Make it count

Because of an editing error, a version of the letter below in last week’s Chief misconstrued its writer’s sentiments. This is the correct version.

To the editor:

The more the presidential popular vote totals are updated, the closer the vote is. As of Nov. 29, the percentage difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was 50 percent to 48.4 percent. If it weren't for the electoral college "landslide," this election might be too close to call while votes are still being counted.

The mainstream media has been negligent in reporting this. By only reporting the electoral college votes, they make Trump appear overwhelmingly popular, which is not the case.

Many Democrats were unwilling to compromise and vote for a flawed candidate though she has her good points. If she had gotten as many votes as President Joe Biden had gotten in 2020, she would have won. 

But Democrats were willing to vote for a horrific candidate, Hillary Clinton, in 2016. This was the case even in the primary, where her opponent was a good candidate, Bernie Sanders. Harris is better than Clinton or Trump.

For those who actually like Trump, that does not bode well for our future. For those who voted for him because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for anyone supported by Dick Cheney, a more effective rebellion would have been a vote for the Green Party's Jill Stein.

In a system that favors the insatiably greedy rich over the rest of us, Trump is not an agent for change. He is the status quo on steroids, with the potential for loss of freedom.

But the Democrats need to stand by their alleged principals. Whether it's their big money donor influences, surrender mistaken for compromise or political calculations, their strategy seems to backfire. Harris refusing to criticize Biden's foreign policy and reversing her correct positions in favor of medicare-for-all and against fracking did not win her the election.

Richard Warren