Progressives should stop with the tired “Hillary won the popular vote” argument

In response to Robert Collins’ Tuesday letter in which he made numerous points in an effort to delegitimize Donald Trump’s presidency:

Mr. Collins first complained about Mr. Trump threatening to rescind top-secret clearances for government officials. None of the individuals in question is a current official. They are all out of office. Their continued clearance is a courtesy and privilege that can be revoked at any time. It is usually provided so that previous officials can offer advice to the current administration. They have all displayed animus toward Mr. Trump. Since they have shown bias against him, any counsel they might offer is compromised.

Next, he trots out the old “but Hillary won the popular vote” argument. While Ms. Clinton won nationally by 2.9 million votes, she carried California by 3.4 million votes. So while Ms. Clinton won the People’s Republic of California, Mr. Trump won the overall popular vote in the other 49 states. These facts may be interesting or fun, but they are also irrelevant. Even if we eliminate the Electoral College, we can’t assume how the results will change. Campaigns would modify their strategies, spending their time and money differently. They’d probably ignore large portions of the country.

Mr. Collins’ final complaint about gerrymandering allowing Mr. Trump to be elected was the silliest of all. The only federal offices affected by gerrymandering are those in the House of Representatives. While I also disagree with the practice of gerrymandering, neither presidential or Senate races are impacted by it.