's going on right now, with political parties fighting about the validity of the election, is definitely just increasing tensions in the United States. In terms of changing the outcome of the election, as others have said, winning simply Michigan wouldn't really change anything. The only way that the election could have changed is if Trump had won the cases in all three of the states he's suing: Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan which is pretty much impossible now that Michigan has confirmed Biden's victory. I think that if it was still possible to overturn the results of the election, it would be probable that that's what Trump would do. However, now that there's absolutely no chance of that happening, I'm not so sure that he's going to continue the cases against Georgia and Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteEven if Michigan were to be overturned, it wouldn't make any difference. At the moment, the Associated Press has awarded Biden 306 electoral votes, so even with the loss of Michigan’s 16 votes Biden is still over the 270 needed to win. For the second question, I agree with Megan’s point that Trump’s attempt to delegitimize the election makes our democracy look like a joke, both to Americans and other countries. I don’t think Trump is handling it well, and considering that he is the president, he should be more professional in handling the transfer of power. What’s also concerning to me is that the claims he’s making about voter fraud are making people question the results of the election, which is just dividing the country and creating mistrust. A peaceful transfer of power is essential for the success of our democracy, and hopefully that’s what will happen.
ReplyDeleteBiden won Michigan along with many other states and won not just the popular vote, but also the electoral college. If Michigan flips it would be the end of our Democracy. The people voted Biden and even if one state flips it might lead to many other states following suit. A single state turning its back on its people would lead the way for others to follow, causing fascism. Trump got voted out by the American people and refusing to leave is a threat to our democracy and should be classified as a coup against our nation and its ideals. Best case scenario is that he is screwing his supports to line his pockets, which is bad in itself, but the worse case scenario is way scarier and if it isnt just a stunt we should all be worried.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Michigan will change their vote, and even if they did, I also don't think that it would make a difference. Since Michigan has 16 electoral votes and Biden won with 306 electoral votes, even if he lost Michigan he'd still have 290 of the 270 he needs to win. I think that Trump is very determined to win because he doesn't want to seem weak and some of his supporters are convinced that Trump won as well. I think he would feel like he would be letter them down and lose supporters if he peacefully transferred. I think Trump will try to go through with his accusations, but I don't think any will pass. I feel that he will eventually resign, but still thinking that he won.
ReplyDeleteMichigan has confirmed a win for Biden which I suspected as much. I don't believe Michigan would have made a big difference in the election itself, with a majority of swing states being blue. However, Trump does seem to have a determination to win and this mindset that he can still win, even if many have forecasted he won't. I can understand what he's doing and why, as this years election was very different, however, I don't think it should be such a big deal since it doesn't have a big impact.
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