Boston Book Festival

Constitutional law scholar Lawrence Lessig believes that the effort to overthrow the results of the 2020 election employed the “dumbest possible strategy.” In How to Steal a Presidential Election, Lessig lays out seven far more plausible ways that the vote could be overturned. If the Republicans lose the 2024 election, they may make use of loopholes in the Constitution that you could drive a truck through, most of them by way of statehouses and governors’ mansions. Can these efforts be foiled? Renée DiResta, in Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality, refers to an “asymmetry of passion” on social media which leads to small, rabidly dedicated groups having outsize influence on public discourse, causing a “crisis of social consensus.” This has been especially true of the COVID-19 deniers, election deniers, and anti-vaxxers. The algorithms behind the social media platforms exaggerate and amplify the views of these right-wing influencers. Learn about these very real threats to democracy and how they can be countered in this important session moderated by Adam Reilly, GBH political reporter and host of Talking Politics.