What if a US presidential candidate refuses to concede after an election? | Van Jones

4,940,901 views ・ 2020-10-26

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Transcriber: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz
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OK, as an attorney, as a political commentator,
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and frankly, as a former White House official,
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I used to think I knew a lot
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about how America picks a president.
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I was wrong, I did not know.
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And this year,
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I've been doing some research into some of the fine print
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and all the different things in our constitution
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that we never talk about,
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and I've discovered some legal loopholes
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that shocked me,
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I guarantee will shock you,
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and could determine the way
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that the presidential election of 2020 turns out.
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For instance, did you know that under our constitution
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a presidential candidate could actually lose the popular vote,
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fail to get a majority in the electoral college,
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refuse to concede,
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manipulate hidden mechanisms in our government
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and still get sworn in as the president of the United States of America?
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That's a true fact.
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I know it sounds like some crazy "House of Cards" episode,
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and I wish it was,
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because then we could just change the channel,
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but I just described to you a real-world, real-life possibility
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that could occur this year, the year I'm talking, in 2020,
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or in some other year,
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if we don't fix some of these glitches in our system.
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So if you think, though,
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that the American people's choice in a US presidential election
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should actually be sworn in to become president of the United States,
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please pay attention to this talk.
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I'm going to teach you how to stop a coup, OK?
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Now, where to begin?
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Alright, how about this:
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It turns out that one of the main safeguards of US democracy
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is not in the constitution at all.
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It's not in the law at all.
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It's actually just a little tradition, it's a little custom.
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And yet, this one voluntary gesture
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is one of the main reasons
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that you almost never have riots and bloodshed and strife
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after a US election.
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What I'm talking about is a concession speech.
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OK, it's ironic,
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it's the one speech no presidential candidate ever wants to give,
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and yet, it is that public address
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that is most important for the health
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and the well-being of our nation.
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It's that speech, you know, when a presidential contender gives,
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it's after the advisers come and the media tells them,
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"Look, you're not going to get enough votes
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to be able to hit that magic number of 270 electoral college votes.
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You're just not going to get there."
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At that moment --
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you don't think about this,
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but the fate of the entire republic
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is in the hands of a single politician
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and their willingness to walk out there
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and stand in front of their family and stand in front of the cameras
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and stand in front of the whole nation
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and say, "I am conceding the race, voluntarily.
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Thank you to my supporters.
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The other person has won now, congratulations to them,
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let's unite behind them, let's move on, let's be one country.
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God bless America."
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You've seen it a thousand times.
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Make no mistake,
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this is a remarkable tradition in our country.
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Because at that moment,
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that candidate still has at her command
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a nationwide army of campaign activists,
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of die-hard partisans,
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tens of thousands of people.
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They could just as easily take up arms,
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take to the streets,
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they could do whatever they want to.
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But that concession speech instantly demobilizes all of them.
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It says, "Hey, guys, stand down.
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Folks, it's over."
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Moreover, that concession speech
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helps the tens of millions of people who voted for that person
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to accept the outcome.
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Acknowledge the winner, however begrudgingly,
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and then just get up the next morning,
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go to work, go to school,
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maybe disappointed
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but not disloyal to America's government.
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And even more importantly,
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that concession speech has a technical function
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in that it kind of allows all the other stuff
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that our constitution requires after the voting,
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and there are a bunch of steps like,
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you've got the electoral college that has got to meet,
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you've got Congress who's got to ratify this thing,
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you've got an inauguration to be had,
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all that stuff can just move ahead on automatic pilot
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because after the concession speech,
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every subsequent step
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to either reinstate the president or elevate a new president
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just happens on a rubber-stamp basis.
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The constitution requires it, but it's a rubber stamp.
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But we sometimes forget, candidates do not have to concede.
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There's nothing that makes them concede.
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It's just a norm in a year in which nothing is normal.
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So what if a losing candidate simply refuses to concede?
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What if there is no concession speech?
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Well, what could happen might terrify you.
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I think it should.
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First, to give you the background,
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let's make sure we're on the same page,
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let me give you this analogy.
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Think about a presidential election as a baseball game.
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The end of the ninth inning,
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whoever is ahead wins, whoever is behind loses.
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That's baseball.
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But could you imagine a different world
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in which, in baseball,
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there were actually 13 innings, or 14 innings, not just nine.
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But we just had a weird tradition.
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If you are behind in the ninth inning,
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you just come out and concede.
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Alright?
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So all those other innings don't matter.
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That's really how the presidential elections work in America.
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Because the constitution actually spells out
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two different sets of innings.
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You've got the popular election process that everybody pays attention to.
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And then you've got the elite selection process
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that everybody essentially ignores.
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But in a close election,
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if nobody concedes,
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the second invisible process,
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these extra innings if you will,
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they actually matter a whole lot.
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Let me explain.
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That first set of innings, popular election,
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it's what you think about
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when you think about the presidential election.
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It's the primaries, the caucuses, the debates,
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the conventions, it's election night,
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it's all that stuff.
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Most of the time, the loser on election night
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at that point just concedes.
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Why? "The American people have spoken."
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All that.
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But according to the constitution, the game is technically not over.
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After the cameras go away,
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after the confetti's swept away,
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the constitution requires this whole other set of innings.
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This elite selection process stuff,
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and this is all behind closed doors,
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it's among government officials.
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And this process goes from the end of the vote counting in November,
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through December all the way and then January.
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You just never think about it,
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because for so many generations,
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these extra innings haven't mattered much
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because the election-night loser just concedes.
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So this other stuff is just a formality.
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Even in 2000,
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vice president Al Gore gave up
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as soon as the Supreme Court ordered an end to the vote counting.
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Gore did not continue the fight into the state legislatures,
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into the electoral college,
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into Congress,
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he didn't try to discredit the results in the press.
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Frankly, he didn't send his supporters out into the streets
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with protest signs
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or pitchforks or long guns.
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As soon as the court said the vote count is done,
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he just conceded to George W. Bush.
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Because that's what we do,
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that's just kind of how we do things around here.
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You don't fight in the extra innings.
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Until maybe 2020,
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when one major candidate is already saying
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he may not accept the results of the vote counting.
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Curse you 2020.
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So what can happen instead?
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Instead of conceding,
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a losing candidate could launch a ferocious fight to grab power anyway.
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Or to hold onto power anyway.
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In the courts, yes.
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But also in the state houses, electoral college, even in Congress.
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They could file, for instance, dozens of lawsuits
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attempting to block the counting of millions of, like, mail-in ballots,
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saying they should all be thrown out, they're all fraudulent.
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Then, they could demand
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that the states refuse to certify the election
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because of all this alleged fraud,
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or interference from a foreign power.
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Or the loser's party could send a rival slate of electors
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to the electoral college or to Congress,
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and say, "We're the real electors,"
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and create a whole situation with that.
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Any of this stuff could create such a mess
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in the electoral college and the Congress,
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that the whole matter just winds up in front of the House of Representatives
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for the first time since the 1800s.
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Now, here's where it gets totally crazy.
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If the presidential election winds up in the House of Representatives,
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they don't have to pay any attention at all to the popular vote
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or the electoral vote.
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It's like the election never happened.
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And then it gets even crazier.
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The final tally in the House is taken not by delegates
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but by delegation.
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In other words,
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individual congresspeople don't get to vote.
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It's done by states.
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Now, get your head wrapped around this.
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In 2020, the majority of Americans live in blue states,
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but there are more red states.
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So there's a possibility
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that the Republicans in the House of Representatives
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could just anoint their candidate to be president,
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even without the popular vote,
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or a majority in electoral college.
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That could happen.
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Now some people would call that outcome
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a perfectly legal,
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perfectly constitutional coup
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against the very idea of majority rule in the United States.
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That is possible under our constitution,
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and it can happen this year.
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So what can you do about it?
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OK now, keep in mind,
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if the margin of the victory is so massive,
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it's truly massive,
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the losing candidate's political party is going to walk away
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and just let their leader go down.
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Nobody is going to risk a constitutional crisis
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to save somebody who is super unpopular.
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But if the race is close,
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all bets are off.
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And then the fight could continue long past election night.
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You could be, you know, trying to deal impact
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this whole other process you never heard of before.
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You're going to have to be lobbying,
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protesting, speaking out, contacting lawmakers,
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a whole other process you've never done before.
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So landing in this completely unfamiliar scenario,
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what can you do?
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How are we supposed to act?
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What are we supposed to do in this situation?
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There's basically three things that matter.
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Number one, get informed.
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A number of progressive organizations are already working hard
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to warn Americans about this growing threat to our democracy.
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Some organizations you could look into and research for yourself:
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choosedemocracy.us,
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electiontaskforce.org,
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protectdemocracy.org,
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mobilize.us,
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allamericans.org,
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civicalliance.com
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and the Fight Back table at demos.org.
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All these groups are working on this.
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Now, on the right, if that's your cup of tea,
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you could also check out The Heritage Foundation
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or the Government Accountability Institute.
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They are focused on voter fraud.
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But you've got to get informed, no matter what side you're on.
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Also, number two,
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you've got to get loud.
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You've got to get loud.
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Situation like this, these days, everybody is a media channel.
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You are the media.
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So use your own voice.
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And when you do, my advice:
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speak to universal American values, not the partisan stuff, OK?
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Speak to the American values that every American should be down with,
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no matter what party they're in.
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The idea that every voter counts
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and that every vote should be counted,
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that's an American value, period.
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The notion that the majority should rule in America,
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that's an American value.
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The idea that an incumbent president
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should concede honorably and graciously
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and ensure a peaceful transfer of power,
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rather than trying to use every trick in the book
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to hang on to power,
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that's an American value too.
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If you stick with those values,
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you're going to be heard by a lot more people
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and help bring the country together.
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And lastly, sorry folks, voting is not enough,
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You're going to have to get active, get involved.
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You could join and support with your money.
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Some existing organizations, powerful groups,
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like the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
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the ACLU,
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NAACP, Legal Defense Fund,
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Indivisible, ColorOfChange.org,
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these groups are going to be fighting in the courts,
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fighting in Congress,
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to try to make sure that we have a fair outcome.
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Those groups could use your help and your donations.
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But if it gets to the point
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where you feel
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that you have to take it to the streets,
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that you're going to have to go outside
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and demonstrate and march and protest,
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please do it peacefully.
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This is not just philosophy or morality.
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A lot of studies have shown
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that it's the peaceful protests
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that are more successful at challenging these would-be dictators
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and reversing coup attempts.
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It's the peaceful ones, why?
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Because when the protests turn violent,
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all that chaos and carnage actually chases away supporters.
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So rather than demonstrations getting bigger,
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and the protests getting bigger,
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they start to shrink.
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Then the government looks reasonable when it cracks down.
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So it's actually a lot better
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to follow the guidance of the late great Gene Sharp.
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Now he has written beautifully and well
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about how strategically you can roll back a coup
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just using very smart, very disciplined, very nonviolent protest.
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And a lot of his best ideas, and people have been influenced by that,
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are available in a new guidebook called,
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"Hold the Line."
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You can look it up,
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it's called "Hold the Line, The Guide to Defending Democracy."
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You can get that at holdthelineguide.com.
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And that can give you a real good framework
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to move forward in a smart, peaceful way
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if you feel that you've got to take it to the streets.
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Now look,
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I know all this stuff is overwhelming,
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and I've got to admit, some of these steps may not be enough.
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A truly rogue president
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could call on private armed militia
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to try to intimidate lawmakers into keeping him or her in power.
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Or they could just abuse their emergency powers
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and try to stay in office indefinitely.
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So we've got some real problems in our system.
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The best way to stop a coup
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is to update and strengthen our democratic system
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as soon as this election is over.
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Maybe we need to rethink, reimagine or just get rid of
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this whole electoral college, extra inning thing in the first place.
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I know for sure
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we've got to do a better job of protecting voter rights,
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of prosecuting voter intimidation
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and also making sure we've got the technology
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that nobody needs to be afraid of voter fraud.
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These are the steps that we're going to have to take
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to make sure that we have a democracy and the democracy endures.
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Because never forget this:
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in the long sweep of human history,
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a democratic republic
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is the rarest form of government on earth.
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Democracies are fragile.
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Democracies can fail.
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And what citizens do or fail to do in a moment of crisis
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can determine the final fate
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of government of, by and for the people.
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So let's do our best, vote, but this time,
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we've got to stay vigilant and active,
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even after the ballots have been counted.
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We've got to stay active all the way through
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to inauguration day.
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But I want to say to you,
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I will support the winner of a free and fair election
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no matter which candidate wins,
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and I will oppose any so-called winner
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who prevails by twisting the process beyond recognition.
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Because any American should be willing to concede an election,
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but no American should concede
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the core principles of democracy itself.
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Thank you.
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