WS Chronicle

Lauren V. Burke

Guest Columnist

Imagine if Donald Trump got 2 million more votes than  Hillary  Clinton, but by some fluke of Electoral College math, Clinton won. What would Trump be saying?

The answer is easy: He’d be saying what he said weeks before Election Day: That the election was rigged against him. Why the same isn’t true the other way around is anyone’s guess.

On Nov. 23, we learned that Clinton received 2 million more popular votes than Trump. Yeah, I know: Trump will be the next President. At some point, someone has to ask: Does it make sense that the person who received the most votes isn’t the winner? Does it make sense that Clinton has a wider vote margin over Trump than seven people who eventually became President?

The talk after the election was that the Democratic Party needs an overhaul and all is lost for the party. But the Democrats should be careful not to overcorrect. If receiving 2 million more votes signals a crisis, that’s quite something.  Just imagine that Democrats received 2 million more votes with an imperfect candidate of the past carrying loads of baggage.

The bigger problem for the Democrats is running establishment candidates at the top of the ticket in an age of anti-establishment politics doesn’t work. The 2008 run of Barack Obama should have taught them the value of change politics to the American voters.  But what did the Democratic Party — more specifically President Obama — do instead? As the leader of the party, the President handpicked Hillary Clinton as his successor, put her in the position of Secretary of State, selected a Democratic National Committee Chair who wouldn’t get in the way and fought against Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ efforts during the primaries. And we all know what happened next.

It’s unlikely all of that would happen again, but after President Obama made the DNC an afterthought in favor of his Obama for America (OFA) affinity project, who knows what the future holds.

“Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger,” wrote Elijah Berg, who has launched the petition urging electors to vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The petition now has over 4.6 million people signed on.

Former Green Party candidate for President Jill Stein has raised $5 million for recount efforts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.  You can bet that the two states with Republican governor, Wisconsin and Michigan, will reject a recount for fear of what they might find.

Lauren Victoria Burke is a political analyst who speaks on politics and African American leadership. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on Twitter at @LVBurke.