TV networks are saying that if Donald Trump wins today, he will be the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Not so.
Grover Cleveland served as both the 22d and the 24th president (1885-89, 1893-97), having been elected in 1884 but defeated four years later by Benjamin Harrison, even though his popular vote was larger. (Source: The World Almanac, 2011 edition.)
So winning the popular vote but losing the electoral vote is not new. The key to taking a White House post is winning the electoral vote, which is a total of the number of House and Senate representatives from each state. That combined number totals 535.
This is how George Walker Bush took the presidency in 2001, through a court challenge of a single state's vote so he could gather its electoral vote despite having lost the popular vote.
That's also why Donald Trump put so much effort into persuading a single state to change its electoral count. The reality is that he lost the popular vote but succeeded isn manipulating the electoral vote in order to take offce. Four years later, he lost both counts. Nevertheless, he remains in denial that he lost re-election.
So who will be the next president of the United States? We will not really know for several weeks, while the votes are being counted and gathered. And officially, we won't know until Congress accepts the vote of the electoral college in January.
Not so.
Grover Cleveland served as both the 22d and the 24th president (1885-89, 1893-97), having been elected in 1884 but defeated four years later by Benjamin Harrison, even though his popular vote was larger. (Source: The World Almanac, 2011 edition.)
So winning the popular vote but losing the electoral vote is not new. The key to taking a White House post is winning the electoral vote, which is a total of the number of House and Senate representatives from each state. That combined number totals 535.
This is how George Walker Bush took the presidency in 2001, through a court challenge of a single state's vote so he could gather its electoral vote despite having lost the popular vote.
That's also why Donald Trump put so much effort into persuading a single state to change its electoral count. The reality is that he lost the popular vote but succeeded isn manipulating the electoral vote in order to take offce. Four years later, he lost both counts. Nevertheless, he remains in denial that he lost re-election.
So who will be the next president of the United States? We will not really know for several weeks, while the votes are being counted and gathered. And officially, we won't know until Congress accepts the vote of the electoral college in January.
No comments:
Post a Comment