system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: America, how does the electoral college work? How can someone lose the popular vote but still become POTUS?
gpt
Let's make a fictional little country with just 3 states.  

State A: 11 million people, 5 Electoral votes.
State B: 7 million people, 4 electoral votes.
State C: 4 million people, 2 electoral votes.

Also to keep it simple everyone actually goes and votes...

In state A: 10 million votes for JB, 1 million votes for DT.
In State B: 3 million votes for JB, 4 million votes for DT.
In State C: 1 million votes for JB, 3 million votes for DT.

In total JB has 14 million votes, DT has 8 million votes.

Each state gives all their electoral college votes (there are a few exceptions but we're keeping it simple) to the candidate who wins that state.  So the 5 votes from State A go to JB, the 4 + 2 votes from states B and C go to DT.

DT wins the election with 5 against 6, having 36.4% of the popular vote.