National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Reality Check
What if…?
Last month I wrote a Substack regarding the National Popular Vote initiative – NPV. Essentially, it’s an end-run around the Electoral College based on the assumption that Republicans never again would win the popular vote. Until 5 November, Republicans hadn’t done so since 2004, so the idea of bastardizing the Electoral College to achieve a one-party state made sense – if your preferred method of governance is California or Venezuela … (The invitation to millions of illegal aliens is, in part, to assure just that.)
The Electoral College still functions under the NPV, but the states participating would agree to award their votes based on the national vote rather than the voters of their own states. How states assign their Electoral Votes is completely up to the states. Whether this compact falls afoul of the Compact Clause in the Constitution (prohibiting interstate compacts) is unknown and will have to be settled by SCOTUS if it ever gets to that point.
Those states that have agreed to the NPV basically have told their own voters to piss off. Because these states are blue (all current NPV participants are Democrat states; I know… shocker), their voters don’t mind as they prefer totalitarianism, anyway. These voters missed civics class and think America is a democracy rather than a representative, democratic republic – and likely are too dumb to know the difference, or just dislike the idea of enfranchising anyone in disagreement with them; you choose….
So let’s look at the NPV in light of Trump having won the popular vote…
The NPV compact is designed (if it ever goes into effect, which it has not at this time) to award all of the Electoral Votes of participating states to the winner of the national popular vote. The trigger for implementation is when a combination of states with a total of 270 Electoral Votes agree to the deal. Right now, it’s at 209, so about 3/4 of the way there.
Had it been triggered for the 2024 election, all 270 Electoral Votes of the – minimum – participating states would have gone to Trump, as well as all EVs of non-participating states that went Red. This would have given Trump a total of 510 Electoral Votes; 209 of the Democrat 226 Electoral Votes would have been switched to Trump, leaving Harris with only 28 votes, plus-or-minus, depending on how one assigns EVs today from the anomalous way Nebraska and Maine deal with their EV assignment, and if Arizona (having “elected” a Democrat governor and Secretary of State in 2022) ever finishes counting their results from 5 November…
Had the NPV been passed in all 50 states and the District of Corruption, and so been triggered for 5 Nov., all 538 Electoral College votes would have been awarded to Trump.
Somehow this seems not to be what those dreaming up this idea had in mind.
It is odd, however, that this is essentially a populist plan pushed by anti-populists, no?
Maybe the Democrats can try out a limited version of this in their 2028 Convention rather than just listening to their own voters? Oh – wait – they just did that with Ms. Harris…
The operative phrase in this article is, "and likely are too dumb to know the difference". The hardest thing for me to grasp in my older age is how politically naive the average person is, including and especially those on the other side who fancy themselves intelligent, educated, and competent, and those on our side who can't be bothered to vote. Think how much effort was spent by valiant Republicans (like Scott Pressler) this year in just getting out the vote, and realize that we might now be facing a fourth Obama term led by a cackling imbecile if it were not for a handful of people like Pressler and a unique individual like Trump. Realize that this political idiocy extends deeply into the "conservative" community, where we have huge groups (like for example the Amish) who simply haven't understood until now that yes indeed their votes matter, and that they cannot continue abstaining from voting and also expect to continue to survive in their current form. What do we do with people, including and especially people of our own ilk, who do not seem to grasp what's at stake, and who therefore require billions of dollars of investment every two years just to get them off their stupid butts during election season?
A half-baked plan to resolve a non-existent problem. The Electoral College (EV) does the job it was designed for exactly. Idiots who want to destroy this nation will work to subvert the Constitution. We cannot allow that to happen. Vote for your freedom by supporting the Constitution!