Looking for improbable ways to keep Trump out of office is a waste of time. [View all]

[MineralMan]

Since the election, a number of posts have appeared on DU that propose some way of preventing Donald Trump from becoming President. Most of those posts are based on an incorrect understanding of things as basic as the Constitution. Let's look at a few of them:

1. A Presidential Candidate Cannot Be Impeached - Only a sitting President can be impeached, and only for actions while serving as President. Given the Republican control of both houses of Congress, impeachment after he takes office is highly unlikely, unless he shoots someone dead in the Oval Office. Any past criminal activities are irrelevant.

2. The 25th Amendment Cannot Prevent Him from Taking Office - Like impeachment, this amendment only applies to sitting Presidents, not Presidents-elect. Further it would require the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that sitting President to be unfit to continue in the office. It was created for situations where the President becomes disabled in some way, not for removing Presidents who are not liked. Consider, too, how likely it would be for a Cabinet selected by the President to declare the man who chose them to be unfit.

3. Recalls in Three States Might Reverse the Election Outcome - While this is technically possible, it is unlikely in the extreme. Statewide recounts occasionally shift the results by a few hundred votes, but almost never by tens of thousands. Further, a recount simply recounts the votes AS CAST. It does not involve investigation into voting irregularities, suppression, or any other shenanigans. Those would require a lengthy investigation, but would not prevent a President-elect from taking office, nor remove a sitting President. It might change how future elections were handled, but will not lead to a removal of a sitting President.

4. Something Irregular Might Be Discovered after the Inauguration to Reverse the Election - A sitting President can only be removed from office through impeachment and conviction or according to the terms of the 25th Amendment. Both are addressed above. Even if there was wholesale election fraud, once the President takes the oath of office, the means of removing a President remain the same.

5. Electors Might Change Their Votes and Reverse the Outcome - This will most assuredly not happen. It's possible that one or two electors will be unfaithful, but there is not a chance that enough will to change the outcome. That is not how things work. It's just not.

6. Donald Trump Might Not Get 270 Electoral Votes for Some Other Reason - That would not matter, and is so unlikely that it's almost unimaginable. Even if it did, it would throw the election into the House of Representatives. If that happened, Donald Trump would win there, too. It's a seriously flawed thing to pin one's hopes upon.

Really, the only way Donald Trump will not be inaugurated will be if the recalls in WI, MI, and PA result in flipping the vote totals. All three of those states. I would not put any money on that happening. The probability of that set of circumstances approaches zero.