Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump accuse each other of being a threat to democracy. We have devised a very simple test to figure out who is right.
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Who is a threat to democracy, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris?
Since Americans at least pretend to care about democracy, this could turn out to be one of the central questions in this election.
And what a conundrum it is.
There are a few signs that point toward Trump and the GOP.
For example, he already attempted a coup and led a deadly insurrection, undermined the public’s faith in elections at every turn because he couldn’t handle losing, acts and sounds like an authoritarian, suggested using the military to go after his opponents, told his Christian supporters that this would be the last election in which they would have to vote, and, according to a bipartisan Senate investigation, received massive help from Vladimir Putin’s Russia ahead of his 2016 victory.
Then there is his party.
Republican-controlled states routinely make it more difficult for some voters to cast their ballots. Usually, we are talking about demographics that are most likely to vote for Democratic candidates. One of the preferred tactics is purging voter rolls. While that in itself would not be a problem (e.g., if the goal is to remove dead voters), these purges are often used as a way to kick off the rolls eligible voters who are more likely to vote for Democrats.
Some of their tactics are a bit more subtle, others are very heavy-handed, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s voter intimidation force or Texas’s recent efforts to bully Latino voters.
These targeted voter-suppression schemes are possible because the conservative Supreme Court majority has gutted the Voting Rights Act, while opening the floodgates for corporate money in politics.
And then there are Trump’s supporters, who are doing their own part… threats against election workers and officials have soared since the former president came up with the Big Lie: that he did not lose the 2020 election.
Finally, it’s important to remember that he has been laying the groundwork for a bigger and grander lie if he were to lose again next month. Without presenting any evidence, Trump has been accusing Democrats of cheating (or planning to cheat) for the past several months.
Speaking of… what about the Democrats? How are they a threat to democracy?
Well, as WhoWhatWhy reported years ago, Harris has long been an advocate for a new Voting Rights Act that would ensure that more Americans can vote more easily.
And while Trump and his surrogates, such as misinformation-super-spreader Elon Musk, suggest that a Democratic victory would mean the last election ever, they have not made the case for why that might be (other than falsely claiming that the Democrats are “importing voters”).
Now, even if that were true (which it is not), it’s not as though Republicans wouldn’t be allowed to compete for any newly naturalized voters.
What else have Democrats done to undermine the integrity of elections? Well, they did refuse this year to outlaw something that is already a felony.
So, who is the true enemy of democracy? As we noted above, this is quite the head-scratcher. Fortunately, we have devised a foolproof test to answer this question once and for all.
Below, you will find some phrases you may hear in a normal concession speech.
Now, for this to work best, you can choose to listen to this article (which is a clickable option right below the headline).
Do that, close your eyes, and imagine both candidates, in their own voices, saying the following things. Well, we should say “try to imagine,” because if you have been paying attention, only one of the two will be capable of saying any of this:
“I just called president-elect [insert name of opposing candidate] and congratulated [him/her] on a hard-fought victory. It was a very close race, but, with [name of swing state] now having been called for my opponent, there is no mathematical way for me to prevail in the Electoral College.
“Obviously, this is not the result I had hoped for, but this is how democracy works. First and foremost, I want to thank all of the people who have fought by my side, who have knocked on doors on my behalf, who have donated their time and money, and who have entrusted me with their vote. It’s been the honor of a lifetime to run this race with and for you.”
Even if you are a Republican, you must concede that there is no chance that Donald Trump would ever say any of this (although this is the script that losing candidates on both sides have followed for decades upon decades — before Trump’s unconscionable behavior in January 2021).
Indeed, the former president could lose every swing state by tens of thousands of votes and still not admit that he lost.
Given his past behavior, he would be more likely to schedule an address to the nation not only to claim victory but also to announce the sale of “I totally won” commemorative coins at $17.76 a pop.
With only about two weeks to go before Election Day, it is clear that this race will be very tight, and that it will possibly come down to a few thousand votes in a handful of states.
Both candidates will be within their rights to exhaust every legal option, even if doing so will put a strain on the country.
In the end, however, it seems crystal clear that only Kamala Harris, if the vote toll should go against her, would acknowledge defeat. After all, Trump plunged the country into chaos four years ago after he was defeated handily.
And that should tell you all you need to know about who is the threat to democracy in this election.
