Listening to the impeachment trial I was surprised when one of the House managers said that what he most fears in the 2024 election is that Trump loses. I’m a little slow on the uptake at time, probably most times, and wondered why that would be so. That would have meant a Democrat would have won so why should he fear a Trump loss.
Reflecting on it I recognized it was said apropos the ongoing matter that it came to me. The Trump loss resulted in an insurrection. Wouldn’t the same thing happen if he lost again? We have to remember what happened last time, and if my recollection is correct, back in 2016, when prior to the election Trump alleged that if he lost the election would be rigged. In other words no matter what the votes showed he won.
What will prevent the same act next time? Trump in 2024, or some Trump clone, will assert prior to the election that if he/she lost the election was rigged. Which means that the Republican candidate must either win with the votes; or must have the courts, or failing that, the armed militias put him/her into office. How does that differ in any way from a dictatorship? It sounds more like Communist North Korean or Communist China than the United States. One party will forever be the governing party.
Speaking of Communist China, an article in the N.Y. Times tells how Xi Jinping came to power “civil society once had some space to push back” but now “there’s neither civil society nor space.” It pointed out: “Xi has steadily undermined China’s civil society — the businesspeople, lawyers, civic groups and many others who make up the fabric of a nation’s daily life. People in many countries take civil society for granted. In China, where the Communist Party had sought to fill all roles, civil society was budding in 2003. Since Mr. Xi came to command, it has been virtually wiped out. Journalists with an independent bent have been silenced. Lawyers are jailed. Officials, even retired ones, know to keep their mouth shut. Businesspeople tread carefully to avoid crossing the government.”
That is where the philosophy of Trump will take us. If he (or a clone) runs for office under the theory if he/she must be the winner then we have become a one party state. We have seen this already, Trump is still claiming in face of all the evidence showing otherwise that not only did he win but he had a landslide victory. Even in the face of his begging the Georgia election official to “find” 11,800 votes to give to him so he could win the state which would have given him one more vote than President Biden. A one vote victory Trump would have us believe is a landslide.
The only way to guarantee that these folk never lose was to have people behind them who are also willing to disregard the other person who received the most votes. They too must assume that their candidate cannot lose and he/she is entitled to hold that office for however long that person desires. But they must be willing to exert force to stop the normal mechanism of government from operating. Thus we have the creation of right-wing militias willing to overthrow the choice of the voters if they disagree with it.
Let’s see how he does in a Big Apple courtroom with aggressive DAs. Maybe an orange suit to match his hair is in his future.
After the 2016 election, Trump created a commission to investigate voter fraud. It was chaired by Mike Pence. The commission went nowhere. Trump subsequently dissolved his own commission and turned the matter over to the Department of Homeland Security for further action. Needless to say, nothing happened. Off topic, I got my second vaccine shot on Thursday. It only took about 25 minutes. The vaccination program is a little like the lottery, a few get lucky, many do not.
I see John Connolly is seeking his release from prison on medical grounds. He’s 80 now, and has a serious case of skin cancer and diabetes, according to his lawyer. Here’s hoping that Florida permits Connolly to come home.
Dan, I saw that in the Herald. They allege he is dying. Suppose to be a hearing next week which will be broadcast.
Watch Mike Flynn his wife, two of his brothers and their wives recite the Q message pledge in Mikes backyard and tell me if you are seeing cult like behavior?This happened last summer. Donald Trump has changed this country for the worse and why he is not eligible for being shot for treason is beyond me. I recoil in horror at what happened at the Capitol and the silence from Rubio and Scott here in Florida and the Governor of Florida acting like a Trump son is like watching the start of Nazi Germany.
One of Flynn’s brothers is a general in the Army. Think of that.