Politico just reported that full-page ads have been placed in key newspapers in the states of Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah and Florida today. Tomorrow, they’ll run in Wisconsin and Georgia. They also ran in the Washington Post.
The total cost, for future reference, was about $250,000. The sponsor, Daniel Brezenoff, started a Change.org petition aimed at the electors, and then used the signers of that petition to fundraise for the full page ad.
You can read more about this at the web site: Letter to Electors. This has the full text of the ad, some social media sharing tools and more about the signators.
Here is a little more text from that ad, that follows a list of eight reasons why electors should consider voting for someone differently next Monday.
For these reasons, his assumption of office endangers the Constitution, the freedoms it protects, and the continued prosperity and welfare of the United States.
You, Electors, possess the power to prevent this outcome. You are not bound to cast your vote for the candidate of your party – and, as he won neither a majority nor even a plurality of the popular vote, there can be no question of undermining the will of The People.
The Constitution empowers Electors to exercise judgment and choice. If your role were only ceremonial, our Founders would not have required the states to elect you, or that you cast ballots by your own hand. State laws notwithstanding, you are free to vote your conscience. You have a mandate, like all officials, to protect and defend the Constitution.14 And you have the right and responsibility to investigate those who stand for this office, and to deliberate before casting your vote.
Will this make a difference in the Electoral College?
As far as the Electoral College itself goes, it does lay out the case pretty clearly.
I wish the bulleted list focused more on what he’s done and less on what he’s said — the evidence is clearer and there is plenty of it to choose from. The electors might respond better to questions that encourage them to think for themselves rather than imperative statements.
The signators are not the kind of people who would have much credibility with the Republican electors, I’m afraid. They are the #HamiltonElectors we already know, plus a lot of professors from places that are easily dismissed as bastions of liberalism.
So not sure how persuasive it is to the electors — but I think it is persuasive to the Democratic activists who need to see this kind of activity.
Will this make a difference in the overall campaign against Trump?
Here are the ways that this does make a difference:
- It’s hardball. It lays out the case for a delegitimized Administration that should be resisted at every turn. The language is damning, as it should be.
- It’s an action that models agility, creativity and responsiveness. The campaign was pulled together, funded and placed quickly. We need to be able to do that on a regular basis.
- Since this is the first time in living memory that such an ad has ever been placed, it adds to the asterisks that will haunt a Trump presidency, even if there are no faithless electors on Monday.
- It increases the pressure on Trump, and we know that Trump does not react well to pressure.
- It may very well goad one of Trump’s supporters to do something unwise that further increases the pressure, such as the idiots who are now threatening Christine Pelosi. Death threats to electors are not the type of thing that build confidence in a Trump administration among the American people. It exposes Trump’s supporters for who they really are.
So, I’d like to thank Daniel Brezenoff for showing us how it’s done!