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Background Briefing: November 1, 2020
Ron Suskind on The Day After Election Day
We begin with an explosive article in The New York Times based on months of conversations with top officials in the White House who have witnessed Trump’s manic, bullying, ridiculing, fabricating and ill-informed behavior in person, more extreme than what we saw a glimpse of in the first presidential debate. Ron Suskind, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Way of The World, The One Percent Doctrine, The Price of Loyalty and Life, Animated, joins us to discuss his op-ed in The New York Times, “The Day After Election Day: Current and former Trump administration officials are worried about what might happen on November 4.” We look into the scenarios that concern these top officials who know what Trump is capable of and the possibility that this criminal who only cares about himself and will do anything to avoid him and his family going to jail, will declare an early victory then shut down the count. With the help of
Putin and his two most trusted enablers Barr and Ratcliffe, who hold key positions as heads of the Justice Department and our Intelligence Services, Trump could create chaos then declare martial law. Given that millions of women spontaneously showed up the day after Trump’s inauguration, unless there is a blow-out win by Biden, if Trump and the Republicans were to use the courts to steal the election, millions more would take to the streets in protest. Then Trump could use his militias to stage incidents that would be an excuse for martial law. While these scenarios are as dire as they are realistic, the way to prevent the worst from happening is for everyone to vote in person if they have to or by drop-boxes now that it is too late to mail ballots. Only then will we see the end of this criminal fraud who has cast a toxic cloud of hate, division, greed and cruelty across the land. Only then will this sordid affliction of our darkest side be lifted so that an exhausted nation can
rise again to live up to its ideals and promise of a more perfect union.
Will Fascism Steal the U.S. Election?
Then we speak with Jason Stanley, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and author of How Propaganda Works and How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. He joins us to discuss the article he co-authored at Project Syndicate, “Will Fascism Win the U.S. Election?” and describe the differences between American home-grown fascism and earlier examples in Europe and Latin America. With Trump poised to dismantle American democracy, we are on the cusp of American fascism, but if we vote, our strongman would suddenly be reduced to the small and weak man he is and a sickened America could recover and be good again.
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