I want to talk about American democracy.
You know, Mark Zuckerberg's favorite toy.
Look, 2020 has been a mess.
Horrific police brutality,
the coronavirus,
impeachment, the economy tanking,
and of course, this...
Mr. Peanut's untimely demise,
and how he's
being remembered this morning.
Planters confirmed
the sad news in a tweet,
writing, “It is with heavy hearts that
we confirm Mr. Peanut has died at 104.”
Not the first billionaire
I thought we'd murder, but...
a win's a win.
We are living
through rough times right now.
And it probably feels like
we don't agree on anything.
But actually, as a country,
we agree on more than you think.
And it's pretty surprising.
Universal background checks, ending
cash bail, legal status for DREAMers.
Republicans and Democrats
intersect on a lot of things.
It's a bizarre phenomenon known as...
“Boston.”
But year after year, none of it happens!
So it feels like we have a representative
government that doesn't represent us.
So it makes sense that every four years
about a 100 million
eligible voters
don't vote.
That's why I want to bring the focus
back on November.
And I know you're like,
“Hasan, November?
Dude, I don't even believe
in Thursday anymore.”
But whether we like it or not,
we also have an election this year.
And we are choosing...
between this.
How?
How is this the best we could do?
I'll explain how.
Now, I'm not going to tell you what to do.
I'm going to tell you how we got here.
As much as we like to say
our politics are fucked up
because of campaign finance,
gerrymandering, voter suppression,
the electoral college,
and the cast of The View,
there's actually a much more
fundamental problem:
we are doing elections wrong.
Now I'm not talking about voting machines
or polling places.
Not even this one in Bel Air.
“Mouthwatering lamb chops,
crispy Chinese chicken salad,
and a major dessert bar.
Did I mention there's a harpist?”
The ambiance is delightful.
the fact that I can spend less
time worrying about the voting
and more time enjoying
being at the polling facility
is, uh-- is probably the plus.
Yeah! Bel Air!
Nothing like getting up early,
voting for Bloomberg,
and heading into work
with a gut full of beef chow mein!
But I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the way
our elections are decided.
Think about elections for the Senate,
the House, and the presidency.
Only one person can win,
and it's winner-take-all.
You win everything,
or you lose everything.
You're either Kevin Hart or Kevin Spacey.
There is no in-between.
And you don't actually need
a majority to win.
“A majority is when a candidate
has more than half the votes.
A plurality is when
one candidate receives
more votes
than any other candidate.
So a candidate doesn't need
a majority of the votes,
they just need more votes than
any other candidate,
or a plurality.”
We misunderstand the most basic principle
of our democracy!
We think we have majority rules,
but that's not true.
It's actually plurality rules.
Unless you're on a yacht in the English Channel.
Then it's Vanderpump Rules.
Winner-take-all voting
is actually at the heart
of so many of our political problems.
It's a big reason why we have Trump
to begin with.
Let's go back to 2016, right?
In the Republican primary,
Trump never got a majority of voters!
He just got a plurality.
Less than 14 million Americans
voted for him.
That is only 5.5%
of all eligible voters!
Think about that for a second.
Most Republicans voted for “not Trump.”
But it didn't matter. The party had
to bow down and kiss the ring.
Just look at how they talked about Trump
before the nomination and then after.
Donald Trump
likes to sue people.
He should sue
whoever did that to his face.
Thank you for being a champion
for the cause freedom and democracy
in this hemisphere.
Donald Trump's candidacy
is a cancer on conservatism.
The extraordinary vision
that Donald Trump has.
I think he's a kook. I think he's crazy.
You know what concerns me
about the American press
is this endless, endless attempt
to label the guy as some kind of kook.
Aw, thanks, Lindsey.
It only took a couple months to go from
“This is the dirtiest man in politics,”
to “The bath is ready for you, my liege.”
Mainstream Republicans didn't
embrace Trump because they liked him.
They hated him!
But they hated Democrats more,
so they fell in line.
That fear and hatred of the other party
is the most powerful force
in politics today.
It's called “negative partisanship.”
It's easier
to rally people
to come out
against something
than to stand
for something.
And that ends up
degrading our democracy.
Dude, we all vote like 13-year-olds.
Everything's about who we hate,
not who we like.
And that is a direct result
of winner-take-all.
Every election is all or nothing.
So the two parties
just attack each other nonstop.
And it's driving them
further and further apart.
Look at how much polarization
has increased in the House and the Senate.
It looks like the stock market
during the pandemic.
We are more divided than ever.
Almost ever.
This is probably the most divided
we've been since the Civil War.
We've never been this divided
since the Civil War, probably.
At times it feels as if, culturally,
we're in a Cold Civil War.
A third of Americans
actually believe
that a second Civil War will happen
within the next five years.
Now.
Wow.
What does that actually mean?
It means, Ken Burns is about to win
another Emmy.
Shout out to Kenny B, who cut his hair
at home before it was cool.
Dude, we can't even come together
during a global pandemic.
We've turned public health
into a culture war.
They seem to be
very responsible people to me.
Yeah!
Nothing says “responsible”
like driving a tank
through the middle of the street.
I'm sure he's on his way
to invest in a mutual fund.
Now obviously,
Trump only made this worse.
And you can see how negative partisanship
plays out in the way he treated
armed protesters who agree with him
versus peaceful protesters
who disagree with him.
Trump said the George Floyd protests
were orchestrated by antifa.
Then said he wanted to designate antifa
as a terrorist organization.
Even though that same day,
the FBI said they had no evidence
antifa was involved in D.C. protests.
Trump's basically calling anyone
who disagrees with him a terrorist.
Which is upsetting.
I say this as a Muslim.
Donny...
I thought I was your only terrorist.
Once you start calling people
who disagree with you “terrorists,”
you feel justified doing
whatever it takes to beat them.
You have every incentive
to play as dirty as possible,
because in politics it pays off.
If you win, you get a whole seat.
That's why Republicans
have been caught countless times
using voter ID laws, purging voter rolls,
closing polling locations,
and gerrymandering.
This is Pennsylvania's 7th,
which has been referred to,
and I'm not making this up,
“Goofy kicking Donald Duck.” See that?
Ah, okay.
It's “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”
That's what we're calling it now.
I'm not saying Democrats are perfect.
They're fucking not.
And I'll get to that later.
But winner-take-all specifically pushes
Republicans to far-right extremes,
whether it's tactics, policy, or rhetoric.
And if you're a Republican politician,
you have to go along,
or primary voters will get you.
Why aren't more
Republicans speaking up?
It's always for the same reason.
They're scared
that they may be primaried.
Scared to death.
They're scared to death.
And they're scared to death.
They're scared stiff.
Boy, the fear of a primary challenge
is one hell of a drug.
Basically, Republicans are terrified
of getting canceled
for not being racist enough.
They're like,
“No, I swear I did blackface in college!
I lost the pictures,
but you gotta believe me!”
Winner-take-all encourages
Republican extremism.
And then our electoral system rewards it.
That system gives way more power
to white Republicans in rural states
and way less power
to Democrats clustered in cities.
More people voted for Democrats in six
of the last seven presidential elections,
two of the last three Senate elections,
and the last House election.
But Republicans control
the presidency, the Senate,
the Supreme Court,
most state legislatures,
most governorships,
and 100% of late-stage Kanye.
We don't have majority rule
in this country.
We have extreme minority rule.
That's why none of this feels normal.
I know, you guys are like,
“I'm fucking normal. Politics is not normal.”
And Trump is the epitome
of what winner-take-all
does to Republicans.
He loves going on the attack,
he's super far-right,
and he never got a majority,
but he still won.
Winner-take-all affects Democrats
the opposite way.
They need way more votes
to overcome
those geographic disadvantages.
Dems aren't playing to twelve straight up...
they're playing to twelve,
and you got to win by ten.
So they picked a candidate
who is undeniable.
We hold these truths to be self-evident.
All men and women are created by Go--
you know-- you know the thing.
You're a lying,
dog-faced pony soldier.
If you have a problem figuring out
whether you're for me or Trump,
then you ain't black.
Wait, Dems can be racist?
Let me check with the hot sauce
in my bag about this.
Dems are split.
Lots of people are happy that Biden won,
lots of people are upset.
Especially Bernie supporters.
I feel that
it's important to vote blue,
just because
it's a step in the right direction,
but I really, really
don't want to vote for Biden.
I really don't.
I get it.
Bernie stands for big, systemic reform.
Medicare for All, Green New Deal,
aggressive pointing.
What is Joe Biden's signature policy?
The closest thing that we could find
was just his stance on Trump.
Every single poll
that's run, I beat him like a drum.
I'm going to beat this man like a drum.
I will beat him like a drum.
Like a drum.
Like a drum.
Like a drum.
How is he weirder
when he finishes his sentences?
Biden's signature policy was basically
“I'm a moderate who can beat Trump.”
But that's actually way smarter
than it seems,
because Democrats need
broad appeal to win.
In a two-party system,
you better believe
democrats need a really big tent.
We have to have a big tent.
We have a big tent.
We have a big tent.
Big tent.
We're a big-tent caucus.
You've got to have a big tent.
A big, big tent.
That's the kind of
big tent we need.
Bernie has a big,
beautiful, broad tent.
“Bernie's got a big, thick, throbbing tent
with prominent veins.”
Miranda, you went full Samantha on that one.
But the thing is, Bernie didn't have
a big, broad, beautiful tent... Biden did.
On Super Tuesday,
Biden won almost everywhere.
But Virginia shows you
how much he dominated.
The state had record turnout,
and Biden won 98% of counties.
Exit polls showed that Biden beat Bernie
by double digits
among men, women, whites, blacks,
college, and non-college grads.
Or as Biden would call them,
“Fellas, broads, regulars, you people,
poindexters, and tough customers.”
And I know, a lot of Bernie bros
are like, “Hasan...
it's the system, man.
The DNC backed Biden!
This two-party system
made it impossible for Bernie!”
Alright, relax, Chapo Trap House.
It's true,
the establishment did back Biden.
But if you're mad at the DNC
and the two-party system,
you should really be mad
at winner-take-all elections.
“Why do we only have
two parties in this country?”
We have single-member districts,
winner-take-alls,
plurality election rules
where the most votes wins.
For these reasons,
we have a two-party system.
It's not unlike sports,
where if you have a sports league
like the NFL with one trophy at the end
and only one team can win,
you typically divide up that
professional sports league
into two different conferences.
Let's be real,
politics is more like the MLB.
Constant cheating, mostly white,
and nobody is in shape.
Winner-take-all creates two-party systems.
You can't afford to waste your vote,
so you stop voting for candidates
who reflect your values
and you start voting for ones
you think can win.
But when everybody does that,
we end up with just two huge mega-parties,
even though 57% of Americans
want a third party.
Think about the way we treat people
who vote third party.
You'd be like, “Dennis, who'd you vote for?”
And he's like, “Gary Johnson.”
And we're like, “Dennis,
what the fuck are you doing, man?”
We treat them
like they just left a baby in a hot car.
We're like, “What were you thinking?!”
So, what happens to the people
who don't fit in?
Well, I decided to talk to one of them.
Representative AOC,
thank you so much for sitting down with me.
Of course, thank you.
So, we are here in the Watergate Hotel.
Yeah.
This is kind of like a throwback to when
presidents were held accountable.
Yeah, exactly, for sure. When impeachment
was a thing that was effective, yeah.
Ah! Remember when we were rooting
for impeachment?
Now we're rooting for hydroxychloroquine.
Don't worry,
this interview was pre-corona.
I did not put the queen of clapback
in danger.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
has been one of the loudest voices
challenging the Democratic establishment,
and I wanted to talk to her about that.
So, do you think the Democratic party
is legit split?
I think there's a strong ideological split
in the Democratic party, yes.
Like how big a split are we talking about?
A fracture? A hairline fracture?
Out two to three weeks,
but will make the playoffs?
I think it's less a fracture
and more like two different limbs.
She's absolutely right.
You've got the moderate
arm of the party led by Nancy Pelosi
and the progressive arm with AOC.
The problem is,
one arm is doing fucking kettlebell swings
to Rage Against The Machine
and the other arm is doing bicep curls
to the Hamilton soundtrack.
“She likes to minimize
the conflicts within her caucus
between the moderates
and the progressives.”
You have these wings, AOC
and her group, on one side...
That's, like, five people.
No, it's the progressive group.
It's more than five.
Progressive?
I'm a progressive. Yeah.
“I'm a progressive.
My book club read The Help. Twice.”
Democratic leaders like Pelosi
need to keep everyone in the party.
So they make a big deal
about being all-inclusive.
Democrats are like Denny's.
They'll serve anyone, any meal, at any time.
Doesn't matter
if it's 4:00 A.M. or 4:00 P.M.
You want voting rights, renewable energy,
education, drone strikes, pot roast?
They got it. Everything is in there.
That's why the inside of a Denny's
looks like the Democratic party.
It's fucking chaos.
Republicans are way more narrow.
Their menu is like Chipotle.
They got a few key items:
immigration, abortion, guns, God.
You have to stick to the menu,
or you're out.
And just like Chipotle, the GOP is like,
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we love Mexicans.”
But you never see an actual Mexican
in there.
Democrats can't afford
for people to leave.
So they keep expanding the menu.
“Gay marriage? Absolutely.
Cancel a pipeline? Coming right up.”
But if you're a progressive
and you want some Green New Deal?
Pelosi's gonna be like,
“We don't make vegan shit here.
Shut up and eat your Obamacare.”
She's not kicking you out, but you are
definitely not getting what you want.
And you have nowhere else to go.
Is the Democratic party tent too big?
Well you know, I think in any two-party
system the tent is going to be really big,
because what it does
is that it squashes dissent.
But I do think that there are areas
where, when that tent gets so big,
you squash actually talking about issues
in substantive ways,
because you're not supposed
to critique moderate Democrats.
Granted,
I don't think the Democratic party's tent
is as awful
as the Republican party's tent.
Okay.
You look on the Republican side,
you have everyone who's just like...
corporate conservative,
and you have libertarians, and you have...
neo-Nazis, all in the same party.
-It's like racist Cirque du Soleil.
-Exactly, it's just like that.
The GOP is totally like Cirque du Soleil.
Every time I watch, I'm like, “This is
definitely going to get someone killed.”
If you're a progressive,
being in the big tent means that
if you rock with Bernie or with Warren,
you're going to watch your candidate
compromise on their values.
Which means you gotta compromise
on your values.
So I totally get it when people are like,
“Yo, fuck politics
and fuck these politicians!”
You watch them during the debates,
and it's double the Wu-Tang Clan onstage,
and they're sniping at each other
like they're trying to take out Bin Laden.
It's all about their principles.
For a socialist,
you got a lot more confidence
in corporate America than I do.
Your billionaire campaign contributors.
Purity tests you cannot yourself pass.
I went on the floor and got you votes.
I am deeply grateful
to President Obama
who fought so hard to make sure
that agency was passed into law.
“Yas queen. Liz never backs down.”
And that's why I'm proud
to endorse Joe Biden
as president of the United States.
See?
Every time this happens, people are like,
“Dude, you guys are all either sociopaths
or complete liars.
Quit telling me to stand and wear
a fucking T-shirt with your name on it.”
But the reason Democrats especially
have to compromise every election cycle
comes back to the way we vote.
Winner-take-all sends them
running to the middle,
because the only thing they can
all agree on is beating the other guy.
Biden is the epitome of this.
He's a big tent
whose only focus is beating Trump.
So, you want to know how
we ended up with this?
Winner-take-all.
And you know what's ironic?
The two-party system
that we have right now
was actually
the Founding Fathers' worst nightmare.
John Adams said, quote,
Nothing in the Constitution
says that we have to have two parties,
or winner-take-all.
And I know this,
because I looked through it.
And I know when I generally look through
government documents,
I usually find something really racist,
but not this time.
Except that, that was bad.
So...
why do we have winner-take-all plurality
voting if it's not even in the rule book?
It's because the Founding Fathers
just copied what the British were doing!
Dude, they didn't want us
to have two parties,
but they gave us the system
that got us here!
It's not often that I say this
about a group of slave owners, but...
I'm disappointed in you guys.
Look, we can talk about
fixing the Electoral College,
or gerrymandering, or campaign finance.
Those are important,
but fixing those things
won't solve negative partisanship,
it won't break up the two parties,
and it won't fix the fundamental problem
of how we vote.
So, if you feel helpless or you voted
for Gary Johnson... I'm sorry, Dennis...
there is hope.
There is something we have right now
that could change the game.
It's something called
“ranked-choice voting,”
where you rank the candidates
in the order of your preference.
It's easier to explain with a clip.
“Instead of
voting for one candidate,
voters rank the options
in order of preference.
The best way to learn is to try it out.
So I did.
With some delicious local beer.”
Okay, can we just get a normal clip
that just uses candidates?
“You have four candidates:
duck, gray duck,
goose, and lutefisk.”
What the fuck is lutefisk?
I said, “Candidates!”
“Here's the candidates
who appeared on the ballot,
from Ant-Man to Wonder Woman.”
Oh my God,
the news thinks we're all fucking idiots.
Do they think we're just rolling up
to the voting booth like, “Wait...
who's Stacey Abrams? Is she Aquaman?”
We don't dumb things down like that
on this show.
So I'm going to explain
ranked-choice voting to you
like you're an adult.
Let's say you have three candidates:
Baby Yoda, Paddington Bear,
and Detective Pikachu.
Voters rank their favorites.
And once all the first-choice votes
are counted,
if anyone gets over 50%,
it's like winner-take-all... they win.
Great! Baby Yoda.
He'll legalize weed.
But... if no one gets over 50%,
in a winner-take-all system,
Paddington Bear would win.
But in a ranked-choice system,
the candidate with the fewest votes
gets taken out.
So if Detective Pikachu
was your first choice,
your now vote goes to your second choice.
And now, whoever gets
more than 50% wins.
Sick! He'll also legalize MDMA.
This is actual majority-rules voting.
And it's great,
because you can vote your conscience
without electing some fascist
like Paddington Bear.
It's true. He supports the death penalty.
In ranked-choice, candidates
have to reach out to all voters,
so negative partisanship goes away.
And there are no wasted votes,
so third parties can actually grow.
But the most beautiful thing
about ranked-choice voting?
We can do it right now.
You don't need to go through Congress.
You just need a local law.
In 2018, Maine became the first state
to implement ranked-choice voting.
And voters got campaign ads like this...
What? That is the most insane thing
I have ever seen in my life.
How am I supposed to know who to vote for
when no one's being called a Nazi?
Dude, the vibe of that video was like,
“Nice older poly couple
who lives in a tree house
and makes their own honey.”
Ranked-choice voting
is a long-term solution.
This year...
this is what we have.
So even principled politicians
you may love
are gonna have to fall in line.
You seem optimistic that
no matter what happens, come this fall...
you will rally around
whoever the nominee is.
-For sure.
-Are you ready to stand by that principle?
-Yes.
-I want you to go directly to camera
and say, “I'm AOC,
and I endorse ‘mmm’ for president.”
I can't say that,
I'm gonna get in trouble!
How about this: “I'm AOC, and I endorse
Guy Fieri for Mayor of Flavortown.”
Let's go to Flavortown. Let's do it.
Honk honk or whatever.
“Honk honk or whatever?”
This is what we're doing?
This is the problem!
-We can't have whatever.
-No. For sure. For sure.
I don't mean that jokingly.
I mean that for sure.
I'll bleach my tips. Let's do it.
-Let's go to Flavortown.
-Let's go to Flavortown.
So if you're wondering
how 2020 is gonna end,
I don't care what side of the aisle
you're on,
bleach your tips, because I guess
we're all going to Flavortown.
