It is now official: per the U.S. Constitution, the electors of the Electoral College met on Monday and, following the wishes of their voters, officially chose Donald Trump (R) as the 45th president of the U.S.  Despite (because of?) the desperately deplorable acts and wishes of the irredeemable.

"Racist, sexist, xenophobic, you name it" Hillary Clinton supporters, decency trumped hate.  The Trump electors cast their ballots for Trump as they were elected to do; two from Texas defected.  Thus, Trump's election victory of November 8, when he easily accumulated well over the 270 electoral votes necessary to win, was officially validated.

However, some of the Democratic electors appeared to take my advice by choosing not to vote for Hillary R. Clinton (D).  Without any fanfare or hate or disruption or begging from Trump supporters (unlike their lefty counterparts), several Hillary electors surprisingly defected, casting their votes for others. 

In the end, however, more Democrats than Republicans went rogue, underscoring deep divisions within their party. At least four Democratic electors voted for someone other than Clinton, while two Republicans turned their backs on Trump. (snip)

On the Democratic side, it appeared to be the largest number of electors not supporting their party's nominee since 1872, when 63 Democratic electors did not vote for party nominee Horace Greeley, who had died after the election but before the Electoral College convened, according to Fairvote.org. Republican Ulysses S. Grant had won re-election in a landslide.

Four of the 12 Democratic electors in Washington state broke ranks, with three voting for Colin Powell, a former Republican secretary of state, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder who has protested oil pipeline projects in the Dakotas.

Bret Chiafalo, 38, of Everett, Washington, was one of three votes for Powell. He said he knew Clinton would not win but believed Powell was better suited for the job than Trump. (snip)

In Maine, Democratic elector David Bright first cast his vote for Clinton's rival for the party nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who carried the state in the party nominating contest. His vote was rejected, and he voted for Clinton on a second ballot.

In Hawaii, one of the state’s four Democratic electors cast a ballot for Sanders in defiance of state law binding electors to the state’s Election Day outcome, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times and Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspapers. (snip)

In Colorado, where a state law requires electors to cast their ballots for the winner of the state's popular vote, elector Michael Baca tried to vote for Kasich - but was replaced with another elector.

In Minnesota, one of the state’s 10 electors would not cast his vote for Clinton as required under state law, prompting his dismissal and an alternate to be sworn in. All 10 of the state’s electoral votes were then cast for her.

Perhaps the irredeemable, extremist anti-Trump supporters will redeem themselves by realizing that love does Trump hate – that yes, Donald Trump is their president, that despite Michelle Obama's hopelessly wrong belief that "America is entering a time of hopelessness," all will, if at least not be happy with the election outcome, redeem themselves by not being obstructionist.  

When hope trumps hate, much is possible.