Downballot: Donald Trump is not a threat to democracy
As the 2024 election nears, theGrio’s Downballot series explores the issues, races and individual candidates appearing on the ballots in state and local elections.
What happens to an election deferred?
Does it dry up
like a president’s Big Lie?
Or ramble aimlessly
like a man in cognitive decline?
Will votes be certified on the House floor?
Or in the Supreme Court,
like Bush v. Gore?Maybe America’s too strong
to let democracy erode.Or does it explode?
Can one drop of anointing oil spoil a ballot?
I’m asking for an auntie.
As the duly appointed Chief Nephew Advisor to the Harriot Aunties Council, I am contractually obligated to field all questions, complaints and instructions from my 80-year-old aunt, Marvell Clyburn (not to be confused with the late, great founding auntie, my grandmother Marvell Harriot). Not only is the second-generation Marvell the oldest of my mother’s siblings, she has been saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost since she was 15. Renowned for her remarkable ability to get Jesus on the main line, she is also recognized among her peers as a standout in one of the most popular pastimes for Black women ages zero to 115:
Hating Donald Trump.
My Aunt Marvell despises that man. Like 95% of the auntie electorate, she believes the MAGA movement is worse than wearing shorts to church, taking a baby outside with no hat, and all the “boompity-boomp music” ever played on FM radio. To her, Jan. 6 will always be one of the worst things that ever happened to America (unless, of course, Victor Newman dies), and, as far as she is concerned, anyone who wants a second Trump presidency is damning the country she built into a thousand years of eternal darkness. Fortunately, Auntie M believes three things could change the minds of apathetic couch sitters, undecided voters, and — the most despicable of all — white women who vote for Trump (my aunt can spot them because, apparently, most of them don’t wear slips):
- Jesus
- “A good talking to”
- Her nephew Mikey.
Our increasingly frequent anti-MAGA auntie-nephew phone calls usually begin with her asking if I have gotten “saved” yet and random small talk, followed by pleas for me to “tell the people” how to stop the “threat to democracy.” Our most recent conversation did not deviate from the trend. After I declined her offer to drive four hours across two states to pick up a few jars of her homemade jelly, I assured the lesser of the two Marvells that poll watchers couldn’t stop her from praying in a voting booth (as long as she didn’t start shouting). “And don’t worry about Donald Trump, Auntie,” I noted, at the risk of being called a blasphemer. “Technically, he can’t destroy democracy.”
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“That ain’t what Joy Reid said,” replied Aunt Junior, citing the teachings of the Auntie community’s most beloved disciple. “Trump is a threat to democracy. Mikey, please don’t tell me you’re one of those Black men who’s gone MAGA! That ain’t how we raised you! Lord Jesus, not my nephew!” I could hear her gathering her purse and car keys. But before my overanxious aunt broke the 48 mph auntie speed record flying across two states to dab my forehead with Holy Ghost-infused extra virgin olive oil, I managed to calm her fears by explaining why Trump isn’t the person she should be worried about.
The real threat to democracy
On January 6, 2025, when Vice President Kamala Harris, the 100 senators, and the 435 voting delegates of the 119th United States Congress will meet in joint session to count and certify the electoral votes from the 2024 presidential election, Trump won’t be there. At least 87 House members and 20 Senators must submit any objections to certifying the election in writing. If this seemingly high bar eases your concerns as much as it did my aunt’s, there’s one more thing you should know:
The election deniers have the numbers.
According to ElectionDeniers.org, the States United Democracy Center and almost every reputable source, 20 sitting senators and 152 current US Representatives have publicly denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. In fact, most states — thirty-six in all — are represented in Congress by an election denier. Feel better? Now for the good news:
Every single one of the U.S. Representatives who rejected the results in 2020 is up for reelection, along with four of the sitting senators (Rick Scott, Josh Hawley, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz) who officially assisted the insurrection. We can avoid this entire crisis if the election certifiers pick up just one senate seat from the election deniers. You, me and Aunt Marvell can just vote them out. You don’t have to do mathematical permutations of election scenarios. You don’t even need to phone a nephew. Congress can’t overturn the election if the number of election-denying Senators drops to 19. Basically, in the war to certify a free and fair election, the entire game comes down to one guy:
Ted Cruz.
Of all the Senate’s election deniers running for Senate, Cruz has the best chance of losing. According to polls, the Texas Republican currently holds a razor-thin margin over civil rights attorney and voting rights advocate Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas). In the only debate between attempted vote suppressor Cruz and Allred, the latter a civil rights attorney who literally devoted his career to protecting democracy, Allred exposed Texas’ incumbent senator as a grifter and a coward. To be fair, the man who didn’t let hundreds of his constituents freezing to death stop his luxurious Mexican vacation has never been concerned with anyone else’s power but his own. Even if Cruz was interested in preserving the power of the vote, he couldn’t do it alone.
Before the electoral votes reach Washington DC, a designated election official from each state certifies their respective state’s election results. The process varies from state to state but usually involves certification from a governor, secretary of state, attorney general statewide election board, or, in some cases, the entire state legislature.
In Alabama, election deniers (Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall and Secretary of State Wes Allen) hold every office responsible for overseeing its elections. Currently, 26 election deniers in 19 states serve in statewide offices that regulate the voting process, including five secretaries of state, 11 attorney generals, eight governors and two election board commissioners. Even worse, 14 “Stop-the-Steal” candidates will appear on the 2024 ballots for a position that allows them to toss out votes. The Big Liars include Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, North Carolina AG candidate Dan Bishop and Missouri’s Republican nominees for attorney general and secretary of state.
An uncounted number of election deniers also serve on local election boards and in state legislatures that have the power to overturn or delay election results. Since the 2020 debacle, nine states (Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee) have passed laws that allow state legislatures to seize control of elections. In six of the nine states, Republicans control both branches of the legislature and serve as Secretary of State and Attorney General.
Yes, the threat to democracy is local.
While these numbers may seem daunting, it also offers hope. Donald Trump can’t make Donald Trump president and we can vote out the people who can. The threat to democracy has nothing to do with Trump, Haitian cat-eaters, transgender surgeries or even white women’s undergarments. But Aunt Junior was right about one thing: Democracy is on the ballot.
If pro-democracy voters turn out, all the Stop-the-Steal insurrectionists in the world can’t overturn the will of the people, and the danger Trump poses will eventually evaporate like his addled brain. If we don’t care, the anti-American MAGA movement will metastasize into a malignant cancer that kills our constitutional republic. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, every voter in this election must choose between two parties:
Democracy or nothing.
My explanation either unnerved or satisfied my Aunt Marvell because she quickly rushed me off the phone. When I asked why she was suddenly in a hurry, I could hear the enthusiasm in her voice. “I gotta go email Joy Reid and pray,” she replied. “Make sure you tell the people!”
In the 2024 election, you don’t have to rub Jesus’ special lotion on your ballot to save America’s soul. You don’t need to wear a slip or even switch parties. All you have to do is vote for democracy — like patriots do. Like real Americans do. Like Black women and Black men and every nephew of every Marvell who ever lived.
Make sure you tell the people.
Michael Harriot is an economist, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His New York Times bestseller Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America is available everywhere books are sold.