Professional political doomsayer Michael Moore has started saying “Doom!” again, giving a new interview this week in which he states his belief that Donald Trump will win a reelection bid in 2020. Talking to Fast Company, Moore—who’s currently performing a Trump-themed one-man show, The Terms Of My Surrender, on Broadway—laid out his political pessimism for readers. Referencing Trump’s likely victory, he said, “I should say re-appointed, because we will have an even larger population that will vote against him in 2020. But he will win those electoral states as it stands now.”
Moore mentioned his belief as a way of drumming up support for the “The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact,” an agreement that calls for states to ignore their own results, and throw their votes behind whichever candidate wins the popular vote. (The idea, basically, being to unofficially circumvent the Electoral College, without having to get a constitutional amendment involved.) “That’ll be an easier way to get this done,” Moore said. “People should not despair, thinking, well, the Republicans have all this power and all that. Think of the suffragettes. They were trying to get the vote for women. They got [the 19th Amendment ratified] in 35 states to give women the right to vote. Think of that uphill battle.”
Moore did mix in a little sunshine with his billowing rain clouds, expressing his hope that an increase in young voters means good news for future political battles. “We’ve raised a generation of kids who don’t hate people on the basis of race, or they don’t hate somebody because they’re in love with somebody of the same gender,” Moore said, although his positivity suggests he hasn’t been keeping an eye on all those young, vital bigots screaming for white nationalism and the protection of hate speech at recent right-wing rallies.