BOSTON, MA – Former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential Nominee Michael Dukakis told The National Herald he blames the Electoral College system for Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election. He discussed efforts to abolish it without the need for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Gov. Dukakis believes that even some traditional Democrats voted for Trump, thinking that he was not going to win. He worries about foreign policy under Trump’s presidency. Regarding Greece, Dukakis reiterates his longstanding position that austerity measures will not get Greece anywhere.
The interview follows:
TNH: Why and how did Trump win?
MD: Hillary Clinton won by three million votes but we have this crazy Electoral College, which should have been abolished 200 years ago. It doesn’t make any sense. We should get rid of it, so that is what happened. That is the system and now we have Trump.
TNH: Are you worried?
MD: Of course I am worried, particularly about foreign policy. We can handle the domestic policy, but it is the foreign policy of this administration that is going in about 18 different directions.” The bombing in Syria, and now what? Did we know what we were doing in Syria? What is the plan? Does he have a plan? These are the things that should worry us most.
TNH: Who voted for Mr. Trump?
MD: You had a lot of traditional Democrats who for a variety of reasons voted for him. We had not campaigned effectively in many communities. A lot of them voted for him thinking that he was not going to win, but people need a wakeup call. We didn’t do the grassroots campaigning that you have to do these days.
TNH: Your friend (the late U.S. Senator from Massachusetts) Paul Tsongas had told me during many interviews that we need a third party. Do you believe in that concept?
MD: No, no, because we have a two-party system. The Democratic Party clearly represents the kinds of values that I and frankly the majority of American people believe in, because three million more people voted for it.But we have to change the system. This now the second time in sixteen years that the popular vote winner hasn’t become president.”
TNH: Who is going to change it?
MD: There is a strong effort being made that does not require a Constitutional Amendment to change it, being led by [the DC-based advocacy group] Common Cause. We are halfway there and we have to keep working.
TNH: What are your thoughts about Greece?
MD: I don’t know, it is still the same problem. Austerity doesn’t get out of the depression. I hope our friends in Europe will understand, including our friends in Germany, that the continuation of these policies will continue to keep Greece down, and there is no reason for this.
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