Texas Pushes Trump Over The Top, Officially Making Him Nation's 45th President

AUSTIN, TX — In the end, it was Texas that pushed Donald Trump over the top, giving him on Monday the Electoral College vote totals needed to assume the presidency of the United States.

On Monday, the 538 members of the Electoral College from around the country gathered to officially cast their ballots for president of the United States, with Texas casting all but two of its 38 votes for Trump. While Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by some 2.8 million votes during the Nov. 8 election, Trump was able to secure the presidency by receiving more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure victory.

Trump secured 306 Electoral College votes compared to 232 for Clinton in the November general election.

But given that the Electoral College vote was to be officially tabulated on Monday, many people fearful over the prospect of a Trump presidency had urged Electoral College members to switch their initial ballots and vote for someone else instead.

That hope held out until the very end, with the Electoral College vote standing at 241 for Trump compared to 127 by 3 p.m., staying in that holding pattern for hours Monday afternoon while Texas electors gathered to cast ballots.

Would enough Electoral College voters in Texas switch their votes to at least frustrate Trump's path to 270? Or, better yet for Trump detractors, would all 38 Texas members of the Electoral College deliver a pre-Christmas miracle and rebuke Trump en masse with their votes cast for someone else? Would a line in the sand be drawn denying Trump the vote, not unlike that stand at the Alamo so long before?

In calling for a rejection of Trump at the Electoral College, his detractors have summoned many reaons: his lack of experience governing or other qualifications for office; his prolific output of tweets on trivial matters made in retaliation to those who offend him (Vanity Fair magazine is a recent example, earning the wrath of Trump for a bad review of the Trump Tower restaurant; actor Alec Baldwin is another, garnering rage from the president-elect for his impersonation of him); his questionable picks for his administration, including Texan Rex Tillerson, with deep business and personal ties to the Russians, as secretary of state despite having never held any diplomatic posts; his anti-immigration campaign rhetoric, calling Mexicans rapists and criminals and raising the idea for a ban on all Muslim immigrant from entering the country; his views on women, including his off-the-cuff comments to an entertainment reporter boasting about his ability to grab women in their private parts without their consent by virtue of his celebrity status; his vulgar impression of a disabled news reporter during the campaign, complete with jerky arm movements to mock his physical challenge; his antipathy for the free press; his threats to jail his opponent in the presidential race once the election was over; and myriad other reasons.

On Sunday, one plot twist emerged as a vigil was staged on the Capitol grounds in calling for a hoped-for Electoral College vote reversal against Trump — one of several taking place throughout the country. Prior to that, two Texas Republican members of the Electoral College very publicly vowed not to vote for Trump, adding to the buildup of the drama leading up to Monday's official vote and lending hope to those not supportive of Trump that a mass vote changing might actually occur.

Even up to the day for the official tally on Dec. 19, the drama continued to build in the moments leading up to the casting of ballots by the Electoral College. Four Electoral College members didn't show up from voting, a point that lent fodder for some reporters to dramatically present that bit of news in breathless fashion, emblematic of some reportage done throughout the campaign even on matters of little consequence or import.

But the reasons for those disqualified members of the Electoral College were less intriguing than mundane, largely administrative tasks not unusual in times of Electoral College canvassing. Two have since taken jobs with the federal government since the last gathering, for instance, making them ineligible to vote, as CNN reported. Another previously said he was resigning from the Electoral College to avoid voting for Trump in telegraphing his own form of dissent, prompting, naturally, the need to replace him on Monday. The second so-called faithless elector publicly stated he'd vote for someone else other than Trump.

More drama from anti-Trump forces emerged inside the Capitol rotunda, someone unfurled a Russian flag in making their anti-Trump sentiment known, a reference to Trump's personal admiration of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the subsequent reports of Russian hackers aiding his run for the presidency.

Trump has widely praised Russian strongman Putin, despite historic human rights violations attributed to the Russian leader, his jailing (or, allegedly, worse) of dissidents and muzzling of journalists. Despite both the CIA and FBI recently agreeing that the Russians were behind selective computer hacking against Clinton's campaign to give Trump the edge, the real estate mogul continues to deny that the Russians had anything to do with the hacking.

Some Trump critics have taken those Russian ties to dub him the new "Manchurian Candidate," a reference to the 1962 movie starring Frank Sinatra later re-booted with Denzel Washington as protagonist dealing with the brainwashing of a political operative by a hostile foreign power to influence an American election.

The film reference and real-world, if tenuous, parallels served to add to the intrigue of Monday's vote.

But ultimately, the ending to the nail-biter ended up being anticlimactic. As political pundits (if not his detractors) insisted all along would happen, Texas' Electoral College votes went to Trump, vaulting him — this time officially — over the 270-vote threshold needed to secure the presidency.

And it was Texas who gained the distinction of casting the deciding votes. In the end, the dramatic buildup didn't mirror outcome in historically red Texas, the narrative ending in a subdued whimper rather than a bang: 36 votes for Trump, one each for former U.S. Congressman from Texas Ron Paul and presidential also-ran and current Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Come Jan. 6, per custom, the votes next will be officially counted, with Vice President Joe Biden, as president of the Senate, presiding over the tally to pave the way for Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.

And so, an anxious nation not really knowing what might happen until Monday (because anything is possible, particularly in 2016) can now exhale: Donald Trump is now, officially, the 45th president of the United States.

>>> Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons