The Fight is Now

Originally published by the American Mind

A Statement from The American Mind.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, breaking every rule that Democrats have screamed for months that President Trump was going to break, have all but declared themselves the winners of the 2020 election before the votes are counted.

But the 2020 election is not over. The fight has just begun. This is the moment that decides everything. Everything is now at stake. Republicans must rise to the occasion. This means rallies and protests as well as investigating and ensuring that this election was lawful.

Bring Out the Lawyers

The results last night revealed conclusively that our supposed experts lied to the nation throughout 2020’s election season with deceptive polls, statistics, and percentages about Trump’s chances. This is no surprise—we already know our ruling class has lied non-stop to the American people about President Trump for four years.

Now we are asked to simply trust corrupt Democratic political machines in one-party cities to count the vote honestly. We will not. Instead, Republicans must aggressively investigate and prosecute any and all wrongdoing in the attempt to steal this election.

The reason the Democratic Party just broke all the norms related to voting in America is because they are trying to fend off a loss. They hastily changed the rules midstream by means of hundreds of lawsuits, using COVID as an excuse, and a stream of stories of troubling irregularities is now flowing out of the remaining disputed states. The question upon which everything now depends is whether or not Republicans are willing to stop them.

The American people, no less than the Republican Party and their lawyers, must demand transparency and accountability about what happened last night and what is now happening over the course of the ongoing count. As Michael Anton points out in his latest salvo, “Game-on for the Coup?” waiting until the end to pad the count with votes from urban areas is one of the oldest tricks in the American political playbook, and it has worked before. Is it happening now? Headlines like “Seven Milwaukee wards report more 2020 presidential votes than registered voters” do not inspire confidence, and the same goes for the news now coming out of Democratic bastions like Detroit and Philadelphia.

We have known that the likely outcome of the election would be disputed vote counts in a select number of states for some time. As we’ve pointed out, Democrats have effectively said, over and over: “Our lawsuits to change the way we’ve always voted in the middle of a tumultuous election season are not part of a partisan cheat. Oh, but one more thing: America needs to understand that while it might very well look like Trump won on election night, due to our new rules votes will be counted for some time afterward and then our candidate will probably win.”

If Republicans let this happen without pushing to ensure all applicable laws were and are now being followed they can forget about winning contested states and therefore national elections. The new rule, the new “norm” for the Democrats, will forever be what they did last night: “If an election is close we stop all the counting for a while until we can figure out what’s going on.” But Republicans do not have to let it happen.

The Republican Party at the state, national, and regional level and their lawyers need to demand explanation and investigation of every vote in every disputed state NOW. Swarms of lawyers must push for transparency in all the Democratic city machines now churning out votes for Biden. Lawsuits must be filed and recounts demanded. The FBI and other relevant law enforcement authorities should scrutinize every aspect of the process and offer rewards for reporting wrongdoing.

President Trump understands this. True, many a “moderate” Republican does not and would gladly roll over to the Left. But in 2020, the Republican base also understands both the stakes and the attempt to steal the election that is now well underway. This is why President Trump and his best surrogates must rally and lead them.

Bring Out the People

Now we are expected to sit quietly while the vote is counted. We will not. Instead, the President and his supporters must publicly rally and protest what any reasonable person would judge looks illegitimate.

First, President Trump should plan several more rallies. Huge ones. His supporters will show up to tell the Democrats that they will not sit back and allow them to cheat their way to victory. For months the radical Left has shown up in the streets to threaten the rest of America. They plan more protests if the election does not go their way. The Right must now make a show of support that says: enough.

Second, President Trump’s team should ensure that their best surrogates and the remaining media figures not trying to attack and censor them have the specific data and arguments they need to make the public case: explain what happened last night and how the Democratic Party’s rule changes allow them to tamper with the election, and what the stakes are if they are allowed to get away with it.

Third, no one—including the President himself—should stop communicating as the media begins to censor news and views it doesn’t like. We need a full court press to catalogue and communicate the many ways in which suspicious activity has and is now taking place in disputed regions of the country. If one channel is closed to us because of censorship, we must work together to circumvent it.

Finally, all weak sisters on the right must be called out. In military doctrine, psychological operations only work on a populace that is already experiencing a defeat. They backfire when conducted against resilient and confident foes. The media and the left right now are trying to defeat and demoralize half the country under the guise of “democracy” and disingenuous cries of “just count the votes!” After the last six months, the last thirty years, the last damned century—conservatives and Republicans who lack steely resolve need to be called out and cast aside for those who will fight!

There is no time to lose. We have already detailed what the Democrats want to happen next. The playbook is already written, but it is not yet fully executed. It can be stopped if Republicans act together—now—to stop it.

Ryan P. Williams
President, Claremont Institute
Publisher, The Claremont Review of Books

Arthur Milikh
Executive Director, Center for the American Way of Life

Matthew J. Peterson
Vice President of Education, Claremont Institute
Founding Editor, The American Mind

James Poulos
Executive Editor, The American Mind

American Mind Editors