Editors Corner: Stand By For Our Democracy
By Stephen McNulty ‘21
What you just watched, friends, is how democracies backslide. A ninety minute debate where no one got a word in. Where the President of the United States shouted over the moderator. Where no one could agree on even a basic set of facts. Where name-calling and insults were tossed around several times a minute. Quite literally, this was the most disturbing Presidential debate in modern history. But there are two particular moments I want you to focus on, that amid an hour and a half of utter nonsense could perhaps give us some clarity about what this election boils down to.
Firstly, I want to draw your attention to the debate section on electoral integrity. Here’s the dangerous thing: President Trump just broadcasted doubt about the integrity of our election into the minds of millions of Americans. This was by far his largest platform yet, and what did we get? Allegations that “this will be a rigged election” and a “massive fraud.” That’s a massive push beyond his rhetoric in 2016, and it just might be the most dangerous moment of the election cycle thus far. This is how democracies die. Intense partisan bickering, distrust of the media, widespread denial of facts. It’s all there. And when you start to call independent and honest elections ``fraudulent,” you have sown the seeds of chaos.
Let me explain. Let’s say that Biden wins. Well, what happens now? After all, why should Trump accept the results of a “fraudulent” election? Why shouldn’t he contest it? And here’s where things get really bad. Why should he give up power? If this election is honestly and truly fraudulent, if “millions” of illegal mail-in ballots are somehow counted, why should Trump leave? Joe Biden tried to assure us that this situation could never happen—that, if Trump is voted down in November, our national nightmare could be over. But how does he know that, given how the President pretty explicitly told tens of millions of his supporters to reject the election results? I imagine legions of ideologues in the streets pledging to defend the President from a deep-state rigged election, no matter what. I don’t think such a picture describes most Trump supporters—not by a longshot—but if Trump leads his people to believe that Biden has “stolen” the election, surely some of them would take matters into their own hands.
And then, you get riots.
The scenario plays out further in my head, but I won’t drag you into the dark recesses of my anxieties right now.
And somehow (I didn’t know this could be possible), Trump’s choice to call into question the foundation of free elections wasn’t the most appalling moment of the night. That dubious honor has to go to his message for the alt-right, white supremacist Proud Boys. Some headlines will tell you that Trump “refused to condemn” the Proud Boys. But no, it was far worse than that (not condemning white supremacist groups is par for the course now). When asked to condemn the Proud Boys, Trump told them to “stand back and stand by.” Who are these people that Trump has placed “on standby”? White supremacists connected with the Charlottesville rally that killed a person. The Proud Boys is a domestic terrorist group, make no mistake. And now, they’re supposed to “stand by.”
Stand by for what, exactly? Does he want them as those “poll watchers” Trump referenced repeatedly throughout the debate? Does he want them on standby for an election defeat? Does he want them on standby in American cities like Kenosha? I do not know, frankly—the phrase is ominous and vague enough for the white supremacists to make it mean whatever they want it to mean. And that’s not just conjecture. Right after Trump said that, the Proud Boys updated their website profiles with Trump’s instructions. They are ready to be his foot soldiers.
I think the message for us is crystal clear. Our democracy is on the line, and a win for Joe Biden at the polls is not enough anymore. We need to turn out in such massive droves that no one could dare question the results of this election. We need a landslide.
That means that if the Proud Boys will be on standby for Donald Trump in this election, we all—from well-meaning conservatives to the most left of the left—need to be on standby for democracy. Call out attempts to erode confidence in our democratic institutions. Call out attempts to twist and mangle the truth. Call out voter intimidation and voter suppression, everywhere. This fight is far from over.