Trump’s Only Hope Is the 12th Amendment, and He Knows It
Thanks to creative XVIIIth century legislating, Trump still has a chance to steal the election from the American people.
Let’s get it straight out of the way: the Electoral College is an anti-democratic institution created in the XVIIIth century by men who believed social class and skin colour determined one’s ability to think, act, and elect. As many have argued in the recent past, it should be abolished.
It should be noted that it was nearly abolished in 1970 when the amendment had bipartisan support, had it not been for a filibuster by Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats.
But it wasn’t, and for now, it is the process by which the US elects its President. As such, we must deal with its impracticalities and anachronisms, one of which being that the College is composed of 538 electors, an even number (it used to be 535 until DC got its 3 votes).
Now, to the core topic. The 12th Amendment was ratified in 1804, and it specifies the process by which a President is chosen should they not get the majority of the Electoral College votes (in cases of a tie or a three-way contest).
Should this happen, in January of the following year the President would be elected by the new…
