Donald Trump Can’t be President

To the Editor:  
We, the American people, must pressure our state electors to take a stand in defense of our beloved country – and block Donald Trump from becoming the next president of the United States.
Trump has yet to be sworn in as commander in chief, but already is displaying all the disturbing markers of a fascist dictator, testing the limits of societal norms in alarming ways.
It’s more abundantly clear than ever that Trump is not only unfit for office, but a very present and severe threat to our democracy.
Trump his surrounding himself with Washington insiders and Wall Street elites, despite his promises to “drain the swamp.”
With his administrative appointments, Trump is targeting social security, Medicare, the environment, racial harmony, human decency, peace, truth and justice in general.
Trump’s also increasing international tensions, breaking security protocol and ignoring his assorted business conflicts of interest – all of which significantly jeopardize American safety.
The U.S. Constitution allows state electors to change their votes before they actually submit them to Congress on Dec. 19.
In fact, the electoral college system is designed as a check and balance against an unqualified person, particularly one with state enemy ties, from becoming commander in chief.
Trump fits that bill and then some. Alexander Hamilton in March 1788 wrote in The Federalist Papers number 68:
“Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption.
“These most deadly adversaries of Republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.”
Think of Trump’s troubling ties to Russia, which mounting evidence suggests did, in fact, hack our voter registries and helped rig the presidential election in Trump’s favor.
Admittedly, it’s a long shot that enough avowed Republican electors, some 37 needed, would change their votes to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (or a Republican candidate other than Trump.)
But it’s a shot more than worth pursuing. This has been a year of the unexpected.
More than 4 million Americans have signed a petition calling on state electors to vote Clinton into office (Change.org).
A handful of the 538 electors (including those from Colorado and Wisconsin) calling themselves the ‘Hamilton Electors,’ have already vowed to vote against Trump.
The writing is on the wall. Do we really want a thin-skinned narcissist with access to the nuclear codes?
Forget party. Never mind red state allegiances. Think country! We, the people, need to save this country.
And we need to support recount efforts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which have already uncovered serious discrepancies.
Additionally, in 1788 Hamilton wrote:
“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.”
Virtually, every day brings a new tweet and a fresh concern with the president-elect.
We can’t fluff off his daily tempestuousness with, “Oh that’s just Donald being Donald,” as if petty tweet storms were somehow becoming of the most powerful man on earth.
And enough already with comments like: “Trump doesn’t really mean the things he says.”
Clearly, it would be a good idea if he did, so world leaders could take the man at his word.
Just remember what British statesman Edmund Burke said many years ago:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”