At the
risk of frothing up
false hope amongst those most distraught at the election of
Donald Trump as
President of the United States, here are a handful of scenarios under which he never assumes the office -- for the sake of
good taste, we'll limit these to
legal means....
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1. The
vote count shockingly changes
In theory, a handful of those 'tipping point' states which put Trump over the top in the
Electoral College could discover some boxes or batches of heretofore uncounted votes, in numbers just enough to reverse the award of those electoral votes in favor of Trump's opponent.
2. The
Electoral College members revolt
There is some grumbling that some of the Trump-designated Electors will refuse to honor their obligations to put in a vote for their candidate (note that many of these Electors were selected during the party primaries, before it became known who their
nominee would be). Were this to happen, it wouldn't necessarily make Clinton President; if the Electoral College voters simply refused to vote, or cast votes for some other person, then there'd be no majority candidate, and the whole thing could be thrown to
Congress to pick the President.
3.
Congress refuses to accept the election outcome
Technically, Congress must validate the vote in early January. This has almost never been a controversial process, but if
rumors persist of electoral shenanigans (ranging from
Russian-hacked vote counts to repressed or intimidated voters), then members of Congress could object to the counting of specific states, which, if a majority in Congress goes along, would throw the selection of the President to Congress itself.
4. Trump is proactively
impeached
The conservative
Federalist Society has advocating impeaching Trump in order to make
Mike Pence president -- and technically, if grounds for
impeachment can be enunciated, there's no requirement to await Trump's swearing in to carry this out. Moreover, there is no hard and fast rule as to what constitutes an impeachable offense. It's really a political procedure, so whatever Congress considers to be reason enough is reason enough.
5.Trump decides to step aside
Lastly, Trump himself could for some reason decide not to take up the presidency after all -- especially if some really horrible evidence against him arises, to the point where he knows he would immediately be in
hot water. In that event, he could cut a deal which involves stepping aside instead of taking the oath.
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Every one of these scenarios is ridiculously unlikely. But if you really, really hate the outcome of this election, hang onto them for a while. Blessings!!
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For THE IRON NODER CHALLENGE: 9 FAST 9 FERROUS