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'We will be counted' Protecting your vote · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: For years now, Donald Trump has told us that our
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: elections are, quote, rigged. Literally, in the very first contest
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: he faced in 2016, he accused Ted Cruz of fraud
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in the Iowa caucuses. Since then, he's repeatedly claimed that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: elections were stolen, voting machines were rigged and mail-in voting
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: was rife with fraud. But after losing the 2020 election
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: to Joe Biden, that talk turned to action. After falsely
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: claiming that the election had been stolen from him, Trump
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: pressured state officials to change the results. He told Vice
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: President Pence not to count legitimate electoral votes. And on
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: January 6th, 2021, a mob of his supporters stormed the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Capitol as Congress met to count the votes and certify
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the election. When Trump was later federally indicted over his
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: efforts to overturn that election, one of the charges against
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: him was conspiracy against rights. And the indictment spelled out
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the rights that prosecutors alleged he conspired to violate. Quote,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the defendant did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: co-conspirators known and unknown to the grand jury to injure, oppress,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: threaten and intimidate one or more persons in the free
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: them by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: That is the right to vote and to have one's
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: vote counted. Of course, the case never went to trial
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and was ultimately dismissed after Trump won the 2024 election.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: But the point remains important that casting a ballot is
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: only one part of an election. That ballot then has
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to be accepted, counted, and ultimately the result has to
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: be honored. Now, that distinction matters as we head into
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the midterms next month. We've seen congressional districts redrawn in
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the middle of the decade. Voter rolls are being scrutinized
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and challenged, and there have been efforts to change the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: rules around mail-in ballots. All while the president continues to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: make false claims and cast doubt on the legitimacy of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: elections before any votes have been cast. I'm not telling
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you this to discourage you. Quite the opposite, in fact,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: because there are things you can do now to prepare
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: for those obstacles and make it harder for anyone to
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: stand between you and your vote and your vote being counted.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: That's the idea behind a new series we're launching tonight
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: called We Will Be Counted. Over the next month, we're
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: going to take on these issues one at a time
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and give you a practical guide, a field guide, if
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: you will, to protecting your vote and making sure your
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: vote is counted. Voting this year may require a little
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: more thought, a little more preparation and a lot more participation.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: We're starting tonight with someone who spent years thinking and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: writing about what ordinary citizens can do when democracy itself
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: is under pressure. The renowned historian Timothy Snyder. Earlier this year,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Professor Snyder wrote, we are not spectators of this unfolding drama.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We are actors inside every scenario. And if we know
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the coup script in advance, we know when to take
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the stage. and where to take the rage, end quote.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Joining me now is Tim Snyder. He's a professor of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: history at the University of Toronto. He's the author of
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the bestseller on freedom. Professor Snyder, welcome to the show.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I'm glad to be with you.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: You have manifested, in addition to being sort of a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: public intellectual in this space, you've also manifested what it
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: means to be an actor right now in America, down
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to things as simple as being at these No Kings rallies.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: What does it mean to be an actor right now
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  Speaker 1: in America?
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  Speaker 2: That's a terrific question because we talk about democracy so
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: much as though democracy were something in and of itself
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: and democracy was just there or democracy would ride to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: rescue us. And it's just the other way around. Democracy
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: means the people ruling. And what history tells you is
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: that whatever the outside structural factors are, the people can
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: only rule if the people want to rule. which doesn't
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: mean that each citizen has to do everything for themselves.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: What it does mean is that everybody has to do
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: something and you have to go into an election with
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  Speaker 2: the attitude that you're here, you're present, you're happy that
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: you have these rights, you're going to enjoy them, you're
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: going to realize them with the hope that you're going
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  Speaker 2: to win.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: You say you use interesting words. I noticed this from
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: your social media posts in your writing. Use happy. Use enjoy.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Use joyful. You feel that these rallies, including the next one,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the No Kings rally on October 17th, is a sort
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  Speaker 1: of civic action that translates into protecting democracy at the box.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: But it doesn't have to be dire or fraught. This
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: is exactly right. I mean, everything that you said in
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: your intro is, of course, true. Mr. Trump will lie
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: about the elections. He will make threats. And what we
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: have to understand is that this is a normal historical situation.
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  Speaker 2: This is how tyrants or aspiring tyrants behave. We don't
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: have the time or the emotional space to be panicked
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: by this. What we have to recognize is that when
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: there's an uphill fight, you go uphill. You recognize that
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: the hill is real and you go up it. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: then you get to the top of it. You're happy
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: that you've achieved something. Unfair elections are won all the time.
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  Speaker 2: You recognize that it's a bit unfair. You turn out
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  Speaker 2: in huge numbers. You organize and you get ready to
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  Speaker 2: protect the results legally and with protests. It can be done.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: We've seen it over and over again.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: When you say in huge numbers, that could mean a
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: few things, right? Sometimes you do these things in numbers
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  Speaker 1: because there's a sense of community and you don't feel
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: as alone. It could be a safety issue. But there's
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: another element to that, and that is if elections are
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: won in large numbers because Americans turn out to vote,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it makes them harder to litigate.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all of that. I mean, number one, people should
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: already be talking out loud now with their friends, acquaintances, colleagues,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: fellow employees about voting and about remembering to vote. And ideally,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: people should also be talking about how this is an
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: unusual and an important election where our voice and our
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: vote counts for more than it would otherwise. Otherwise, but
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: then you're completely right. And I just want to I
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: want to accent this in a particular way. This is
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: a historic chance for the opposition party, which means in
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the US, the Democrats, not just to hold back bad things.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: This is a historic chance for the opposition party. to
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: take control of the entire legislature and to pass reforms
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: that are crucial, not just to hold Trump back, but
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: to prevent things like Trump from happening again and to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: take the things we've learned about Trump, specifically about corruption
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and wealth inequality, and use them as arguments to change
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the character of politics in this country. This is a
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: huge chance and we should take it.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Or just click below.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks.