There will be violence
Trump and the Republicans are planning steal the presidency in 2024. I don't see a scenario that doesn't lead to violence.
There’s a really interesting, and disturbing, opinion piece in this weekend’s Washington Post by conservative writer, and former Republican (he left when Trump became the 2016 nominee), Robert Kagan. It’s a long piece, and a must-read that has a lot of people talking here in town.
In a nutshell, Kagan explores where our democracy is heading in 2024, and who’s enabling it. He has harsher words for (formerly) fellow Republicans than he does for Democrats like Joe Manchin.
Kagan is rightly concerned that most in the media, and in politics, aren’t taking seriously enough the threat Trump poses. They argue things like, “2020 proved that our democracy can defend itself.” Kagan argues, and I agree, that 2020 proves that what’s past is prologue: It’s a snapshot of what’s to come, and then some. It was a dress rehearsal for a full-blown coup attempt in 2024.
CNN’s Brian Stelter weighed in on the same topic, talking about “the gathering storm” that’s coming, and how the media isn’t taking it sufficiently seriously — you can watch Stelter’s segment below:
After writing the title of this piece — “There will be violence” — I talked to my podcast cohost, Cliff Schecter, who told me there’s a scarier possibility than violence: No violence at all. Meaning, the Republicans steal the 2024 presidential election, install a president who was not duly elected, and the rest of us just sit back and accept it, while democracy in America dies.
Which leads me to something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but which is difficult to write. A few points, actually:
I get where the Insurrectionists were coming from; and
There but for the grace of God.
Let me explain.
First, the Insurrectionists. Had all the lies they were told been true, their actions were not simply justified, but imperative. Had America witnessed an actual coup d’etat, and Congress were about to knowingly and willingly (and illegally) install the man who wasn’t elected, I sure hope someone would have stepped up and said “no way” before the guy was sworn in.
And that’s one of the biggest dangers of the Big Lie. What Trump and the Republican elites have alleged, and continue to allege, not only could lead to violence, but it arguably must. We simply cannot permit our democracy to be lost to a legislative coup, whereby Republican politicians in Washington and the states literally conspire to install the wrong candidate as president.
And that leads me to point two. How should the rest of us react if Trump and his supporters steal the next election and install Trump as president, even though he wasn’t elected? Trump and the Republicans are counting on Democrats being good little boys and girls, and doing nothing. (Exercising what Hillary Clinton calls our “responsibility gene.”) Sure, we’d sue (and the courts might very well deem the matter too political, and thus non-justiciable). And then we’d stomp our feet and tell CNN how mad we were. But, in the end, Republicans are hoping Democrats, and other non-Trumpists, would peacefully let the electoral college certification of the wrong candidate go ahead, and then let Trump be sworn in, virtually guaranteeing that he’d remain as president. Then we’d applaud our restraint — look mom, no violence! — as our democracy, and freedom, lay in a pile of ash.
Which raises the question: What is the appropriate response to a coup d’etat in a democracy? If, hypothetically, in 2024, the US military didn’t like the candidates on the ballot, and just before the inaugural, stepped in and seated an unelected general as president, would we — should we — resort to peaceful protest, and eschew violence, knowing that civil disobedience, versus a more uncivil variety, would likely make no difference? If a military government took over our country, would you promise a peaceful response? I certainly wouldn’t if, say, the Soviets, back in the day, had managed to somehow occupy America and install an illegitimate government. There’d be hell to pay. Which takes us back to the actual fact pattern for 2024: The ongoing GOP effort to illegally install Trump as president.
I’m not calling for violence. I’m saying that I don’t see how, short of violence, one stops a coup. (And even with violence, would it matter?) And that scares me.
Now, I know my friend Michael will say, “just have a nationwide strike!” But would that really, magically, convince Trump to step down? Really?
One thing that might work is for Wall Street to figure out, before 2024, that any attempted coup would likely lead to nationwide violence, and that such violence would tank the markets and the economy for a long time coming. That’s something the men with money, who are close to the GOP, would not abide. But who will send them the message? And perhaps an indefinite nationwide work stoppage could manage to convince the men with money to speak up. But by that point, Trump would already be president. And there’s no way to remove him short of the 25th Amendment or impeachment. And, as we saw last time, there’s no reason to believe the Republicans would be more willing to do the right thing this time than last.
I don’t know where this is all heading. But it’s not good.
Other less-scary news
This made me chuckle
Mitch McConnell may block Biden’s Supreme Court nominations if Dems lose the Senate
This guy photographs the Solar System from his backyard
This made me chuckle
Obliterizing
A neat ad by Heineken about bridging differences
The provisions of Biden’s infrastructure bill are wildly popular
But it was the same with Obamacare. And that ended up an electoral disaster for years, until it finally swung the other way. Messaging matters.
I thought this was funny
Others found it offensive. How is Peppermint Patty a bad thing?
That’s it for today. More as the week goes on.
Thanks, JOHN
You’ve said what’s been quietly stirring in my head since 2016. TBH I was ready & willing to fight after that election. That we’re still rolling along in fear of Trump & Republicans w/o a bare knuckle in sight is extremely worrying to me.
Scary.