It is wrong to conspire against the natural course of electoral processes in the United States. It is awful, of course, unless the Democratic Party does it against Donald Trump. In that case, it is laudable, desirable. So, this is a celebrated conspiracy.
For months, the campaign of former President Trump denounced the combination of forces he believed were stealing the presidency from him. Yesterday, TIME magazine published an extensive report revealing Trump was right to do so. This is not about fraud. It is about obscene manipulation to prop up the campaign of Donald Trump’s opponent; Joe Biden.
In the report, journalist Molly Ball writes about “The secret history of the shadow campaign that saved the 2020 elections.” We discussed, Ball recounts, how “a well-funded cabal of powerful people, from different walks of life and ideologies, worked together, behind the scenes, to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, direct media coverage. and control the flow of information.”
“Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got the states to change the voting system and laws and helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private funding. They fought back against voter suppression demands, recruited armies of poll workers, and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time,” the report notes. “They successfully lobbied social media companies to take a tougher line against misinformation and used data-driven strategies to fight viral slurs. They conducted national public awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks. “
This is very alarming. The above is just a small synopsis of these efforts. The manipulation was extensive. The journalist profiles Mike Podhozer, the chief adviser to the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest union federation, as the great architect of the conspiracy. But there are many faces; among them, that of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. A conspiracy orchestrated thanks to an alliance between “left-wing activists and corporate titans” took shape, behind the backs of millions of Americans.
However, most terrifying of all is that it is not a deep journalistic investigation. The same protagonists came to TIME to proudly tell their testimonies. “Every attempt to interfere with the conduct of the elections was neutralized. It is very important for the country to understand that this did not happen accidentally. The system did not work by magic. Democracy does not run by itself, ”Ian Bassis, co-founder of Protect Democracy, a non-partisan group that calls itself a defender of the rule of law, told the magazine.
And it is for this reason, as the journalist writes, that the authors wanted to tell their story: “They were not rigging the elections, but strengthening them. And they believe that the public must understand the fragility of the system to ensure that democracy in the United States lasts.
This sets a dangerous precedent. The stability of a democracy cannot depend on arbitrary, manipulative, and petty maneuvers, with the sole purpose of favoring a political faction. That is not what we believe in. That is not fair game.
Conspiring is not illegal, it is true. Neither is censorship, disappearing the president of the United States from all social media platforms, lying, manipulating, altering the rules and regulations, neutralizing information that disadvantages a candidate, and hiding the corruption of his son. But it is low. It is immoral and should not be legitimized by Americans who trust the strength of the country’s institutions.
Americans must vigorously reject the efforts of those who seek to meddle in the unwritten rules of its institutions and the Constitution. Endorsing this conspiracy, revealed by TIME and outlined as a commendable impulse, is to leave the country in the hands of the elites whose sole purpose is to protect their interests. Although the mainstream media tries to market it that way, it is not a plausible conspiracy. A group of powerful people has changed the natural course of events for their own benefit.
The Editorial Board