For five weeks after the November 7, 2000, presidential elections, the nation agonized over hanging chads, swinging chads, tri chads and even pregnant chads following an election that was declared “too close to call” and Florida would decide if either Al Gore or George W. Bush would win the presidency.
Democrat Al Gore had already won the popular vote by more than half a million votes. And, he thought he’d won Florida after the major networks called the state pretty early for him. They analysed exit polls which tend to lean more democratic. Gore’s celebration was short lived as the Bush campaign kept insisting that Florida was still in play. In the early morning hours of November 8, the networks switched and called the state for Bush. The results were confirmed when Florida’s Secretary of State, Katherine Harris announced that Bush had won the state.
But, their celebrations were cut short also as Gore rescinded his concession because the margin shrunk, and the Gore campaign called for a recount in four counties, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Volusia. Since Bush’s victory was so small, the ballots were analyzed with a fine-tooth comb and any small anomaly quickly became a major national controversy. James Baker III and Warren Christopher attorneys for Bush and Gore respectively spent weeks in a war over the rules, the law, the court, and ballots.
Meanwhile, the Bush campaign worked to stop the recount. Their efforts led to one of the most memorable moments of the 2020 recount–The Brooks Brothers riots. The campaign flew in GOP staffers to protest the recount in Miami-Dade County which led to a fight outside the office of the county’s supervisor of elections forcing the canvassing board to shut down the recount in the county.
Supreme Court
After the Democrats lost their case in the state’s circuit court, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision. This prompted the Republicans to make an appeal to the United States Supreme Court who reversed the decision of the Florida Supreme Court, thus handing the state’s 25 electoral college votes and the presidency to George W. Bush.
How does this apply to 2020?
Things will get real ugly real fast if Donald Trump is given a chance to fight for his presidency. If Democrats want to be rid of Donald Trump once and for all, 2020 must be a blowout.
States have expanded mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic and Americans are taking advantage of the easier and safer voting option. In Pennsylvania, a key swing state in 2020, 1.5 million voters cast their vote by mail or absentee ballot in the primary elections. That’s 17 times the number who voted absentee in 2016. In Florida, Democrats have a 302,000 voter advantage over Republicans in vote by mail enrollment.
Trump is taking notice and is already laying the groundwork to delegitimize the results of the November election—before a single vote is cast. Just this morning, he tweeted: “Mail-in voting unless changed by the courts will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our nation’s history. #RIGGEDELECTION.
“I don’t like to lose”
This comes after he signaled in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he may not accept the results of the November elections, admitting that he’s “not a good loser” and “don’t like to lose.”
Therefore, it is not a stretch to imagine that Donald Trump will take far more aggressive actions to hold on to his presidency. And this time, it’s much scarier given that he filled every top position in the federal government with loyal Trump allies. Furthermore, he has a billion-dollar disinformation machine and an army of online trolls and bots to help drive the discussion.
This is a man who spends every hour of every day dividing us. Telling his supporters that those who oppose him are a part of a conspiracy to remove him from office or a member of a violent left-wing mob. This is the same man who ordered peaceful protesters to be teargassed and pelted with rubber bullets just so he could walk to a church and pose with a bible to project an image of strength.
There’s no telling what he could do. Since most states are voting by mail this year, results will be delayed as they usually take longer to count. Imagine a scenario where Donald Trump is leading early on but, Biden is making up ground. He may tweet his supporters that Democrats are trying to steal the election from him using a rigged process. Thus, whipping his base into a frenzy, causing pro-gun activists, the proud boys, etc to take to the streets in an effort to ‘defend our democracy’ they will likely clash with other groups like ANTIFA causing civil unrest and prompting Barr and Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, sending the military into the streets to calm unrest.
Portland
Too far? take a look at what is happening in Portland. A team of unidentified masked federal agents is rounding up protesters and placing them in unmarked vans. According to CNN, the mask authorities belong, to the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Patrol Unit. They’re trained for drug missions but with Trump demanding “law and order” and disagreeing with local authorities they’ve been dispatched to American streets.
Acting Secretary of the DHS, Chad Wolf said on Monday: “I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors or state governors to do our jobs. We’re going to that whether they like us there or not.”
This is after a peaceful protest where the most dangerous item was spray paint that protesters use to deface the wall. Think about what Trump and his yes men will do when the stakes are much higher. I can’t help but feel that this is a trial run for what is to come this November if Trump is given half the chance like Bush and Gore was given to fight for the White House after votes were cast. For the sake of the country, the Democrats’ victory this fall must be a landslide.
Photo: Nathan Howard / Getty Images
