MSNBC host Chris Hayes and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore discussed urging so-called “faithless electors” to reject then-President-elect Donald Trump during the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election.
The flashback footage from MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” was posted Wednesday to Twitter by The Intercept’s Lee Fang. In it, Hayes cited people who believe “electors should be persuaded and pressured on Monday to part with their pledges and vote against Donald Trump” to ask Moore if he believes that.
WATCH:
MSNBC in the aftermath of the last presidential election ran segments for weeks in late Nov. and early Dec. pushing a scheme for the Electoral College to ignore certified election results to block Donald Trump. Here’s Chris Hayes and Michael Moore floating the idea. pic.twitter.com/XWdIojuUbE
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) November 25, 2020
“Yes, they absolutely should do that,” Moore responded. “Absolutely. I believe right now that there are electors, they only need 38 of them, who have a conscience …”
Moore at another point even offered to pay the fines of electors who reject Trump in states that voted for the then-GOP nominee.
Republican Electors — If you vote your conscience at noon and your state fines you for this, I will pay your fine: https://t.co/LIFVD4xjD4
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) December 19, 2016
“Some states have made it ‘illegal’ for you to vote any other way than for Trump,” Moore wrote in an open letter to Republican electors posted on his Facebook page. “If you don’t vote for him, your state will fine you … So here’s my offer to you: I obviously can’t and won’t give you money to vote tomorrow, but if you do vote your conscience and you are punished for it, I will personally step up pay your fine which is my legal right to do.”
Hayes and others tweeted and wrote about the possibility of using electors to overturn the 2016 election results.
I knew it would be widely denied that prominent liberals floated an Electoral College coup in 2016, which is why I contemporaneously saved a bunch of examples pic.twitter.com/7gvape3ba2
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 25, 2020
“Fun fact: states decide how to apportion their electors,” Hayes tweeted in December 2016. “They could give them all to, say, whichever candidate won majority of counties!”
Fun fact: states decide how to apportion their electors. They could give them all to, say, whichever candidate won majority of counties!
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 6, 2016
However, Hayes took a different tone when addressing Trump campaign legal challenges to the 2020 election. (RELATED: Marc Thiessen Lays Out Trump’s ‘Path To A Second Term’)
.@chrislhayes asks, “So, Republican politicians—Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz—are you okay with this? Are you okay with holding an American election, and then just ignoring and overturning the results?” pic.twitter.com/UNj4FJBVn8
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) November 20, 2020
“Are you okay with holding an American election and then just ignoring and overturning the results?” Hayes asked, addressing Republican senators.