Donald Trump Keeps Changing His Opinion Of The Electoral College Because His Only Ideology Is Himself
By Jacob Geers
I don’t know if anyone actually cares about facts anymore, but let’s run through the tapes here.
In the 2012 election, Donald Trump supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. As the returns rolled in, and it became clear that President Obama had a lock on the electoral college even as he was initially losing the popular vote, conservatives like Donald Trump exploded.
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
He also encouraged people to respond to a potential popular vote winner, but electoral loser, by “marching on Washington” and taking other action.
Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
Some of his tweets were later deleted, but showed even more forceful opposition to the college:
cool story bro. pic.twitter.com/yGK9mot7eT
— Formerly notable 🐳 Adam Mordecai. (@advodude) November 15, 2016
Of course, President Barack Obama went on to win the popular vote and the electoral vote, rendering much of Trump’s rantings pretty useless.
And to be fair, right after his election victory, Trump said he still supported abolishing the electoral college in a 60 Minutes interview.
But that was then, and this is now. Within the last hour on Twitter, Donald Trump has come out in defense of the Electoral College.
The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2016
Disbelief in Donald Trump’s never-ending ideological changes isn’t even a good story anymore. It happens almost every day, with President-elect Trump just saying whatever strikes his fancy him at any given time. And this isn’t limited to issues either — but also people. His tune quickly changed on President Obama and the Clintons the minute they congratulated him on his great victory.
This man’s only ideology is himself, where the best method of lobbying him is flattery, and pure self-interest is the only litmus test for his beliefs. Perhaps some Americans will argue that this is true for all politicians, and perhaps they are right, but the extent to which many of us accept it when it comes from this so-called “outsider” is bemusing.