Thursday on CNN’s “OutFront,” historian Jon Meacham said if Republicans held the majority in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections, they would likely “undermine” free and fair elections.
Host Erin Burnett said, “Caniidates frame every election as an existential battle, not just a choice. And we’ve all experienced that in our lives. But now here we are at a midterm election that is being framed that way in an era that is, is, is, is profoundly unique in its own way. Is it true this year?”
Meacham said, “I think the vital question is the truly unique virus that President Trump introduced into the body politic is a particularly virulent one. And it is that if an election doesn’t go the way you want. It wasn’t legitimate. It must have been stolen. It must have been rigged. That’s a unique contribution, if you will, to the American political vernacular. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams didn’t do it. Andrew Jackson didn’t do it in 1824. Richard Nixon didn’t do it in 1960. Hubert Humphrey didn’t do it in 1968. Vice President Gore didn’t do it in 2000. We just we tended to respect the results of elections. What happened in 2020 sets that existential, question for us right now.”
He added, “The Republicans were to hold on to, if the MAGA Republicans were to hold on to the Congress, there is the possibility that more work would be done to undermine those full, free and fair elections. And I think that is a vital thing that should be supra, Partizan, if you’re a Democrat or if you’re a Republican, you should care about that.”
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