Trump’s Version of Democracy: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
The election will not be decided by the Orange Velveeta’s bluster unless you allow it to happen.
There’s plenty of reason for concern, don’t get me wrong. But for now don’t let Trump’s refusal to step down keep you from working as hard as you can to vote him out.
His words are a tactic, designed to strike fear and hesitancy in potential voters. Let them have the opposite effect.
IF it gets to the point where he refuses to acknowledge the results of the election, there are plenty of people in and out of government working on a plan. Trust me on this one.
Senator Bernie Sanders gave a barn-burner of a speech yesterday, hoping to do more than draw attention to the outrageousness of the President’s remarks.
From Mother Jones:
Sanders laid out Trump’s own strategy for subverting the election—a strategy that is not really secret, but in fact a public campaign regularly messaged by the president: make it harder for people to vote, use false claims of fraud to dismiss unfavorable results, and create an aura of illegitimacy over the process that can be exploited to remain in power. Sanders offered a dark summation of Trump’s view of the 2020 contest: “Heads I win, tails you lose.”
To explain, Sanders laid out a feared scenario wherein Trump wins the in-person vote on election night and declares victory before mail-in ballots, cast disproportionately by Democrats, can be counted. The president then claims mail-in ballots are somehow fraudulent and calls for them not to be counted. Allied state legislatures then side with Trump by picking electors to the Electoral College that defy the will of the state’s voters. The gambit is aided by Trump rushing a Supreme Court nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a goal of ensuring, should the election end up before the high court, it will go his way. This, Sanders warned, is an “unprecedented moment.”
While the Vermont Senator urged Congress, state-level officials, social media companies, and the media to take actions to protect the integrity of the election, he called on voters to use their power at the ballot box to ensure a peaceful transition of power.
From the Guardian:
“No matter how rich and powerful you may be, no matter how arrogant and narcissistic you may be, no matter how much you think you can get anything you want, let me make this clear to Donald Trump,” Sanders said. “Too many people have fought and died to defend American democracy and you are not going to destroy it...”
Standing before four US flags and blue velvet curtains at George Washington University, Sanders said: “This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy – and democracy must win.”
While it may be true that Trump’s minions are looking for legal strategies to contest some state’s results, it’s also true that an overwhelming mandate (including sending a boatload of down ballot Republicans packing) will force him to find another excuse to exit the White House.
You know what you have to do. Focus on what YOU can do.
Also... Wait! Didn't he say there wasn't any? I'm so confused.
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