THREAD: With the clear projection of AZ for Biden last night, it's time for the media—and nation's leaders—to dramatically change their tone about Trump's refusal to accept Biden as the president-elect. This isn't him being in denial anymore; he's hoping to overturn an election.
The noise about ongoing lawsuits and recounts in PA and GA is meaningless. Neither state is necessary to Biden's victory anymore. There is no longer any path for a Trump victory without throwing out HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of legitimate votes.
Last night, the nation's two major election watchers—the fed's @CISAgov & state Secretaries of States—affirmed this was a safe, secure, legitimate election. No meaningful fraud, let alone anything close to the scale now needed to overturn the election.
That means what we are seeing now is an attempted coup—a lazy, ham-handed, and disorganized one, yes, but what else should we call Trump's ongoing hope to overturn a free, democratic election? Every hour that he drags this out pulls us now deeper into crisis.
Trump is stalling the transition & endangering our nation's health, as well as national and economic security. The GOP must speak up—and speak out. The private sector needs to lean on GOP officials. The nation's media needs to cease with the "unlikely path to Trump victory" talk.
Trump's actions need to be seen for what they are: An attempt to overturn a legitimate election. There is no middle ground. We all need to work now to preserve America's democracy and its institutions, including a peaceful and smooth transition of power. wired.com/story/opinion-…
Yes, Trump may just be fundraising to cover debts or build his brand for TrumpTV or whatever comes next. Yes, he might just be a toddler having a tantrum. But the GOP's willingness to tolerate this makes it dangerous. And the party is now aiding and abetting American adversaries.
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THREAD: Today is shaping up to be one of the most critical days in US media history—huge challenge to help protect legitimacy of the election in the eyes of voters. @vivian & I have 10 key principles that news orgs need to abide by as they work today: cjr.org/politics/2020-…
If you're a reporter or editor, I hope you'll take a few minutes to read these principles & think about what it means for your own work and your own news organization and how you should responsibly report and frame the unofficial tallies coming in now: cjr.org/politics/2020-…
We've seen a lot of good coverage already, but some WILDLY irresponsible ones that threaten real damage to our democracy today (Hi @ajc!):
THREAD: Covering today's election results will be one of the hardest challenges the news media has faced in modern history. @vivian & I talked to a lot of smart people and came up with 10 principles that news orgs should abide by as they ready coverage: cjr.org/politics/2020-…
If you're a reporter or editor, I hope you'll take a few minutes to read these principles & think about what it means for your own work and your own news organization and how you should responsibly report and frame the unofficial tallies tonight: cjr.org/politics/2020-…
1) Problems are not failures. Make sure to draw lines today between "normal stuff" going wrong and systemic failures. Not every mishap shows a rigged system. At the same time, there are known signs of voter suppression—and systemic problems should be reported as such.
This remarkable story about the president giving up on his intelligence briefings sort of slipped by over the weekend amid election news—but I think it's worth re-highlighting for three particularly worrisome reasons: nytimes.com/2020/10/30/us/…
1) It is *bonkers* that the President has not had a regular intelligence briefing in over a MONTH. That should set off all kinds of alarm bells. We spend $60 billion a year to ensure the President is the smartest person in every room he's in. Trump has turned all of that aside.
2) Separately, the fact that he is now only getting briefings from John Ratcliffe—a man so unqualified for his job that Congress literally wrote a law to keep people like him away from becoming ODNI, but the GOP confirmed him anyway—is super troubling. wired.com/story/john-rat…
THREAD: There has been a lot fretting and anxiety over recent weeks about this year's election—and there are real threats and real reasons to be anxious—but based on my reporting ... [[DEEP BREATH!]] ... let me also offer five big reasons for optimism that tomorrow will be okay:
1) In many ways, Tuesday will be the most secure and safe election in US history. Local and state election administrators have been rushing since '16 to secure systems, ensure paper backups, and otherwise prep to ensure the day's voting and counting goes smoothly as possible.
2) It will surely be the most resilient election in US history — potentially 2/3 of all votes will have already been cast, which means there will be fewer crowds, fewer opportunities for things to go wrong, and fewer people affected if/when things do go inevitably wrong.
THREAD: Knowing this year’s election victor may take longer than Americans expect—and so it's worth offering a “Schoolhouse Rocks” education in the process tomorrow and thereafter. Let me explain just how tightly proscribed the process is: politico.com/news/magazine/…
1) First, it's *fine* and normal for vote-counting to take days or weeks. We're used to unofficial tallies by the news media yielding a projected winner by early Wednesday, the official system is slower and tightly guided by state laws, federal laws, and the Constitution itself.
2) Those official night-of tallies are updated, checked, and double-checked before local officials report election results to their state's designated election official—usually the secretary of state, governor, or lt. governor—who certifies election results.
THREAD: I've been talking to all sorts of experts about how the next four months might unfold. Here's an organized, chronological guide to six pieces that you should read as we wait to see the results tomorrow:
1) Here are ten principles I wrote with @vivian that media organizations need to follow as they report election results—including using precise language and numbers, make clear a "slow count is a good count," and don't parrot premature claims of victory. cjr.org/politics/2020-…
2) Here are top cyber threats to watch for tomorrow. The main threat is what @ngleicher calls "perception hacks." Chances hackers change election results? Very small. Chances they'll try to convince us they did & the vote is not legitimate? Quite high. wired.com/story/election…