Jonathan winer washington post

There is an alchemy to the way information finds its way into the discourse, it’s unpredictable and difficult to steer. But during these last several weeks, we’ve seen how a small and independent voice can have an outsized impact.

Jonathan Winer last wrote for the Spectator on both the unlikely rise and exaggerated demise of the Independent State Legislature (ISL) doctrine, only the latest of many anti-democratic schemes hatched on the far right to counter the intent of the Constitution and to execute an end run around the primacy of the popular vote and machinery of elections.

Jonathan returned to our pages this week with “Countering the Threat of a Contingent Election,” his new analysis of the arcane process prescribed by the 12th Amendment, in which the election of the president is played out in the House.

A number of once improbable things would have to happen to get to that hazardous moment.

For one, a presidential candidate would have to