Attempt to upend Nebraska’s electoral system 'laid bare' GOP's 'cynicism': Writer

Former president Donald Trump and his allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham and other Republicans are “happy to change the rules” before an election as long as they’re the ones that benefit, The Bulwark’s Will Saletan wrote in an article critical of the GOP’s recent attempt to change Nebraska’s electoral system.

“All they care about is winning,” Saletan wrote in an article published Wednesday. “And the proof of their insincerity is what they just attempted in Nebraska.”

Saletan, a staunch critic of Trump since he burst onto the political scene in 2015 who has described him as “a mean, angry, vicious person,” said the GOP’s lack of real principles about the Electoral College was obvious over the last week as they tried to upend Nebraska’s electoral system, which is effectively a mini-Electoral College where presidential candidates are rewarded for winning individual congressional districts.

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Trump and his supporters, who have opposed replacing the Electoral College with a national vote, wanted a statewide winner-take-all system in Nebraska, according to Saletan, which would add an extra electoral vote for the former president.

“For now, the attempt has failed. But it exposed the truth about Trump, Graham, and many other Republicans: They’re happy to change the rules and impose a popular-vote system, as long as it serves their interests,” the article says.

“Every year, Democrats talk about replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote. And every year, Graham denounces the idea. ‘When they want to do away with the Electoral College, that’s telling every rural American to go to hell,’ Graham told Fox News five years ago. In a popular-vote system, he warned, ‘Los Angeles and New York would decide who’s the president. The Electoral College allows rural America to have a say,’” Saletan wrote.

After Trump’s 2020 loss, Republicans claimed blue states cheated by “changing the rule” to ease absentee voting, now, according to Saletan, they are warning that Democrats will abolish the Electoral College to disempower red states if they win.

The saga in Nebraska, Saletan added, "has laid bare the cynicism of Trump, Graham, and their allies. They don’t care about electoral diversity or preserving 'institutions.' They certainly have no compunctions about changing the rules in the fourth quarter.' All they care about is winning."