Knoxville News Sentinel

Donald Trump supporters may well call Trump protesters sore losers, because the outcome was legal. As in every election, there may have been some funny business, but his majority in electoral votes is convincing. That he lost the popular vote does not matter; to vote in an election is to agree to abide by its rules, same as any other game.

But the game is not over. There is a tiny possibility that he could lose the actual vote in the College of Electors. There have been petition drives and calls from liberal political-science professors and columnists for the Electoral College to overturn the result, and one elector in Texas actually resigned rather than vote for Trump.

Thirty states bind their Electors to vote their pledge, but those state laws are unconstitutional (by definition, you can't compel a vote).

It is more likely that Trump could be impeached. Constitutional grounds are "Treason, Bribery, and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Trump has hotels, golf courses and other businesses that he claims are worth billions of dollars. He can't easily shed these assets, and he can't hide them from himself in a blind trust. His enemies, and they are not all Democrats, could easily make this conflict of interest a ground for impeachment.

Trump has insulted many members of his own party and made a lot more of them nervous. Some, like Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan, seem to think they can appease him and get him under control. When they find that they cannot, the knives will be out. This is not so strange; he is with the Republicans but not of them.

Most Democrats, though not happy, have kept their temper over this election. If the politicians remove Trump in a more-or-less legal fashion, let his supporters likewise keep their temper.

Joe Finucane, Knoxville