Why the electors should have made today Trump’s Waterloo

President-elect Donald Trump is daring us to stop him. We should listen.

Trump is practically pleading with us — we the people, the state electors, lawmakers to keep him from the presidency.

He has yet to be sworn in as commander in chief, but already Trump is testing the limits of Democratic societal norms in alarming ways. The “tweeter-elect” is covertly sending out an S.O.S.

{mosads}His regular “Tweetstorms” at Saturday Night Live, the cast of Hamilton, the Carrier union boss; his talks with Taiwan, all feel like they are pointed attempts to not only test the limits of acceptable behavior for a democratically elected leader, but a signal to the electorate that he is in over his head and wants out. 

Can’t you see it?

Trump will push; he’ll have these Twitter breakdowns, because I believe in the end he doesn’t want the job.

Let me explain. 

Trump coveted the presidency. He wanted to show Barack Obama, the guy who upstaged him on television during the White House Correspondents Dinner that he is smart and capable. Trump, wanted to feed his own ego and not be outdone, by a politician whom the reality television show celebrity feels superior to.

But the actual work of president. Well, that’s another story. Intelligence reports? Who needs them? A conflict of interest? Who cares?

Hey, if he’s the new boss, why cash in, or cut ties with the innumerable Trump business interests around the globe? Conflict of what??

The Republican Party leadership and the ratings-minded corporate conglomerate-owned cable news outlets condoned Trump’s inexcusable, bizarre behavior from the get-go. But where will that voice of authority, ordering Trump to “stop,” come from?

A voice unbound by the pathetic political party allegiances, which have only stagnated and strangled progress, leaving America, not since the Civil War, so divided.

Today, the electors gathered at state capitols around the nation to cast their ballots. They could stop Trump dead in his tracks, but it’s unlikely. Still, they should. Those electors should think country first, to quote Sen. John McCain’s 2008 campaign slogan. 

Despite all the knocks against the Electoral College as being antiquated, the system was designed by our Founding Fathers for dire times such as these. Under the U.S. Constitution, the college was meant as a check and balance against an unqualified person, one with state enemy ties, from being elected commander in chief.

It’s almost as if Alexander Hamilton had Trump in mind when he wrote number 58 of the Federalist Papers in March of 1788, explaining the purpose of the Electoral College.

“The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications,” wrote Hamilton.

Here’s a guy who seems disinterested with the intricacies of the job, has spent much of the last month treading into areas there are a direct threat to our freedom. Trump has challenged the press, our First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. In defiance of precedents set by the Supreme Court, Trump has called for flag burning protesters to be jailed.  

He likely dialed back four decades of diplomatic progress made with China in one phone call with Taiwan. Ticked off India and Russia. All three of those nation’s are nuclear powers. Think of Trump’s increasingly troubling ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which our intelligence agencies tell us ordered the hacking of our voter registries to rig the presidential election in Trump’s favor.

Trump is arguably the least qualified person on the planet to be the next president of the United States. Republican Electors, there’s perhaps never been a more burning call for justice in America.

Your country needs you to uphold your duty under the Constitution, which allows you to switch your vote to someone other than Trump. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. You must exercise your trusted authority over “cabal, intrigue and corruption” and vote against Trump.

Christopher Suprun, a Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas, sets the example.

He refuses to support Trump, for numerous reasons, not the least of which is Trump’s strange and concerning defense of Russia in the face of the CIA’ and FBI’s conclusion that Putin meddled with the 2016 presidential election. And we must not placate ourselves, thinking that if the unruly Donald doesn’t behave himself in the Oval Office, he’ll be impeached.

And all bets are off if Trump is sworn in as president. He’s already changing the rules. And he’s just getting warmed up. Hear the voices of nearly 5 million Americans who have signed a petition, calling on you, Electors, to vote for Democratic presidential  candidate Hillary Clinton, who won the national popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. (Electors and citizens visit Change.org).

We need at least 37 Republican electoral votes removed from Trump and given to Clinton or another candidate. This Twilight Zone episode of “The Donald” playing on an endless loop for 16 months,  has invaded American living rooms long enough.

British statesman Edmund Burke, said many years ago:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

We’re talking about man with absolutely no experience in public office or the military — someone who knows he’s unfit for the White House and is acting out, crying for help.

Defend America. Give Trump what he’s asking for — a way out.

Kevin McKinney is a freelance writer living at the Jersey Shore. He spent a decade in the daily newspaper business, including four years with The Philadelphia Inquirer. He writes opinions and features for a variety of publications.

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