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The Rigged Election

2018-10-26 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta, heavy topic

Ahead of the 2018 US elections, Hank contrasts the close 2000 Florida result, which Gore and Democratic leaders accepted despite fraud claims, with President Trump's unproven claims of widespread voter fraud, arguing that such lies erode the faith democracy depends on and should be unacceptable to everyone.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's first presidential vote in Florida in 2000: 537 votes, recounts, a voting-machine glitch, fraud claims, and everyone accepting the result

  • ★★ In 2000 Hank lived in Florida and voted in his very first presidential election. — 00:00:00 · Florida, United States presidential election
  • ★★★ The 2000 contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore was decided by 537 votes in Florida. — 00:00:09 · Florida, United States presidential election
  • ★★ The election was so close that the Supreme Court had to decide whether to continue recounting mispunched ballots; 'hanging chad' and 'butterfly ballot' entered the lexicon, and many cried fraud. — 00:00:14
  • ★★ A real error in a computerized election system counted a precinct of 600 voters as minus 16,000 votes for Gore; though caught, many saw it as proof machines were hacked for Bush, since the maker's CEO was a major Republican donor. — 00:00:29 · Republican Party
  • ★ Hank doubts the plot: rigging would be an odd thing to do if you ran the voting machine company. (playful) — 00:00:54
  • ★★ Many in Hank's ultra-lefty college friend group went on assuming the Republican Party had defrauded democracy and Bush was an illegitimate president. — 00:00:58 · Republican Party
  • ★★★ Neither Al Gore, the Democratic leadership nor even Ralph Nader claimed fraud; everyone accepted the new president, having done democracy, flaws and all, and moved forward together. — 00:01:09

00:01:23 — Trump's claims of rigging and voter fraud, the Republican voter-fraud argument, and why such lies erode faith in democracy

  • ★★★ President Trump doesn't talk like that: before the 2016 election he repeatedly said Democratic Party plots would deprive him of victory. — 00:01:23 · Donald Trump
  • ★★★ Even after winning, Trump said he lost the popular vote only because millions of undocumented immigrants voted; Hank calls it lies told because they sounded good. — 00:01:31 · Donald Trump
    • check: millions — doubtful
  • ★★★ Trump talks like a political pundit, which is not just style: with the power of the presidency behind you, some things shouldn't be said because they attack the country's foundations. — 00:01:45 · Donald Trump
  • ★★★ Claiming widespread voter fraud funded by your opponents, without even trying to prove it, weakens democracy; Trump has done this and continues to. — 00:01:59 · Donald Trump

  • ★★ Hank says Trump lied about undocumented immigrants voting, Pennsylvanians voting multiple times and Massachusetts voters bussed to New Hampshire, and said in the campaign the only way to lose was cheating. — 00:02:16 · Donald Trump

    “the only way we can lose is if they cheat”

  • ★★ Republicans have long argued individual voter fraud is a big problem, which many experts dispute, and for decades used it to pass laws making voting harder, especially for poorer people. — 00:02:33 · Republican Party

  • ★★★ Going from 'voter fraud is a big problem' to 'if I lose it's rigged' is a long path no politician has walked, since it erodes faith in democracy and tells supporters to reject results. — 00:02:51
  • ★★★ Democracy works because people have faith in the system, and lies about voter fraud erode that faith. — 00:03:12
  • ★★★ A main goal of government should be proving its own legitimacy; when a leader does the opposite, the likeliest reason is wanting to keep power after losing an election. (hedged) — 00:03:20
  • ★★★ Hank does not believe any leader is greater than democracy, thinks very few Americans do, and so such rhetoric should be unacceptable to everyone. (hedged) — 00:03:31 · United States

00:03:44 — Sign-off; November 6 and linked resources for registering and researching candidates

  • ★★ Hank tells US viewers November 6 is election day and has linked new resources to check their registration and research local issues and candidates. — 00:03:47

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Trump exercises power through unconcern for truth, treating lying as flexing: he lies, the media fact-checks, he laughs; it is about winning, not reality. — video description · Donald Trump
  • ★★ Hank writes that he has come to understand he lives in a world where, for his president, the truth isn't interesting: a firehose of lies and perplexed fact checkers. — video description · Donald Trump
  • ★★★ Hank writes that it gets scary when Trump's lies rot the system's foundation, as when he says an election he loses isn't legitimate. — video description · Donald Trump
  • ★★ Trump lying about voter fraud is nothing new, Hank writes, yet it still shocks him: he thought 'If we lose, it's rigged' would mean something to supporters who were supposed to love America, the constitution and tradition. — video description · Donald Trump, United States
  • ★★★ It seems to Hank that Trump's supporters love a strongman who looks powerful, even one breaking the fundamental institution of government by calling on followers not to accept an election he doesn't win. (hedged) — video description · Donald Trump
  • ★★ Hank points US voters to Vote.org to check their registration and to BallotReady to decide how to vote. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: democracy · Donald Trump · electoral fraud · United States presidential election

Also: People: Al Gore · George W. Bush · Ralph Nader

Organizations: Democratic Party · Republican Party · Supreme Court of the United States

Concepts: voter registration · voter suppression

Places: Florida · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Pennsylvania · United States

Events: 2018 United States elections

Only in the description or credits: BallotReady · fact-checking · Vote.org

Also centred on democracy: Hong Kong Protests Explained · Understanding the Primaries: Delegates, Democracy, and America's Nonstop Political Party

Also centred on electoral fraud: Iran Election Fraud: 5 Reasons to Doubt the Results · Will the U.S. Presidential Election Be Rigged?

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