REBELLION? DON’T COUNT ON IT
Poll finds only 1 GOP elector bucking Trump
Talk of an electoral revolt against Donald Trump is just that.
Only one Republican elector plans to go rogue and cast a ballot for someone other than the president-elect, a survey has found.
The Associated Press survey polled more than 330 of the Electoral College’s 538 members and found nearly all said they felt it was their duty to vote for the winner in their state despite pleas from “Never Trump” citizens.
Even Bret Chiafalo, a Democratic Washington-state elector leading the anti-Trump bid, called the effort “a losing bet.”
Republican elector Jim Skaggs, a developer from Bowling Green, Ky., who knew Trump’s father through the construction business, said that although he worries about the president-elect’s personality, he would still vote for him when the Electoral College meets on Monday.
“I fully intend to vote for Donald Trump,” said Skaggs, 78. “I think it is a duty.”
Electors complained that many of the requests they have received to dump Trump were coordinated and automated.
“We got a stack of letters from idiots,” said Edward Robson, 86, a Republican elector from Phoenix.
While Hillary Clinton beat him by 2.8 million votes nationwide, Trump earned 306 electoral votes. It takes 270 to be elected.
A group of electors, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Christine, have demanded an intelligence briefing on Russian interference before they cast their votes.
Meanwhile, actor Martin Sheen, who played a president on “The West Wing,” teamed up with a slew of other celebs, many B- or C-list, in a video urging Republican electors to ditch Trump.
“As you know, our Founding Fathers built the Electoral College to safeguard the American people from the dangers of a demagogue and to ensure the presidency only goes to someone who is, to ‘an eminent degree, endowed with the requisite qualifications,’ ” Sheen says, quoting the Federalist Papers at the start of the video, put out by the “multi-partisan” group Unite for America.
Speaking in turn, the celebrities repeat the line, “I’m not asking you to vote for Hillary Clinton,” and instead call on them to vote for “any eligible person.”
“You have the position, the authority, and the opportunity to go down in the books as an American hero, who changed the course of history,” they say.
Among celebs appearing were Debra Messing of “Will & Grace,” musician Moby, Mike Farrell and Loretta Swit of “M*A*S*H” and B.D. Wong of “Law & Order: SVU.”
The AP survey suggests the pressure on Trump electors is only strengthening their resolve.
“Hell will freeze and we will be skating on the lava before I change,” said Tom Lawless, a Nashville, Tenn., attorney. “[Trump] won the state, and I’ve pledged and gave my word that that’s what I would do. And I won’t break it.”
State rules differ on whether electors take an oath to vote for the winning candidate in their state or face legal penalties.
In Colorado, which Clinton won, a judge ruled that the state’s nine electors would face perjury charges if they don’t vote for her. It was a setback to a last-minute anti-Trump effort to coalesce around a compromise candidate.