TRUMP: Smith settles debate

Collusion, intrusion, delusion, balusion! It’s time to solve the discussion of the legitimacy of Trump’s election by reviewing the 2016 election.

The total USA general election popular vote for Clinton: 65,844,610 (48.2 percent) and for Trump: 62,979,636 (46.1 percent). Clinton won by 2.8 million votes nationally.

The total states won by Clinton: 20; and by Trump: 30. The Electoral Vote for Clinton: 232; and for Trump: 306.

The California popular vote for Clinton: 8,753,788 (61.73 percent) and for Trump: 4,483,810 (31.5 percent). Clinton won by 4.2 million votes in California.

The effect of the popular vote can be seen by using California as an example. Subtracting the popular vote for Clinton in California from her national popular vote yields 57,090,822 votes to her from the other 49 states. Subtracting the popular vote for Trump in California from his national popular vote yields 58,495,826 votes attributed to him from the other 49 states. The difference between the results shows Trump winning the popular vote in 49 states by 1.4 million votes. In addition, the difference shows the huge effect California voting had in Clinton winning the national popular vote.

The above situation is not unusual. Any state with a huge population might sway the popular vote away from multiple other states. The ingeniousness of the Electoral College is that the vote in one state can’t sway election results to or from a candidate who doesn’t have multiple support in other states. The Constitution designed the Electoral College to proportion votes among the 50 states to allow for population differences.

So, rather than the popular vote, the majority of the states and the majority of the Electoral Vote won the election for Trump.

As a note, Trump was the fifth president who was elected by the Electoral Vote rather than the popular vote. Others were: John Quincy Adams in 1824; Rutherford B. Hays in 1876; Benjamin Harrison in 1888; and George W. Bush in 2000.

As important as personal preferences or national investigations are, President Trump won the election legally, constitutionally and historically. President Trump is my, your and our president!

MARY SMITH

Coeur d’Alene