. . . by a margin of 3 to 1 Republicans chose Donald J. Trump.
At the Republican National Convention, yes, the
delegates went for Donaldus Minimus 3-to-1.
In the primaries, at the polls/caucuses, the
voters told another story in terms of
total votes. D.M.
received 13.3 million votes . . . but the other candidates combined, allowing for the gradual thinning of the
herd as the primary season went onward, received over 16 million votes. (Both those figures, by the way,
eclipsed previous GOP primary vote records, D.M. having beaten
both George W. Bush in total votes for
and John McCain in total votes against/not for. It reminds one with a long memory of the time the
protopunk/glitter band the New York Dolls won a magazine poll as both the best new band
and the worst
new band of 1973 and, yes, you can look it up.)
Setting aside the convention and delegation rules, both in the states and at the convention itself, that looks to
any amateur or elementary mathmetician---using a hard 16 million against---as if D.M. was actually the Republican
voters' choice by 1.23-to-1. Which isn't a ratio you'd consider overwhelming. But, it
is a ratio that
causes one to ponder what the convention result might have been, had enough delegates been let loose to
vote---I hate to use an obscene word in polite company---their consciences, rather than their varied state
mandates. Would unbound delegates have a) chosen D.M. or b) rejected him, even by the slimmest margins?
We'll never truly know.
