Democrats must bow to the Electoral College

Losing twice to Trump would be bad. An outright breakdown of American democracy would be much worse.

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

One mark of liberal-democratic government is the smooth, regularized transfer of power from one party to another after rule-based free and fair elections. This achievement is made possible by broad-based trust in democratic institutions and the widely shared perception of the legitimacy of the electoral process. No party wants to lose to its opponents and give up power to them. But each goes along with it on the understanding that another opportunity to prevail will soon come along — and because both sides agree that refusing to accept the outcome and attempting a permanent power-grab would yield results far worse than having to endure a temporary defeat.

In the polarized hothouse of American politics today, this process has begun to break down. Republicans now routinely talk as if the prospect of a Democrat winning the presidency is an existential threat to the country — which surely sounds worse than doing anything and everything to ensure a Republican remains in the White House. To this explosive ideological cocktail has now been added Donald Trump's reckless lies about voter fraud rendering any outcome other than a victory for himself illegitimate. Taking these provocations very seriously, many Democrats have begun to worry that the president may well refuse to accept the results of the upcoming election if they show him losing to Joe Biden.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.