MSNBC historian: 'Vote as if your life depends on it'
MSNBC historian Michael Beschloss implored viewers on Sunday to vote as if your life depends on it "because it might" in response to threats to democracy.
MSNBC contributor and NBC News historian Michael Beschloss called to "vote like your life depends on it" during an appearance on "The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart" during which he also told the host, "I don't know" if the country will survive this.
Capehart discussed President Biden meeting with Beschloss and other journalists and historians to discuss the "trends toward autocracy" worldwide and the threat of losing democracy in the country. Beschloss agreed with Biden that this could be "a battle for the soul of America" comparable to the Civil War and Nazi Germany.
"If we were living in 1940 you and I would have said, ‘There is a serious danger that America would not be a democracy because A. there are people from within who want to make this an authoritarian system. And B. the Nazi Germans, the Italians, the Japanese, were living in a world where fascism was on the march,’" Beschloss said. "What we all said to the president was, this, 2022, is like a moment like that."
"And therefore, this midterm election, and the presidential election of 2024, they said it was always the most important election in history. It’s pretty close to it. I would say to our friends, who are watching us today, vote as if your life depends on it. Because it might," he added.
FILE: A voter arrives at a polling location to cast his ballot in the Michigan Primary Election on August 2, 2022 in Lansing, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Several Democrats and media pundits have invoked the mantra "vote like your life depends on it" for midterm and presidential elections. Former President Barack Obama similarly told young people to "vote like your life depends on it, because it does" last November to combat climate change.
Beschloss implied that the threat increased after the FBI raid against former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home based on Trump and the GOP’s response afterwards.
Former President Donald Trump has accused the FBI of conducting a coordinated attack against him with the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
"What, you know, what is even worse than that? Kevin McCarthy, threatened—the possible next Speaker of the House if the Republicans win—threatened an attorney general, and said, 'You better lay off,' essentially, 'You better lay off Trump, or else there's going to be violence.' When have we ever seen that before in American history? And even reports that Trump himself tried to send a message to Merrick Garland, that unless you get some kind of immunity, you're going to have a civil war. That's a threat. No one should make it, [especially not] an ex-president of all people," Beschloss said.
DAN BONGINO: THE FBI RAID ON MAR-A-LAGO WAS ‘TYRANNY,’ NOT LAW ENFORCEMENT
"And your last answer is truly the most frightening thing that I've heard, or that we can even contemplate. Are we going to survive this?" Capehart asked.
"I don't know," Beschloss answered.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that the FBI and the Justice Department have received increased death threats since the raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. (AP/Susan Walsh)
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Jonathan Capehart’s paper, The Washington Post, previously published a piece from fellow columnist Max Boot that warned Trump returning to the presidency would be the "death knell" for democracy.