I’ve been seeing this everywhere: what if Trump refuses to leave? Or what if he doesn’t accept the ballots? This is driven mainly by the media, who keep asking him if he will accept the results. (Do these people ask their preschoolers if they would like to have cookies for every meal? I’m guessing so.) Trump has made many in the media rich, and they don’t want to give up that cash cow. Michelle Wolf called them on it at the 2018 Correspondents’ Dinner, and they haven’t gotten any better since then.
So what IF he doesn’t accept the results?
First let’s address that specific fear. Trump accepting the election results is as irrelevant as you getting fired and refusing to accept it. If Biden wins, on January 20, 2021, Trump controls nothing. Biden will automatically have executive control over the military, Secret Service, the CIA, intelligence, etc., etc. Period. The presidency is not a zip code. Anyone fucking around with that is subject to sedition charges, which Biden’s new Attorney General will, I am certain, be happy to address.
Second, and more importantly, let’s talk about why you shouldn’t share these fear mongering opinions that are not based in reality.
“But we have to be afraid so we vote!” No, no we really don’t.
Even if you know you intend to vote, when you share panicky opinions that are based on misinformation and intended to generate clicks, you may think you’re helping to mobilize people, but actually you’re engaging in unintentional voter suppression.
Here’s what I mean: if you vote, but the scary opinion pieces you post keep five other people from voting, you’ve just cost Biden four votes. So stop. Take a breath. Please listen for a minute.
I know you’re stressed out. We all are. Even though the political climate and the pandemic feel isolating, you haven’t lived through the past four years alone. You’re not the only one stretched to the outer limits of your anxiety, barely functioning. We’re here with you. We all are in this disaster movie together. (And it IS a disaster. We really, really need to get as many people possible to vote, because one thing we know isn’t a lie is that the GOP will try to cheat.)
That’s the point, actually. Sometimes, yes, overconfidence keeps people from voting. Often, apathy keeps people from voting. But in 2020, fear is the enemy. Fear really IS the mind killer. People are so anxious about real things that the biggest danger is that they will feel hopeless and simply check out. We’re already afraid. We don’t need more fear.
So then what DO we need?
We need hope. Hope, and a sense of shared responsibility to our country. We need to know that even though 2020 is terrible, we really CAN turn it around. And that’s not a false hope. We CAN. Important indicators are solid. Trump’s numbers are bad. Donations to the Democratic Party are breaking records. Voter registration is up everywhere. Early voting turnout is encouraging.
Remember how Mister Rogers said that when times were really bad and scary, we should look to the helpers? That’s you. And me. Yeah. We’re the helpers. We’re the guys in white hats. We’re the cavalry, as Beto says. We are going to rescue us, plus rescue people who are suffering a whole lot more than we are.
How? By engaging those people who haven’t yet made a plan to vote. Sign up to text bank or phone bank for Biden/Harris. Or down ballot races. Or both. Donate. Put out signs. Sign up as a poll volunteer. Encourage people you know to make a voting plan. And of course, by voting yourself.
We all feel overwhelmed every day. So we don’t need anyone to tell us times are bad. We need people to tell us things can get better. And they can. All we have to do is pull together. We can do this.
