The eleventh-hour push to stop Trump

MNA International Desk: Many liberals and progressives are still clinging to one faint, almost-certainly-doomed hope that Donald Trump can be blocked from the presidency through the Electoral College.
That’s because the November 8 vote was technically not to make Trump president, but only to determine who 538 electors in various states across the country will be. It is those electors who will cast the votes that legally elect the president on Monday, December 19.
In modern times, the casting of electoral votes has been a purely ceremonial occasion in which the state results from Election Day have been rubber-stamped.
Thirty-seven electors would need to defect from Trump’s camp to deprive him of the Electoral College majority he needs to become president. But only one of those 306 electors pledged to him has publicly said he’s revolting.
A survey of electors by the Associated Press and a whip count by the RNC both failed to turn up any others who said they’d do so. If those counts are anywhere closing to accurate, this effort won’t even come close to succeeding.
But weirdly enough, this scheme arguably seems to be technically possible, because the US Constitution does appear to give the electors the final say in picking the president. The problem is that, if they ever actually did so, they’d create an immense constitutional crisis.
According to a new WSJ/NBC News poll, 68% of Americans believe that Donald Trump will change the way business is conducted in Washington, but are divided over what kind. A majority in the poll also said they were significantly bothered by reports of Russian hacking aimed at influencing the election.
Liberal groups have urged Trump electors to vote for Clinton, another candidate or not at all. But Republicans have said they may lose just one pledged elector, giving Trump more than enough votes to secure the presidency.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that, based on interviews with more than 330 electors of both parties, there was little evidence of a revolt. “We expect everything to fall in line,” Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, said Sunday on Fox News. He added: “Everything is going to be very smooth” on Monday.