Plenty have weighed in with their hot takes on the Senate special election in Alabama won by Democrat Doug Jones, but MSNBC host and NBC legal analyst Ari Melber held onto one of the hottest takes until Thursday.
A few more thoughts about Alabama and what's next…
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
Stay with us here for a bit while we wade through the deep thoughts.
More voters preferred the Democrat in Alabama this week — just like more voters preferred the Democrat over Trump last year.
My report on why that is true yet controversial to say: https://t.co/5GGxWprCo4
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
It’s not controversial at all, but go on …
Alabama was different because of the swing:
GOP won every presidential & Senate race there by +60% for 2 decades
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
And Tuesday showed Trump falling among the most important people in politics for the next year – people who VOTE in off-year elections.
Trump Alabama vote share in 2016: 62%
Trump Alabama approval Tue: 48%— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
People say Tuesday's result shows a rejection of Moore/Trump. By that logic, note that voters rejected Trump in 2016 by an even wider margin.
Jones won by about 1.5% – Clinton won about 2.1% more votes.
(Electoral college is law, but ≠ mandate) pic.twitter.com/sQw5DqX7sP
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
“Electoral college is law,” says the legal analyst.
The larger point is not blue or red, and it's pretty simple, of course, not everything fits into one narrative.
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
Trump's narrow 2nd place *victory* did not define 'who we are' any more than Roy Moore's narrow second place *loss* defines the true Alabama. (Similar results, different election outcomes.) When just under half an electorate backs those candidates, society has to reckon with why.
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
And when the Electoral College keeps putting the national runner-up in the White House – it's happened FIVE times now in US history – a democracy might reckon with how democratic that really is, *regardless* of partisan implications.
(And reckon with it lawfully, as always.)
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
A democracy might do that, yes.
Default to a simpler narrative is very human… was just reading Oliver Sacks, who says the brain doesn't recall objective truth very well, so "our only truth is narrative truth, the stories we tell each other and ourselves."
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
For many, Tuesday is the story of Roy Moore pushing the limits, and the people of Alabama saying, NO.
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
That is one truth. But, is it also a story of someone pushing the limits and getting almost half the vote; and almost getting a reward for conduct once deemed shameful; and of almost getting away with it?https://t.co/5GGxWprCo4
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 14, 2017
Fair enough, but back up a little bit to the part about the Electoral College, OK?
Got to give the guy credit for going public with the fact that he has NO idea he lives in a Constitutional Republic! #HowThingsWork #FactsMatter https://t.co/4gC0nyRpQd
— Paul Walther (@pwalther15) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/dangainor/status/941427147167666176
https://twitter.com/NolteNC/status/941428436484190211
We don’t have a direct democracy, dear. That’s why it’s called a Republic. https://t.co/JGQq5ydk3T
— ?? (@followinga) December 14, 2017
My name is Ari Melber. My twitter handle is @AriMelber. I do not understand how a Constitutional Republic works because it does not fit within my world view.
The Electoral College is wrong because I don’t understand the rule of law.
Please send hugs and emoji’s .
Kthxbai https://t.co/YhdL0nDRaM
— LussBhoy (@vansmaq) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/Peter_Q_Dux/status/941431373830569985
A democracy maybe…but we're a Constitutional Republic…again, this is a feature…not a bug. The founders didn't want the large population centers to dominate…thus the EC. Who would want CA and NY to decide everything?? https://t.co/IruXZjpS99
— PRob (@615CPA) December 14, 2017
It's a republic. It's designed that way to keep one or two populous states from trying to run the country leading to an inevitable break-up. The Electoral College is brilliant. https://t.co/CEaGShk770
— servative (@servative) December 14, 2017
You know how we know the Electoral College is brilliant? Because of that somber video of washed-up Hollywood celebrities BEGGING for electors to flip their votes for Hillary to save our democracy … um, republic. The Electoral College protects us from them running the show, and we’re thankful.
Take an American civics class, genius.
Another cosmopolitan elitist who hates middle America. (SHOCKER) https://t.co/CGcLCcGbqx
— Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) December 14, 2017
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Related:
BOMB! Here’s how this celeb video urging electoral college to dump Trump backfired. Badly