Thread by @ashtonpittman

JOURNALISTS, TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH: Any reporter/outlet telling you 2020 is a choice of Red vs. Blue is doing you & US democracy a huge disservice.

Let's be frank: The 2020 election is about whether the US, as a free democratic republic with a president—not a ruler—, survives.

There are huge issues at stake—health care, COVID, the economy, racial justice/equity, climate...

But the top issue this year is the survival of a representative American republic where elections are free and fair.

Without it, we have no say over the fate of those other issues.

Y'all know the famous Ben Franklin, quote about what kind of government we have: "A republic—if you can keep it."

This year, the option to decide NOT to keep it is very much on the ballot.

We have that choice. We can choose to end the American experiment in 2020.

Don't let lazy, mindless analysts tell people this election is mostly about Dem vs. GOP, red vs. blue, or who is going to cut taxes vs. raise taxes.

It's not.

And to be honest, right now, we have no guarantee that the majority's choice on the fate of democracy will win out.

For the next two months, it's the media's job to be the guardians of republican democracy—to watch what is happening with USPS and other efforts at electoral sabotage, to correct lies about voting, and to communicate the serious peril our democracy faces to the American people.

It is also the American press' job to prepare the people for the fact that, even if Joe Biden has clearly beat him, Trump will try to claim the election was rigged and stolen (remember how in 2016 he claimed he lost the popular vote bc of 4 million "fake" ballots in California?).

With delays in the mail, which Trump's postmaster general is orchestrating, a surge in absentee and mail in votes, and Trump telling supporters mail ballots aren't trustworthy, there's also a great likelihood of a nightmare scenario on election night:

Trump could appear to have a big lead on election night if most of his voters vote in person.

With mail delays & a surge in mail votes (which Dems trust, Trump voters don't), we could see Biden overwhelmingly win among mail in votes, but those ballots not be counted for days.

Once votes are counted, Biden could easily come out ahead despite Trump appearing ahead on election night based on in person votes.

No doubt, Trump would exploit those delays and point to the election night result to say the Deep State used mail votes to "rig" the election.

That would throw our country into a constitutional crisis, and end in potentially violent results as Trump fought to hold onto power and avoid likely prosecutions.

And after Ukraine, we've no reason to hope that party leaders like McConnell would stand up to protect democracy.

I'm not a fatalistic person. I'm an optimist. I hope for the best. I'm also not a partisan.

But this scenario is realistic.

It is the media's job, for the next two months, to make sure the American people are prepared for these very possible scenarios.

When people have the knowledge they need to expect attacks on our election process & the legitimacy of a fair outcome, it's harder for a demagogue to confuse the truth and delegitimize the people's choice.

Our job is to tell people the truth—not pretend this is Obama v. Romney.

Trump told us what he'd do with a second term: End our system of checks and balances. Complete an autocratic takeover of the federal government, replacing the remaining career public servants with sycophants, & run for 3rd, 4th, 5th terms.

We'd be like Putin's Russia.

He'd use the military as his personal army, end any efforts to fight racial injustice, reward those who are loyal, use the justice system to punish dissent/opposition, put humans in concentration camps.

Those aren't my opinions. Those are policies he has promised and/or enacted.

Look, fellow journalists: In a country where Trump was the Putin-like figure he wants to be, your options would be:

a. Work as a propagandist in service to the state

b. Continue doing journalism under threat of prison/death

This isn't a game. Truth really, really matters now.

The media failed in 2016, hyping up an email server while ignoring Russia's attacks on our system; some outlets even aided them unwittingly.

But if voters decide to end the American experiment after 244 years, let it not be bc the guardians of democracy failed to do our jobs.

Don't take it from me. Take it from fascism scholar Jason Stanley:

Fascism Scholar Says U.S. Is 'Losing Its Democratic Status'
apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…

He defines fascism as "a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists & minorities & immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character & the history of a nation." apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…

"Conspiracy theories destroy an information space. The goal — fascism is based on a friend-enemy distinction, so you're either with them or against them. The enemy is the enemy of civilization. What it does is it destroys the information space." apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…

"(Conspiracy theories) make you think that even if your guys are corrupt and lying, it is because [the leader is] facing a mysterious cabal that is controlling things that are trying to foment a race war. This is the basis of the Ku Klux Klan ideology." apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…

"The U.S. is the home of anti-fascist resistance — not just our soldiers in World War II but our intellectuals and journalists and nonviolent protest movements and revolutionaries here who have confronted our own racial history that so influenced Hitler." apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…

"So we have the seeds in this country of the evils that were the foundation of many anti-democratic regimes, but we also have the flowers that stopped them." apple.news/AQPIqTLWaS6-yT…