A sea of preppy khakis and blazers. Buttoned-down shirts and Hermes ties. Belligerent white men banging on doors and chanting, “stop the voter fraud!”
This is all one needs to envision the Brooks-Brothers riot from twenty years ago. A substantial group of opulently dressed middle-aged white men stormed a government building in Miami-Dade county, where a hand recount of pivotal votes was going to determine the fate of the presidential race between George Bush and former Vice President Al Gore. Conservatives of the 2000 election era can recall the familiar operatives behind the Brooks-Brothers Riot: Brad Blakeman and Roger Stone, who put together a bare-knuckled operation, recruiting colleagues to put a stop to the recounting. Their argument? The legal recount in four Floridian counties, requested by Gore, was voter fraud and that the election canvassing board was committing a crime.
Sounds familiar, right?
The despairing part about the rampage was that the Miami-Dade county Canvassing Board decided to shut down the hand recounts of the election ballots as a result of the violent demonstrations and public pressure. The tumultuous disturbance had actually worked, leading to the Supreme Court’s ludicrous decision and the atrocious opinion (written by Justice Anthony Kennedy), setting a moratorium on the recount that essentially handed Bush the presidency.
Gore was robbed. The vote of the people was robbed. Twenty years later, such a theft is threatening to take place again.
Protestors outside of the Miami-Dade county election office on Nov. 22, 2000. Photo Courtesy of the Washington Post.
The lessons from the 2000 election have not been neglected by Republicans. Rather, they have been amplified. The pandemic has forced the nation to become innovative this election, where the most cautious way to vote was by mail. Yet, Republicans have smeared every form of voting, other than at polling stations, as voter fraud. The claims they made: voting by mail is voter fraud, curbside voting is voter fraud, and mail-in drop off boxes are fraud boxes, have eschewed their supporters from voting by absentee ballots.
The Trump campaign continues to attempt at halting the counting of votes, whether in the form of “voter fraud” accusations or through litigation means by suing in several states and counties to halt the count. His supporters, however, have a different, more hands-on method in mind of stopping the “fraud”.
“Folks, they’re trying to Brooks Brothers Riot it in Michigan,” journalist Josh Marshall wrote on Twitter. “Mob action. They’re trying to shut it down.”
As the votes were being counted in, what seems like, a neverending election, Trump supporters have swarmed the ballot-counting centers in the cities of Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Detroit, demanding they “stop the steal,” in what looks like a cheaper, Walmart version of the Brooks-Brothers riot.
Supporters of President Trump protesting the 2020 election results in Arizona. Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera.
The Brooks-Brothers riot was made up of folks looking distinct in suits and extravagant outfits, flying to Miami to intimidate poll workers, hence the name Brooks-Brothers. Trump-supporters have attempted to shutdown the votes in several cities, but the polar shift in their attire gives us a greater look at the shift in the Republican party since the 2000 election.
The demonstrators thus far seems to be a downgrade, market version, of the 2000 rioters. Visible amongst the crowd of protesters were, “frumpy green polos, hoodies, and T-shirts emblazoned with the Betsy Ross flag.” The appearance of the crowd taps into the question of who exactly makes up the Republican party.
Indubitably, the GOP base has morphed over the past twenty years, which is particularly evident in this election. The Republican party is no longer a cadre of rich old white men (though they still make up a significant portion), but rather it consists of an added hefty chunk of blue collar white workers, Facebook moms, QAnon conspiracy theorists, white supremastists, and surprisingly, Latinos (Cubans in south Florida and Mexicans in south Texas) who strongly supported Trump in 2020, handing him victories over Florida and Texas.
Cuban Trump supporters wave flags outside Versaille, a Cuban restaurant in Little Havana, Miami. Photo Courtesy of Politico.
The truth is, voter fraud does not exist. Voter fraud has never been substantiated. But rather, this is the Republican fear and trepidation of high voter turnout, is going to result in a loss for Trump. The only way to avoid this predicament to ravage the idea of vote by mail.
From stacking the courts with conservative judges, rushing the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice a month before the election, and propagating the idea of voter fraud, Republicans have been circumspect in applying the same structure as 2000 to the 2020 election cycle.
The most notable tactic from 2000 that the Republicans have applied in this election is the emerging concept of voter fraud, even though voter fraud is not transpiring. In the case for Republicans, the concept is strategic; the notion gives Republicans a means of concealment, allowing them to forward a strategy to limit specific voters and specific votes (which would normally lean towards the Democrats) from being counted. The conspicuous case of this effort was first enacted by the Bush administration’s Justice Department, which became a staunch defender against the non-existent “voter fraud.” Their idea, that the fraud was advantageous to Democrats, carried out significantly into red states. The attempts to halt voter fraud came in forms of photo ID laws and limiting early voting, through the Help America Vote Act of 2002. These attempts that were passed under the Bush administration ended up disenfranchising poor voters, Black voters, voters of color, and voters that would typically lean Democrat.
However, there is still no evidence of voter fraud. This perception of voter fraud doesn’t exist in reality, but rather in the fantasies of duplicitous Republicans. Voter fraud is what Republicans have used for the past twenty years as a cover up for voter suppression, eradicating and depreciating the votes of minorities and threatening the legitimacy of our democracy.
Nevertheless, America spoke. America took action. America chose decency.
At around 11:24 am on Saturday morning, Joe Biden was announced President elect, a repudiation of Donald Trump. Biden broke the record, winning the most amount of votes than any candidate in history. Yet, at 11:45 am, President Trump’s campaign issued a statement challenging the election results, accusing Biden of falsely claiming victory and accusing media organizations for calling the election before all the votes were counted.
Fireworks and drones decorated the sky following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory speech to the nation on Nov. 7, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo Courtesy of Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” President Trump said in the statement. “We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed.”
In the statement, Trump also made it clear that his campaign would turn to the courts to “ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.” Trump’s several shambolic lawsuits and doubts on the legitimacy of the election has sought to divide the country in the middle of a crisis over cultural and racial points.
Joe Biden rightfully won, without voter fraud. And if Donald Trump attempts to take that away, it will be because of voter fraud.
It is time for Donald Trump to allow this nation to heal.
