Michael Moore has injected a final bit of drama (as promised) into the Electoral College vote, which will convene in every state on Monday to cast votes in accordance with Election Day results. All should be said and done by 5pm EST, but the weirdness of this presidential race makes predictions seem unwise. Stepping foot onto social media — which is filled with people arguing for and against elector adherence — will also be a landmine. Moore fits into the latter group, who feels that Hillary Clinton’s popular vote victory (by over 2.5 million ballots) is too significant to ignore.
It’s almost a certainty that Trump will score 270 votes and win the Electoral College, though detractors stress how only 37 of Trump’s 306 electors need to flip in order for him to lose. Going rogue rarely happens, and those who do so (one Texas elector has publicly declared as much) may be subject to fines or loss of their positions. Yet on Sunday, Moore opened his Internet wallet and promised to pay fines for GOP electors who go rogue. He tapped out a Facebook post to make his case:
Tomorrow is the day you are supposed to gather with your fellow electors and choose the next President of the United States. I am not going to ask you to vote for the person who got the most votes (although I will not be upset should you chose to side with the majority of your fellow Americans and do so!).
No, I’m simply asking you to vote your conscience and PLEASE do not put our nation in danger by choosing Donald J. Trump.
I know you HAVE to be full of worry and consternation over the way Russia hacked into our election in order to help Trump. Shouldn’t we all wait until the investigation ordered by the president is finished before the Electoral College votes? If Trump did know or was involved in this unprecedented assault on our electoral process, wouldn’t that be enough for you to exercise your constitutional power to stop a man like this from taking office?
Moore (who’s sounding a lot like Ted Cruz at the RNC) also reminds people of how Trump feels that he’s too smart for daily intelligence briefings. He calls Trump “mentally unstable” before thanking the electors for their time and promising to listen to them one day. Moore’s recently grown accustomed to predicting the future but fears one possible outcome. How will the electors vote? Let’s hope we know by the end of the day.