a) It’s not a democracy.
b) The electoral college was implemented to ensure that wise and reasonable people, with no allegiance to any faction, are carefully considering who is a trustworthy and wise person to put into such an important role.
So while I would say that our issue is fundamentally about the electoral college, it’s because we tried to turn it into a democracy, against the advice of the Framers.
That is at odds with everyone else, who simply want yes-men who say yes to them. And under that viewpoint, the system is working pretty close to perfect, even if the numbers on the college throw things off a little.
I would argue that the numbers shouldn’t be that close to begin with, if you’re comparing eggplant with rotten eggplant. That those are your options and that rotten eggplant comes out near equal would tell me that the system is broken.
Strong economy
Democrats oppose fracking, which costs them Pennsylvania and a few other states.
Dems nominate Bernie or Elizabeth Warren, alienating moderates in swing states and anyone else who doesn’t want a giant regulatory state…
Dems nominate Joe Biden, who gaffes his way to failure.
Dems nominate Buttigieg, which hurts their base and costs them enough black votes that they lose.
Democrats oppose offshore drilling, which costs them a couple more seats in the Senate.
Trump loses if: The economy craters. Which is very possible.
One at a time, in front of an actual fucking judge. While they’re there, if they are not removed, give them a Voter ID in those states where required, and automatically register them if they so desire.
I don’t know that most people care about offshore drilling.
Otherwise, those are all decent points from the vantage of the moderate voter or moderate Republican who might consider swinging or sitting out.
I don’t think the Democrats are strongly considering reality in this election. We’ll have to see if Bloomberg is able to make it to the top or if he came in too late.
Combination of (a) the Trump voters came out in support, especially in light of the impeachment, and (b) just enough moderate/progressive Democrats stayed home or voted third party rather than vote for the Democratic nominee.
What explanation will get the headlines? Probably voter suppression.
And there’s one additional possibility: a repeat of Hayes-Tilden, where Samuel Tilden had a majority of the Electoral votes after all of the states had counted their ballots, but the Republicans challenged the results in five states, and a committee (five Representatives, five Senators, and five Supreme Court justices) voted to give all five states to Hayes, who ended up winning by one Electoral vote. Nowadays, a challenged state would be decided by separate votes of the House and Senate, with a split going to “the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof” (3 USC 15).
If Trump wins, the economy will crater worse than in 2007/8. He’s doing everything possible to heat it up now, but that just will make the inevitable collapse worse.