President Elect Donald Trump is constantly confounding critics and pundits, especially those on CNN and other mainstream Media, with some of his high level appointments and position changes. Today he picked South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his United Nations Ambassador, shocking pundits because she had very nasty things to say about Candidate Trump during the campaign. Gov. Haley is also the daughter of Indian immigrants.
The President Elect is going against many of the Republican Party’s most staunchly held positions. But it should not have surprised anyone since Mr.
Trump had never been a staunch Republican. From 2001 to 2009 Donald Trump not only contributed to both parties but was a registered Democrat. Simply put, no one should be surprised that he is going against many Republican policies because he isn’t a real Republican, just a politician who switched to that party so he could run for President, not that there is anything wrong with that.
Trump on climate change
Mr.Trump told The New York Times that he believed climate change has a human component. Every Republican Senator denies climate change even exists. During the campaign candidate Trump went along with this, publicly saying climate change was a Chinese hoax. Now President-Elect Trump says he is considering reversing his former intention to reject the recent 2015 climate initiative agreement (Accord de Paris) which has 193 signatory countries/governments.
Trump on Clinton
Trump also made putting Hillary Clinton in prison for supposed criminal activities a main rally point in his campaign, always getting a rousing chant of “lock her up” from his gigantic crowds. But now his stated position is that the Clintons are good people and that she has suffered enough, going on to say he wants to concentrate on governing the divided country.
Trump on torture
President Elect Trump also called for waterboarding and other torture techniques during his rallies to loud approval from the audiences. That and his suggestion that the government should not just kill terrorists but also their families are both war crimes under international law. But in Tuesday’s New York Times editorial board meeting he said that his likely selection for Secretary of Defense, retired U.S.
Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, told the President-Elect that torture is not effective and therefore he is reversing his pro-torture stand.
Trump vs electoral college
Secretary Clinton won 2 million more votes than winner Candidate Trump. That happened because the Electoral College actually selects the President, not the voting public who elect members of the Electoral College who are pledged to vote for their candidate but are not required to do so. It is theoretically possible that when the College meets on December 19th to supposedly vote Mr.Trump in as President-Elect enough of the electors could defect so no one gets the required 270 votes.
Technically Mr.Trump is still Candidate Trump and not President Elect Trump until and unless he gets 270+ votes next month.
If you are cynical enough this could explain why Mr. Trump is ready to reverse many of his most radical policies. Or, it could simply be that many of his extreme positions were just a ploy to get more support from Republicans during the election.
Even more Machiavellian, the Electoral College can’t simply elect Secretary Clinton; it appears that if nearly 40 Republican-pledged electors defected so no candidate got 270 votes, the selection of President goes to the U.S. House of Representatives - that House is dominated by Republicans but they wouldn’t be required to select Mr. Trump or even a Republican. The Vice President would be selected by the Senate which itself originally wasn’t even supposed to be elected to office.
