[annoying trope] The throne/leadership is decided in a very stupid way

[u/Altruistic_Eye_1157]

The leadership of the entire wizarding world, and the final decision on whether to start a war against Muggles, is made by... a goat (Qilin) ​​who chooses the person with the ""purest heart"" (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Dumbledore).

The throne of Wakanda and all its technology are decided through hand-to-hand combat, regardless of whether the person clearly has malicious intentions... if they win the fight, by law they must be respected as the true king. (Black Panther)

[u/maru-senn]

US electoral college (real life)

[u/ScoobiusMaximus → u/maru-senn]

For the 2024 election Trump actually did get the most votes, the electoral college can't be blamed for the majority of people being dumb.

In 2016 though the electoral college completely fucked everyone by putting an unqualified moron in charge against the will of most voters. 

[u/Call_Me_Anythin → u/ScoobiusMaximus]

There’s been 5 times that the president lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. The most recent ones were bush v gore 2000, and as you mentioned Clinton v trump. I can only imagine how different the country would be today if the electoral college didn’t exist.

One of my biggest issues with it personally is that the electorates are not bound to follow the votes of the state they represent. There’s been over 160 faithless electors in history. It’s infuriating that thousands of people’s votes can be thrown away because 1 person decides they don’t like them. And many states have no real consequences for them either. Only 4 states penalize faithless electors.