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Bernie Sanders: U.S. Must Prepare for 'Nightmare Scenario' of Trump Delegitimizing Election Results
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Bernie Sanders: U.S. Must Prepare For 'Nightmare Scenario' Of Trump Delegitimizing Election Results [forbes.com]:
Topline
As President Donald Trump continues to attempt to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the voting process in the United States, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said [nytimes.com] he plans to spend the next six weeks urging the country to prepare for a "nightmare scenario" in which Trump declares himself the winner of the election and refuses to leave the White House even if he loses.
Key Facts
In an interview with the New York Times on Monday night Sanders said [nytimes.com], "We are living in an unprecedented and dangerous moment — extremely dangerous moment — in American history."
When asked by Fox News' Chris Wallace earlier this summer if he would accept the election results, President Trump said [forbes.com], "I have to see. Look, you — I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time, either."
In the Times interview, Sanders laid out a series of steps [nytimes.com] to prevent Trump from undermining the election, including recommending states count mail-in ballots as expeditiously as possible, urging them to begin processing and counting ballots before Election Day.
"If you are starting from zero on election night, and you've got hundreds of thousands or millions of absentee ballots, how long is that going to take you to count?" Sanders said [nytimes.com]. "It will take a very long time. And that will allow the fomenting of conspiracy theories and so-called fraud and everything else."
What To Watch For:
Sanders said he would address the issue in a speech in Washington on Thursday, his first in-person appearance he's made related to the election since before he dropped out of the presidential race. "What this speech is going to be about is whether or not the United States of America will continue to be a democracy and a nation ruled by law and our Constitution," Sanders explained [nytimes.com].
Tangent:
On Tuesday, a former White House trade official said [cnbc.com] that financial markets should be acutely aware of the possibility of a disputed election in which one party refutes the results. "I think it's a high risk and I do think markets need to pay attention to it. I've detected a real shift in the election dynamics in the last six to eight weeks," Clete Willems, a former deputy director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC [cnbc.com] Tuesday morning.
Key Background:
In addition to refusing to commit to accepting the election's results, Trump previously suggested delaying the election. "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" Trump tweeted [cnn.com] in late July. This past weekend, Trump seemingly threatened to attempt to try and ban Biden from being elected. "You can't have this guy as your president," Trump declared [forbes.com]. "You can't have — maybe I'll sign an executive order, you cannot have him as your president." Sanders told [nytimes.com] the Times that he believes there is an "excellent chance" Biden wins the election, but acknowledged he was worried the Biden campaign was not doing enough to reach "nontraditional voters," including young people and Latinos.
Big Number:
6.5%: The most recent Real Clear Politics average of polls has Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Trump by 6.5% [realclearpolitics.com]. (The final RCP average [realclearpolitics.com] in 2016 had Hillary Clinton ahead by 3.2%. She ended up winning the popular vote by 2.1%)
Further Reading:
Bernie Sanders Sounds Alarm on a Trump' Nightmare Scenario' [nytimes.com] (New York Times)
Former White House official warns there's a 'high risk' of a disputed U.S. election outcome [cnbc.com] (CNBC)
Trump Threatens To Issue Executive Order Preventing Biden From Being Elected President [forbes.com] (Forbes)
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