What if Trump loses but refuses to go? Alarming interview with a law professor

Does he also demand an apology for the Fox polls that show the same thing?

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One could think of the dissent this week and how it might apply. Other Republicans are dependent on local re-elections. If Trump refuses to leave, that poisons the well for all down-ticket races. And casts Republicans in a sallow light for all future elections. So, maybe he will be a dick bag in November. But, I’m not seeing it yet.

I take solace in the long list of military officers this past week, denouncing Trump’s call to turn soldiers against citizens. If they weren’t ready to support him on that, they’ll hopefully not support him if he refuses to go. And there’s also the satisfaction of seeing him dragged out bodily, preferably in a straitjacket.

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Bodybag
Sedated in a wheelchair
On a stretcher
Cuffed and dragged
The possibilities abound!

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There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.

This sounds less like a warning of what could happen, and more of a TODO list of what should happen.

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If SDNY announces charges at 12:01 pm, the chopper can just take him directly to Rikers and drop him off there.

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They won’t. They’ll give him the same level of support they give him now: lots of talk.

And that talk will be mostly proforma. Think of a large corporation with an egomaniac at the top. While he’s in power, everyone below him kowtows to him because he can destroy them on a whim. Once he’s gone, it’s every man racing for the crown.

Do you really think Trump commands actual loyalty from men of power? He’s continually humiliated and demeaned them. They’ll silently say a prayer of thanks, while mouthing whatever is necessary to keep the loyalty of the base.

I do think there’s a definite chance of some isolated incidents of violence - there are crazies out there. But I think the chance that there is greater than 1,000 killed in election violence or its aftermath to be vanishingly small. And certainly nothing that risks violating the succession of power.

And the chance of complete armed insurrection with tens or hundreds of thousands dead? Negligible.

The recent demonstrations point that there are a substantial number of people on the left willing to risk injury to show their support for a cause.

I see no hint whatsoever of an appetite for personal risk on the right.

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If nothing else, Trump has taught us that ANYTHING is possible. That should inform us.

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Have you read The Lord of the Rings? How about some other dystopian fiction?

Because that’s what it’s prepared you for. Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that, but also not be caught off guard if it does.

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His wife is part of the loyalty purges, and has had dealings with Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society.

Married couples can certainly differ (e.g. the Conways), but that’s worrisome.

“How was your day dear?”
“Oh, we discussed some cases, deciding which ones to hear. And you?”
“Worked with some creepy-pants organizations on their long-term plan to subvert the Federal court system by appointing political judges.”
“That’s nice. 'night!”

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Democratic senators need to plan a military intervention.

Even as someone who sees the career civil servants as the first line of defense against a wannabe dictator Trump, I disagree. The question you pose is a marketing gimmick ginned up by the gun lobby. Trump trying to stay in power is a legit question that we need to ask ourselves and prepare for, even if it doesn’t come to pass. Even if the Secret Service tosses him to the curb on Jan 20, we need to prepare for violence from his supporters.

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Oh, I do keep it in my mind as a possibility, but it’s the same way I get to the end of that last kilometre when I’m running sometimes – “I will make it to the end.” It’s a way to push on to that goal ahead. (Yet, I keep glucose tablets in my pocket because I know there are some things that might keep me from making it.)

Analogy doesn’t hope up completely, but I think that’s the general idea, anyway.

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Why? What military force does the Senate control? (Even assuming that the Democrats take the Senate.)

Before November, no doubt some far right blog will claim that there’s plot by Democratic Senators to stage a coup and oust Trump (not mentioning the “if he loses and refuses to leave” part), picked by OANN, tweeted by Trump…

The human misinformation centipede is going to be full of similar conspiracy theories. Some random, some targeted to discredit the election process.

I hope that someone is giving a thought to the security of the Electors, and their families. If Trump loses on November 3rd, wiping out/threatening the Electoral College wholly or selectively would be the shortest route to “make it never happened!” by fanatics.

It’s all in here:

(Pre-Google, that was such a nasty Pyroto Mountain question, and I added it.)

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When I saw the fences go up around the White House, and the rows of armed guards added during the protests last weekend, I had this… sudden certainty that come January we’re going to see a tank or some other armored military vehicle breaking down that fence, and the *president & his entourage removed bodily from the premises. Like, in my mind’s eye I could see the news footage so clearly.

And the reaction, when you read that, is “no, never, that’s insane, that’s paranoid.” But what in the last 3 1/2 years hasn’t been an unprecedented, unmitigated detonation of normalcy? I’m weary of seeing things that I have not seen before in my lifetime–but I expect them now. Because there is no depth to which this administration will not sink.

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It absolutely does. Someone who’s never run starts training and they can’t make a mile before the discomfort gets to be too much. But if you keep training, you can gradually increase pace and distance until you can run a marathon (or more). And as someone who has run competitively at a high level, here’s the trick of it: the discomfort/pain never goes away. You just get tougher. You live with it. Distance races aren’t won by the most naturally gifted or the runners who train the most. Races are won by the runner who can put up with the most pain.

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And ask what will I do when I won’t leave? /s

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The Constitution doesn’t specify that anybody administer the oath, just that the new president recite it

The only special power of the Chief Justice is to preside over presidential impeachment trials

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Coolidge did the oath twice, once upon hearing that Harding had died, at home administered by his father, and then again the next day with one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, but not the Chief Justice. Johnson had his first done by a Texas District Court judge.

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Exactly. The Republicans wanted to turn the oath into an issue when they felt Obama didn’t say it right the first time. It didn’t matter. Shenanigans with the oath are not a serious concern.

Now, Congress counting the electoral votes? That’s something to be concerned about, but there’s not really anything we can do about it, unless we’re in Congress. It’s up to them. Whatever they say the results are, is the results. Whoever they say won, is the winner.

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