by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Autocrats never lose. As such, let’s think about the consequences of House Trump stealing — in a rather brazen fashion — the 2020 Election. The key thing we simply don’t know is how difficult it will be for them to seal the deal.
It could be that the economy is going to come roaring back in the fall and Trump will get what he wants — he loses the popular vote, but wins the Electoral College. If that happens, then we will continue to drift into a more conspicuous form of autocracy. And, really, the only thing stopping House Trump from totally consolidating power is Trump himself. He’s a complete goober when it comes to actual politics and, as such, he is likely to keep crashing through norms in fits and starts.
If this happens, we also have to consider how Trump apparently thinks he can run for a third term because of the “Russia Hoax” that deprived him of being able to destroy the country in his first term in peace. Or something.
This is a very curious thing.
For Trump to simply run for a third term because, lulz, he’s Trump, would be so outrageous to most Republican member of the Senate that it would not be happening in the America we know today. The only way he could pull something like that off is either he’s completely purged the media of anyone he doesn’t like or there’s be a Constitutional Convention that has passed, among other things, a change to the Constitution that allows him to run for as many terms as he likes.
Either one of those is a very real possibility at this point.
But all that is working under the assumption Trump stays within the bounds of the Constitutions to steal the election. The more he has to force the issue, the more likely he and his supporters are going to do some pretty radical things. Or, put another way, the more likely Trump being a complete idiot will, without thinking about it, radically change our form of government simply because he doesn’t want to go to jail.
So, if after everything Trump STILL doesn’t manage to steal the election, he may simply say fuck it, I’m burning everything down. He holds up in the White House and says he’s still president, fuck you. And Barr will have pulled just enough of a legal justification for this out of his butt to the extent that both sides will think their guy is president and then the U.S.. Military has to pick a side.
I honestly can’t tell you what they will decide.
But, again, autocrats never lose, so I believe House Trump will end up on top.
In this scenario, House Trump’s consolidation of power will happen in days and weeks, not years. After a brief, violent civil war, Trump will rule as a military dictator and make vague promises about new elections. He will demand a Constitutional Convention and he’ll get it.
Then people like Tom Cotton and Mike Pompeo will have to figure out a way to ingratiate their way into the good graces of House Trump to the extent that they can maybe be a veep for Crown Princess Ivanka or Crown Prince Don Jr. Or, if you really wanted to be ironic, Trump could turn on both Cotton and Pompeo because he sees them as threats and they endup in an ICE camp like me.
Lulz!
