November 15, 2016 12:30 PM UTC

Some Colorado Republicans Stay #NeverTrump To The Bitter End

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

CBS4 Denver reports on a last-ditch effort by a few members of the Electoral College to thwart Donald Trump’s victory by peeling away fellow electors:

One of Colorado’s Electoral College representatives is working on an attempt to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidency.

Michael Baca of Colorado is one of four who are trying to persuade enough of their Republican electors to bail on President-elect Trump.

They are calling themselves “Moral Electors.”

“This is an American issue, and a moral imperative; someone without the requisite qualifiers should not be allowed to become our Chief Executive,” Baca said in a statement.

Politico’s Kyle Cheney has more on this decidedly longshot attempt:

Chiafalo, a self-described “regular nerdy dude who works for Microsoft” and Baca, a grad student and Marine Corps veteran, insist they’re not seeking the election of Clinton — or even a Democrat. Both, in fact, had already been considering voting against her when the Electoral College meets in five weeks. Rather, they intend to encourage Republican electors to write in Mitt Romney or John Kasich. If enough agree, the election would be sent to the House of Representatives, which would choose from among the top three vote-getters.

Both men acknowledge that their effort is unlikely to succeed. Electors throughout American history have rarely broken ranks. But the fact that members of the college — part of an arcane but powerful constitutional process — are working to undermine Trump could lead to a larger share of dissident electors than the country has seen in decades and put renewed focus on calls to abolish the controversial body.

First of all, of course, this isn’t going to work. Even if these electors were to persuade enough of their colleagues to write in alternatives to Trump, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives would be certain to vote in the winner of the election. Without at least some support from the alternative candidates they are proposing, it’s a fool’s errand.

With that said, the persistent dissent Trump has experienced from within his party since winning the presidential election is noteworthy–even though the GOP’s overall capitulation to Trump speaks much louder than the few dissenters. Here in Colorado, Trump experienced one of the fiercest uprisings against his candidacy of any state Republican Party–a sweep of the state’s primary delegates by Ted Cruz, and a still-unexplained Tweet from the state GOP’s official account celebrating Colorado as a #NeverTrump state.

They won’t say it publicly today, but more than a few Colorado Republicans would be just fine if this Electoral College insurgency against Trump were more than a doomed gesture. And if Trump’s presidency is a disaster, they might become willing once more to speak up.

And yes, this makes it a little easier to say “to hell with the Electoral College.”