During the final debate of the 2016 election, moderator Chris Wallace asked candidate Donald Trump, “Do you make the commitment that you will absolutely accept the results of this election?”
Trump’s response? “I will look at it at the time.”
In other words, “It depends.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s the answer President Joe Biden
gave when asked about the 2022 midterm
elections. During a nearly two-hour press conference Jan. 19, a reporter asked, “Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?”
The first words out of the president’s mouth were, “Well, it all depends.”
A reporter followed up, asking him to clarify what he meant. But, unfortunately, Biden didn’t make it any better for himself. He responded, “I mean, sure, but — I’m not going to say it’s going to be legit. It’s — the increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these — these reforms passed.” The reforms did not pass, therefore Biden’s clear implication is that at the moment, the elections cannot be trusted.
During the debate in 2016, Hillary Clinton called Trump’s comments “horrifying.” She also said, “And let’s be clear about what he’s saying and what that means. He’s denigrating. He is talking down our democracy.”
Then-President Barack Obama said, “That is dangerous because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy.”
Biden’s comments got the “meh” treatment from much of the press. Much criticism of the president was met with a straw man argument. “You can’t compare that to what happened on Jan. 6!” John Harwood of CNN tried that
tactic with a piece called
“No, Biden and Trump are not alike on election legitimacy.”
Harwood singled out Utah Sen. Mitt Romney,
who tweeted
a criticism of Biden that said in part, “This is the same path that Donald Trump went down, which is attempting to delegitimize an election.”
Harwood wrote, “But the Trump and Biden paths are not the same. They point in opposite directions.” He discussed Trump’s tactics and actions following the 2020 election as if Romney made a direct comparison.
That’s complete rubbish.
First of all, since when is the bar so low that questioning election legitimacy isn’t dangerous unless it rises to the level of attempting to overturn results and have supporters storm the Capitol? Harwood’s complaint, if that’s what you want to call it, said Biden’s comments were not “wise.” Whoa, Daddy. Be careful with that level of vitriol, John.
Second, it takes a ninjalike set of hair-splitting skills to say Biden’s words are different from what Trump said in 2016. It’s entirely the same sentiment.
Furthermore, Biden rested his assertion on the passage of two partisan election bills, one of which House Democrats passed in 2019 as a messaging bill for base supporters that had zero input from Republicans. The other would reinstate entirely unnecessary preclearance rules from the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court struck down the provisions in 2013, and no reasonable argument exists to reinstate them. Besides, it’s difficult to argue their necessity in a state such as Georgia, where Democrats swept three statewide federal election races in 2020.
Biden referred to the new Georgia laws as “Jim Crow on steroids,” which is nothing but histrionic drivel. The new regulations expand early voting, maintain ballot drop boxes that didn’t exist before 2020 (though not as many), and get rid of signature matching on absentee ballots for a more straightforward ID match.
Critics have pounced (or seized) on the details that supposedly allow the state Legislature to usurp control of county election boards. However, it isn’t as if state legislators can stroll into the Fulton County elections office and declare Herschel Walker the winner over Raphael Warnock. An investigation lasting 30 days must take place. Then, the county has the right to appeal any finding to a judge. Considering elections have a 10-day certification window, the nefarious takeover scenario is highly improbable.
As much as Harwood and others of his ilk would like to think that questioning election integrity gets graded on a curve, they are providing a permission structure to question electoral integrity at any time — just so long as it doesn’t reach the same level as we saw in 2020.
Is that the kind of country in which they want to live?
