Early Wednesday morning on ABC, three liberal journalists eagerly entertained the idea that, if voters don’t do as Democrats and young people want in electing Joe Biden through both the Electoral College and popular voter, the legitimacy of our Constitution and electoral process could be called into question.
Chief anchor and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos went there at 4:35 a.m. Eastern by telling senior national correspondent Terry Moran that “the rules are the rules and the rules of our election are that it's determined by the electoral college, not the popular vote but right now Joe Biden is leading in the popular vote.”
With that said, he wondered if Trump won and “Democrats win seven out of the last eight popular votes, but don't hold the presidency for eight — for 16 of those years, what does that say about the country as — and do you think the country will fully accept it?”
Moran went right down the rabbit hole. However, he did start with the reality that this election was another example of “the Constitution at work” and being “on the basis of the Electoral College” that’s “[v]ery difficult to change.”
After conceding that “[w]e are a continental nation and communities that are not in the population areas will want to be represented,” Moran said a Biden loss would “call into question of legitimacy of the democracy for a lot of people.”
He continued, invoking the left’s hate for the Constitution itself due to the men who crafted it:
They'll just say this is baloney. This doesn't work. We keep getting all the votes that in a normal majoritarian race you should win the presidency with and this system which dates from a slave-holding, constitutional founding doesn't work for us. It's very difficult to change but I don't — I think it will deepen cynicism, deepen distrust. It is what it is. It is how the system works. But you can't say that young people coming up, people who worked hard to do whatever they could to get their guy across the line, got him across the line and see, again, that because of the system they don't win, that's going to cast doubt on it for them.
Stephanopoulos kept the thread going a few moments longer, asking faux Republican (read: Democrat) and long-time ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd what he made of that.
Obviously, Dowd agreed that it would be “a huge problem” and exacerbated by his prediction that Biden could win the popular vote by a wider margin than Hillary Clinton did in 2016.
Dowd concluded: “I agree with what was said. There will be serious questions if that happens in the aftermath of this. Not only we're divided on everything else, we're going to be divided on something that's been in our Constitution for 230 years.”
ABC entertaining the idea of delegitimizing our Constitution and electoral process was made possible by advertisers such as Swiffer. Follow the link to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from November 4, click “expand.”
ABC’s Your Voice/Your Vote: Election Night 2020
November 3, 2020
4:35 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And Terry Moran, the rules are the rules and the rules of our election are that it's determined by the electoral college, not the popular vote but right now Joe Biden is leading in the popular vote. For the sake of argument, if Donald Trump is to prevail tonight and then Democrats win seven out of the last eight popular votes, but don't hold the presidency for eight — for 16 of those years, what does that say about the country as — and do you think the country will fully accept it?
TERRY MORAN: That — that of course, is the question, George. You're right. I mean, that is the Constitution at work. Constitution works on the basis of the Electoral College. A lot of complaints about it. Very difficult to change. We are a continental nation and communities that are not in the population areas will want to be represented but set aside the electoral college and talk about losing the presidency with — by winning the popular vote. It will call it a question of legitimacy of the democracy for a lot of people. They'll just say this is baloney. This doesn't work. We keep getting all the votes that in a normal majoritarian race you should win the presidency with and this system which dates from a slave-holding, constitutional founding doesn't work for us. It's very difficult to change but I don't — I think it will deepen cynicism, deepen distrust. It is what it is. It is how the system works. But you can't say that young people coming up, people who worked hard to do whatever they could to get their guy across the line, got him across the line and see, again, that because of the system they don't win, that's going to cast doubt on it for them.
(....)
4:37 a.m. Eastern
STEPHANOPOULOS: We were just talking about the fact that Democrats look like they're going to win the popular vote again but if Donald Trump prevails it would have meant that even though Democrats win seven out of the last eight popular votes, they don't have the presidency for 16 of those years for Democrats.
MATTHEWS DOWD: Well, it’s — George, this is a huge problem and not only is the delta on the popular vote versus electoral college like it was in 2016 where Hillary Clinton won by three million votes, Joe Biden is likely to win by seven million or eight million votes this year — which was my speculation, win by seven million or eight million votes and could possibly lose the electoral college. Winning — wining the popular vote by seven million or eight million votes and I agree with what was said. There will be serious questions if that happens in the aftermath of this. Not only we're divided on everything else, we're going to be divided on something that's been in our Constitution for 230 years.
