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Trailing In Polls, Trump Turns To Discredited Recount Playbook | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC - YouTube
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in every democracy election night is
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treated as a big deal
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the campaign's over voting is done the
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polls are closed
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and everyone waits for that moment when
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we all learn what the future holds
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do you remember where you were around
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say 11 p.m eastern on election night in
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2008.
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11 p.m on the east coast we're back on
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the air and we have news
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an african-american has broken the
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barrier as old as the republic
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barack obama is projected to be the next
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president
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of the united states this is your
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victory
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[Applause]
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change has come to america
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that was a big night that was the moment
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of a historic election call and it came
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pretty early
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just moments after the last polls closed
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out west partly because obama had such a
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clear margin
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of seven points but there's nothing
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automatic or legally necessary about
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declaring a winner that
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fast which brings us to tonight's
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special report what you need to know
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about this year's election and why no
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politician not even a president
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can override the vote counting now
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modern technology makes many things
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faster we know that
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we're accustomed to learning who won on
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election night but speed has
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no actual purpose here as a matter of
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governing the winners of federal
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elections have months
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before they take office and this is more
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crucial
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this year because one a pandemic
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election is different
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two president trump may try to exploit
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delays as he's already
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talked about and three totally apart
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from trump
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it's perfectly fine when there's time
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between when people vote
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be it three weeks out or on november
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third and when we get the result
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that was true during the recount in 2000
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then
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president clinton put it simply
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the american people have now spoken but
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it's going to take a little while to
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determine
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exactly what they said
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if this year's race is close it's
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plausible that we will not know
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who the new president will be on the
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night of or the next day or even longer
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and that's okay so let's dig into why
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well the first reason is the most
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obvious this year the coronavirus
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even as we see long lines at the early
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voting locations even this week many
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states
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are expanding how people can vote safely
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from home
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and that's sparking a dramatic rise in
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people voting by mail
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so a close race could require counting
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ballots for weeks and weeks
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now why is that i mean
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just as a basic matter of logic you
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might think getting ballots in early is
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like getting a head start on your
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homework maybe the states could
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count it up early and be even more ready
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well like every other
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legal issue in our federalist
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constitution it depends on the state
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most states allow early ballot
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processing for that head start
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so you have even battleground states
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like nevada georgia and minnesota which
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allow mail and ballots to be processed
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as soon as they're received in some
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states that means today
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but others have laws that ban that kind
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of early counting
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and there are reasons for that it can
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combat potential leaks so officials can
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only start counting
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on the formal election day when we watch
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all those calls come in
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now if you plan to watch as these
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returns come in this year
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this is relevant to your night to your
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november political health the states
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with those laws will take longer to
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count and they include key states that
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mattered in 16 to trump
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like pennsylvania and wisconsin and
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michigan where officials are already
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preparing voters for the wait
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we should be prepared for this to be
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closer to an election week as opposed to
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an election day
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we are not going to have artificial
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deadlines set by
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you know people with political agendas
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we are not going to have the full
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results and accounting of all of our
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ballots on election night
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wow so you heard it right there
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michigan's top vote counter is already
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saying
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they will not have results on election
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night and to think of this as election
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week or more
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governor flat out calling election day
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an artificial deadline
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and separate from no matter who wins
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that's right
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election day is not necessarily a time
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to demand results it's just the time to
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start tallying them
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if the election does hinge on a few
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swing states
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which we know may not have the results
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in election night then you would have a
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longer race
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there are ways election i could wrap up
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just like i showed you with obama
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relatively quickly if biden for example
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won minnesota new hampshire and one
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florida on election night
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then there's a chance he could actually
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have the required electoral votes
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to be declared the winner
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constitutionally and it wouldn't matter
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if there were delays in some of those
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states i just showed you like michigan
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or wisconsin
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now totally apart from this pandemic and
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this president
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there's another way that things can take
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time and that's when a winner emerges
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but it's not
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final so you have the apparent winner
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but the race is close enough to support
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legitimate legal appeals now this is
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important i say legitimate
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because if someone just loses badly and
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files appeals judges
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they tend to toss those cases real quick
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but if it's
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actually close and there are valid
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recounts
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will court battles take time like in
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2000
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this being billed as the polls closed
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before the election
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as the closest election in a generation
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somewhat
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unbelievably here we are now three
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nights after election night and there
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still
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is no president-elect not even close the
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florida supreme court is still
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deliberating tonight
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long after its normal 5 pm deadline both
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sides are studying what happens if this
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race isn't settled by january
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5th the justices working for a second
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night on their historic decision
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while the candidates their lawyers and
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everyone else wonders the same thing
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what's taking so long well the battle
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was
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taking so long because the legal system
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allows it each side
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could have different political
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motivations remember neither party has a
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position on timing or recounts
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in these races both parties will push
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for what helps them win
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in 2000 republicans were arguing well
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bush had already won
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before he legally had democrats were
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arguing look
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nothing's final until there's a full and
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fair count and it's complete
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governor bush won each and every time
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apparently the gore camp is not
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satisfied with that
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and they're going to keep on trying to
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go as long as they can until they get a
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result they like
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the legitimacy of any president that's
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elected
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is going to be impaired unless the
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american people
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understand that there has been a full
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and fair
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count of all the votes george bush is
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president-elect
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now if we continue just to count until
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gore wins
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that will take weeks and weeks and it'll
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be endless litigation
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the american people have now spoken but
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it's going to take a little while to
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determine exactly what they said
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that was right it took a while the
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election was not resolved until over a
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month
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after election day when the supreme
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court ruled to end certain counting in
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florida
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other races though they've taken even
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longer than that
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take 1876 hayes versus tilden
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wasn't decided until the following year
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and non-partisan experts note that
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when it takes extra time that's an
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indicator election officials are working
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through
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safeguards that prevent frauds or errors
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so if you find someone rushing the
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process say
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potentially donald trump they're not
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combating fraud according to the experts
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now some are worried about the
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president's rhetoric this process and
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this timing is not his call
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and he's not the first candidate to try
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to muddy these waters
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even in the most recent elections in
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2018 florida was
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again so close that a recount was
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automatically triggered
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under law republican rick scott falsely
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argued that a careful recount was some
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kind of democratic plot
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i will not sit idly by while unethical
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liberals
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try to steal this election from the
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great people of florida
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so scott made noise but again just like
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trump
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it wasn't his call the counting
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continued and guess what
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he won the point here is not what's good
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for one party or the other but the law
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governs the law provides time to count
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more time to count if there is a recount
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under state law
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and in some places it is true that as
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things come in a later count can tilt a
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certain way for demographic reasons
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slower counting in dense cities
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for example where more democratic voters
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tend to be or it can go the other way if
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male votes are counted first in a state
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and then in person votes
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then lean more republican which is
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entirely possible with trump
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saying people should only vote in person
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now we just showed you florida last
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cycle the republican had the lead
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before and after the recount that's
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typical when a race is super duper close
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and there are errors a recount though
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can still shift
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who leads that's exactly what happened
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in al franken's 2008 race he was barely
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behind in those initial results
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he took the lead only later when all
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votes were carefully tabulated in that
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recount which is for accuracy
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now the republican appealed which is his
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legal right all the way to the supreme
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court
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of that state now that added time the
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whole thing ended up taking
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eight months but the court backed al
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franken in the final tally
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and that republican conceded
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i conducted the legal challenge i wanted
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i have always believed you do the best
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you can
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and you leave the results up to a higher
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authority
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i'm at peace with that
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that is what the rule of law sounds like
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fight hard sure to the end but respect
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the higher authority
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of law over one's personal politics that
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applies to candidates
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and citizens by the way now how do all
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these facts and historical lessons apply
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in these 19 days ahead of us
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well this is important let me try to
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walk us through it
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first this is up to the referees not the
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players
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so we should all look to the state
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officials and the courts
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to make tough calls not the candidates
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on the field
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second we have to get it through our
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heads
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there is no such thing as election night
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anymore this could take time and we all
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need to be ready from voters
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and the political class to yes the media
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which has made mistakes by trying to get
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ahead of the ballots not only
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in the past not only infamously in 2016
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but again
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just in these last midterms where people
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on tv
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got things wrong by trying to make
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predictions
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too early when the ballots weren't all
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in about an election
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too soon
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it is entirely possible that the
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democrats will regain control
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of the house today but i have to say
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when you look at what's going on here
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tonight this is not a blue wave
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i see the chances of a wave kind of
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dissipating every time i see something
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on the board
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pickups of 40 and beyond would amount to
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much more significant
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size majority at the moment democrats do
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not believe that it'll be
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that big of a majority
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wrong each of those claims were wrong
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some on our air some on other air all
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wrong democrats
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did go on to gain 40 seats in a historic
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blue wave some call it a tsunami now the
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point here is not that those
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pundits were too overconfident
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they were just too early trying to
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analyze and report on races as if they
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were finished when the counting was
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still going
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not just that night or that week but we
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looked this up
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all the way until december 6th that's
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when the last
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outstanding house race in california was
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called and you can't measure the wave or
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how many seats were won in the house
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until
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all the seats have been resolved now
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this year the media and political class
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we all have to work on this we have to
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avoid chasing results too early
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to paraphrase asap ferg chasing chasing
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chasing
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all this ballot chasing i'm like a bad
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doctor
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i ain't got no patience this year we all
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have to have a little more patience than
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a bad doctor
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and shout out to ferg for the dad joke
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raps
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now if you take it all together this
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could be one of the more important
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things
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in this year's election you know at this
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week's supreme court nomination hearings
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there was much talk about tradition and
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originalism
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but america's original tradition does
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not provide
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for one election day for many decades
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states held different election days over
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a longer period
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and the constitution as we just walked
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through provides weeks to tally and
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certify votes
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now many things are different in 2020
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but not this and while people like fast
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results we like instant information
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there's actually a deeper point here a
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healthy democracy honors
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fair rules for all consistently
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even as the world evolves around us the
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ground rules are the same
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even as society shifts you know i could
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quote a founding father for that idea
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but
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let's reach for a more contemporary
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elder the great morgan freeman
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who just dropped some of this very
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wisdom on the new project
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savage mode 2.
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are things better or worse the second
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time around
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can we really do anything more than once
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more than once
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god stop playing
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we can't literally do anything more than
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once because we
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are not the same when we do it that
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second time
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deep so america is about to do this same
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thing again another election
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even as we are different we're changed
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by the pandemic
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for change by four years of trump will
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things be better or worse
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this time we don't know yet
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the answer is up to the voters and we'll
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be listening
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for as long as it takes to hear
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all of them hey i'm ari melvin from
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msnbc you can see more of our videos
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right here or better yet
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subscribe to our youtube channel below
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you could have been anywhere in the
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world but you're here with us
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and we appreciate that
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