No real president elect until Dec. 19th

[Cyrano]

when the next president is chosen by the electoral college.

Has Trump been saying nice things about Hillary, the wall, the NY Times, immigrants, LGBTQs. etc., just to get past that Dec. 19th deadline?

Don't put it past him. Or rather, don't put it past his advisers.

Were he to continue to spew the crap he threw around during the campaign, the electoral college might just decide he was to unhinged to be president. (Not likely, but possible.)

IMO, they will cast their votes for him. (I also think they'd cast their votes for Hannibal Lector if he was a Republican.) But then again, who knows? It's a thin straw of hope to hold onto. That and the recounts that I don't believe will change anything.

Nonetheless, we must find every way possible to fight back against the oncoming darkness.

[cilla4progress]

1. Yes,

this is how he operates. He says different things to different audiences.

Master manipulator. If we haven't learned anything...we've learned that.

[MADem]

2. Lawrence Lessig says the EC should vote for Clinton.

It's a rather nuanced argument, too. He doesn't want to get rid of the EC, he wants them to do their job...!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-constitution-lets-the-electoral-college-choose-the-winner-they-should-choose-clinton/2016/11/24/0f431828-b0f7-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html?postshare=461480082586760&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.07e61ce344b0

...Instead, if the electoral college is to control who becomes our president, we should take it seriously by understanding its purpose precisely. It is not meant to deny a reasonable judgment by the people. It is meant to be a circuit breaker — just in case the people go crazy.

In this election, the people did not go crazy. The winner, by far, of the popular vote is the most qualified candidate for president in more than a generation. Like her or not, no elector could have a good-faith reason to vote against her because of her qualifications. Choosing her is thus plainly within the bounds of a reasonable judgment by the people.

Yet that is not the question the electors must weigh as they decide how to cast their ballots. Instead, the question they must ask themselves is whether there is any good reason to veto the people’s choice.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Unless the recounts flip three states

which is towards the impossible end of the likely to unlikely scale, he'll be elected on Dec 19th; if not by the electors, then by the House.