Setting aside division and finding common ground are not solely matters facing those mourning and not mourning the death of Fidel Castro. There are existing differences in the Clinton camp, which has finally decided to join the Green Party’s Jill Stein in the call for a recount in several states.
There’s also a simmering rancor in the DNC as to whom to support at the helm of the party. It boils down to a basic disagreement between the Obama administration and its choice and those on the left, represented by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who appear to be lining up behind Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota.
There is dissent in the GOP ranks as well, most notably on who will be Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state. Trump’s pollster and a senior strategist Kellyanne Conway, taking her cue from a number of disgruntled loyalists, has made known her opposition to Mitt Romney as a candidate. Conway has been livid in her denunciation of Romney, emphasizing that Romney still has not apologized for his attacks on Trump during the campaign.
“There was the Never Trump movement, and there was Gov. Mitt Romney,” she said on ABC. “I only wish Governor Romney had been as critical of Hillary Clinton.” She made it clear that her rejection of Romney was not unknown to Trump before she went public.
If Romney is a contentious item, the Trump team is together when it comes to his recent assertions that the recount is a “scam,” and that except for voter fraud he would have won the popular vote, too. “This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded,” Trump said, “and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing.”
Stein’s initiative has raised more than $6 million, approximately the right amount to pay for the ballot count in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, key battleground states decisive in Trump’s victory. While it is generally agreed that the recount won’t change things because Trump won by thousands of votes, Stein and the Clinton team said it was mainly an effort to ensure a democratic electoral process.
Hand counting each ballot must be done before the electors meet Dec. 19 to officially name the winner. In Michigan, nearly 5 million votes were cast, and Trump’s margin of victory was more than 11,000 votes, a considerable number for Clinton to overcome. Similar gaps are evident in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Criticism of the recount is not only coming from Trump and his surrogates—some Democrats feel that the money, time and energy could be better used, particularly on down-ballot races such as the senatorial contest in Louisiana.
But that would be a minor difference in the party compared to the debate over who should be the next chair of the DNC. Many are pushing hard for Rep. Ellison, who as an African-American and Muslim could improve the party’s outreach for diversity. There are several drawbacks for Ellison, including his association with Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, a point loudly voiced by members of certain Jewish groups.
It was widely believed that the bewildering presidential campaign would carry over well beyond the inauguration, and the nation is getting more than a taste of that prediction and the ongoing chasms and chaos.