No. of Recommendations: 4
On election night, the repudiation will be unmistakable. Within a day, a score of MAGA candidates will refuse to concede. Within a week, Trump’s lie will have found its footing. Results that seemed certain will be presented as uncertain, despite no evidence sufficient to overturn them.
Within two weeks, Trump will be on offense. The conversation will shift from the scale of his defeat to his demands. His accusations will dictate the questions. His allies will demand investigations, delays and exceptions. The country will be asked to prove, repeatedly, what its voters have already decided.
By December 1, I expect corporate media to be filled with stories asking whether the new Congress should be seated, or can be seated. The obstruction will supply the controversy. The controversy will supply the coverage. The coverage will confer legitimacy on the obstruction.
The liars will arrive on the Sunday shows. They will filibuster a fantasy into apparent reality, exploiting every interruption, every timid follow-up, and every invitation to return. Their purpose will be to exhaust the distinction between an allegation and evidence.
Truth and falsehood will receive the same lighting, the same introductions, and the same respectful opportunity to make their case. Viewers will be invited to choose between them as though a certified vote count and an invented conspiracy were competing preferences.
By mid-December, I fear huge swaths of America will no longer know who won.
Then what?
That confusion will become the justification for extraordinary action. A manufactured crisis will be offered as grounds for withholding recognition, obstructing the new Congress and protecting presidential power from the restraints voters demanded.
This is the sequence I am warning about. The election produces a verdict. The lie attacks certainty. The media amplifies the dispute. The resulting confusion becomes an argument for denying the verdict its consequences.
The press must confront that sequence while it unfolds. Every allegation requires evidence. Every obstruction requires an explanation of who benefits. Every threat against an official requires scrutiny. Repetition cannot turn a falsehood into a fact, and a presidential demand cannot erase a lawful result.
Citizens must vote. Officials must count, certify and enforce the results. Institutions must withstand intimidation.
A victory that cannot take effect leaves the people dispossessed of their own decision.
The press must find its courage. The verdict must take effect.
Dangerous hours and days lie ahead.
Steve Schmidt
