What others say: Electors show respect for the process

  • Monday, December 26, 2016 1:33pm
  • Opinion

Rather like those much touted recounts (which ended up giving more votes to Donald Trump), the liberal-left effort to overthrow the November election has ended with a whimper, not a bang.

So can we all take a breath and go back to our holiday shopping now?

Of course, there was the occasional “faithless elector” — like the guy in Maine who voted for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton, but then sometimes “movements” just don’t turn out the way you think they will. And there was the elector from Texas who announced his decision to not vote for Trump in a New York Times op-ed.

What the effort to recruit Trump voters to stray from the fold did point out is a whole lot of unmitigated ugliness — not to mention hypocrisy — on the left.

Now we’re thinking death threats and harassing emails and phone calls might not be the best way to win friends or influence Republican electors who might not thrilled with the vote they felt duty-bound to cast yesterday.

Pennsylvania’s 20 electors got a police escort to the capital in Harrisburg. Michigan’s electors also reported an inordinate number of threats.

Michael Banerian, a 22-year-old college student, told the Detroit News, “You have people saying ‘you’re a hateful bigot, I hope you die,’” he told the Detroit News. The paper verified several death threats, including one in which the writer vowed to “put a bullet” in Banerian’s mouth.

Sure, there were a lot of electors out there whose first choice would not have been Donald Trump, but at the end of the day, they showed respect for the process, for the Constitution and for the stability of the republic.

Meanwhile the left is becoming truly unhinged — which is hardly a productive way to expend energy and refocus the Democratic Party.

And by the way, did anyone tell these geniuses that throwing the election to the House would actually have the same result — a Trump presidency — just with more angst?

— The Boston Herald,

Dec. 20

More in Opinion

Quinhagak resident Sarah Brown holds a mask attachment she found on the beach on Oct. 24, 2025. This item might represent a hand or fin of an animal or spirit being. Photo courtesy Alice Bailey
Faces on a beach in Southwest Alaska

Walking a storm-scoured Alaska beach, archaeologist Rick Knecht knelt to pick up… Continue reading

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: It’s my own fault, but that doesn’t make it easier

I use a tablet to read newspapers. It started maybe a decade… Continue reading

A voter fills out their ballot at the Kenai No. 2 Precinct in the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Protecting the value of citizenship in Alaska’s elections

As Alaskans who care deeply about the future of our state and… Continue reading

Logo for the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Photo courtesy of the State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development
Opinion: Nurse licensure compact can strengthen Alaska’s health care workforce

Alaskans value resilience. We know what it means to work together in… Continue reading

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Governor’s early Christmas spirit is misplaced

“I told the president, it’s like Christmas every morning,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy… Continue reading

“Hair ice” grows from the forest floor in Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo courtesy of Ned Rozell
‘Hair ice’ enlivens an extended fall in Interior Alaska

Just when you thought you’d seen everything in the boreal forest, a… Continue reading

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Crime deserves punishment, not well wishes

Years ago, while Juneau friends were house hunting in Washington state, they… Continue reading

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Opinion: A place government doesn’t need to stick its nose

I’ve spent much of my career advocating on behalf of Alaska’s small… Continue reading

Dr. Edson Knapp is a radiologist from Homer.
Breast cancer screening: What Alaskan women need to know

Approximately 550 women were diagnosed with breast cancer this year in Alaska

Statement on Peninsula Clarion and Homer News

Carpenter Media Group is committed to strong local journalism

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Scoring political points from murder is killing the country

Far too many are eager to turn murder into a motivating sound bite for their own purposes.

Items at a makeshift memorial for Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot last week, on the campus at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 16, 2025. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times)
Opinion: Criticizing Kirk doesn’t mean you condone his murder

We will not be denied our First Amendment rights under the guise of false moral superiority.