Folks, we are days away from a disaster. There is no way we will persuade 40 Electoral College electors away from Trump and into the Hillary camp. The years of brainwashing and hate have taken what I believe is an irreversible toll. The only chance we stand of derailing a Trump presidency is a dark horse surrogate; someone that does not come thoroughly pre-tainted by the rightwing noise machine. We can accomplish this in two steps:
- Step 1: Hillary throws her weight behind the candidate and endorses them as the recipient of ALL of her electoral votes.
- Step 2: Get forty or more Trump electors to cast their vote for this person.
I know that my proposal will upset many Hillary supporters. “But she won the popular vote!” they will say. And they will be right. But she can’t win this. Not because of her failures, but rather because of the insurmountable and irrational hatred of her foes. So it is time to stop thinking about what Hillary Clinton deserves, and start thinking about what America needs right now, in this moment. Yes, the results of the Russian hacking investigation may flip a few votes, but this is unfolding too slowly compared to the rapidly approaching EC vote. Our best hope is if Hillary commits an act of enormous patriotism and selflessness, and endorses an alternate candidate that can change the minds of enough electors.
So who exemplifies many of the core ideals of the Democratic Party yet may garner enough respect from conservative Electors to persuade them to switch? I would love for people to list their best ideas in the comments. Remember, the goal here is a reasonable, decent, and competent person with some cross-aisle appeal, not someone who is the ideal liberal. One candidate that came to mind for me is a man with a remarkable combination of intelligence, education, history of teamwork, military knowledge and success, and international respect. Given the current political climate and the respect that many conservatives have for the military, I recommend Wesley Clark. His previous flirtations with the Democratic presidential nomination show that he is not averse to politics. Furthermore, his qualifications include:
- Valedictorian of his West Point graduating class
- Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University
- Supreme Allied Commander of NATO for more than three years
- US Commander of the Kosovo War; one of the quickest and most successful military operations in US history, which saved the lives of Muslim civilians being slaughtered by extremist Christian fascists, and resulted in exactly zero US combat deaths.
Granted, he will not pass anyone’s purity test. He currently is an ethanol lobbyist (though I can think of worse things), and he sits on the board of a California oil company. But you know what? Those two points could actually get more votes from across the aisle. Plus, despite his board position, he is a firm believer in the science and danger of global warming. We are past the point where we can demand purity. I believe he is trusted by the Clintons, and in 2008 he endorsed Obama only after Clinton dropped out of the primary.
Think about it; a rock-ribbed Democrat whose military experience trounces the experience of ALL of Trump’s cabinet appointees combined, yet with an intellectual streak AND a stomach for a fight. And as a dad myself, I will tell you that the fact that his son was one of the veterans standing with the Native people in the North Dakota pipeline standoff says volumes about the way he has raised his children. That is a man of character. I do not believe that Clark is some kind of messianic or perfect figure by any means. He just seems like he could be the right guy at the right time to get us through the next four years.
Any thoughts or suggestions from you folks on alternate candidates, or on whether you even support this approach? I’m pretty open-minded on the options and the details, and I am in no way wedded to Clark. But we need to do SOMETHING aggressive, audacious, and unexpected, or we and our country are going to suffer greatly. Right now it seems as though we are frozen like deer in the headlights, and we are running out of time.
