Scenario mapping
A million viewers more tuned in to Biden’s town hall, as opposed to those who suffered through Trump’s own NBC session. The orange-coiffed tyrant isn’t going to like it, considering he thinks of himself as a media personage of some consequence. These dwindling numbers of adoring fans might be cause for (his) concern. Will it ignite some sort of panic button deep in the recesses of his gray, COVIDaddled matter?
What might a losing Trump, in the throes of his first and only term, do in order to prevent his removal from office?
Knowing him (as we so intimately do now), will he go quietly and gracefully, with head held somewhat-high, and retire to a subdued life in some Florida golf course? Or will he, true-to-type, bluster and blister, utter a slew of facesaving insults, and waddle away leaving a swathe of forever mentally-scarred bystanders in his wake?
Either scenario assumes he does leave of his own will. Happy ending in both cases, if you ask me. Another scenario is that he is forced to so leave, either by some marshal or Secret Service agent, shooed away in yet another undignified page in America’s history. Evicted by popular mandate, ejected by bodily force.
I would bet that ignominious exit is the very last thing he wants to happen. Remember when he was openly mocked in a fundraiser? That was when his wounded pride set him on course for a disastrous presidency. So he might, at this very minute, be laying furious plans to keep the presidency at all costs.
What could a sitting president do, given all the powers at his command, to keep such power? What would his conspiracy-theory laden mind and corneredrat mentality be telling him right now that he should be doing things to secure a second term?
Destroy democracy? Probably nothing as grandiose as that (it is doubtful he thinks in those terms). Concededly though, he has the ability to move some chess pieces that, conceivably, might lead to the downfall of America (remember the nuclear codes?).
After all, he has done so many things already that frittered away at the tenets of democracy, including the use of state institutions like the Department of Justice or the Senate to protect him and his friends, rather than act as a checkand-balance to his mighty powers. He packed the judiciary with human drones aligned with him, in order to pander to his supporters or to his own prejudices. What’s a few more petulant choices?
Like, oh, I don’t know. Enter into some sort of deal with a cabal of power-hungry military ogres to protect him while he hides in some bunker and refuses to concede his loss? Kidnap political opponents and hide them in some other bunker (with definitely less perks and more barbed wire)? Fly Air Force One over the electoral college and unleash stink bombs over it? Hide aforementioned nuclear codes in a private piggy bank and refuse to hand them over, unless he is given some sort of immunity for presidential misdeeds? Nothing is unlikely in this year of 2020. We have seen him do the unthinkable, including endangering the lives of his own Secret Service agents and exposing them to a lethal virus merely so he could take a joyride. What if it’s an even more important goal (like survival) that he’s after? Remember - cornered rat.
We await the results of the November elections with bated breath. And, as well, the end of 2020, where a transition to a new year, a new government, a new lease on life (hopefully all of the above) should --will!-- happen.
What might a losing Trump, in the throes of his first and only term, do in order to prevent his removal from office?