Don’t underestimate Donald Trump

So now Donald Trump says that he may not be president for another term because people don’t like him. I’ve never understood what the man thinks he is doing. I know he is a lying, lying, lying liar so no matter what he says, I’m pretty sure that he is lying. “To what end?” you ask. I have always believed in the concept of the double triple, quadruple fake-out. This is not a man who will go quietly.

Maybe he is trying to get the people in this country to feel sorry for him. Nah, that’s not possible. How could anyone feel sorry for Donald Trump? The guy is responsible for so many people dying because he refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and thus, we were totally unprepared. Instead, the most dangerous person in America suggested that we would only have fifteen people who might get the disease. Today we lead the world in infections and deaths and he has abdicated all responsibility.

As I have said so many occasions, a kid who holds up a candy store can spend a lot of time in prison but Trump, who has the death of thousands of people on his hands, is immune. He can’t be indicted. He can’t be prosecuted. He knows that and acts accordingly. His friends are despots of the worst sort. The idea that we might feel sorry for him is out of the question.

So if it isn’t the possibility of a pity for Trump move, maybe the guy figures that people will let down their guard if he is saying that he won’t win. That will then motivate his people to vote en masse and maybe he can pull it off that way. This one actually has possibilities for Trump. After all, the Democrats, otherwise known as the “circular firing squad,” are a lazy bunch known for infighting and frequent stupidity.

In the past, they have certainly messed up what looked like a sure thing.

Think Michael Dukakis and John Kerry. Since Trump has no bottom, he will do or say anything, including rigging the coming November election, all the while yelling that the Democrats are the ones doing the rigging. I am here to guarantee that Trump has not one but any number of October surprises that he will use to win the election.

You had better believe that he is in the pocket of Putin the Russian. There are many of us who really think he has been committing treason and long ago sold out to Vladimir and company. Even now, he is beginning to move troops around in a manner that is thought to be helpful to the Russians. He would not be the first president who has used military force to win an election.

Trump’s negligence in the foreign policy area is well known. Who can forget his telling the diplomats that he fired Comey to take care of the “Russian thing.”

So, if the polls are correct and if Trump keeps falling further and further behind Biden, we might ask ourselves, “What’s up?” You might think of Benedict Arnold; an attempt to defeat the government. Couldn’t be, could it? Is there really anyone out there who would put it past Trump to try to save himself with a coup of one kind or another?

That is precisely why the spate of top generals pontificating about the role of the military and the subordination of the military to the Constitution is so important. For the most part, these are former military leaders so we can only hope that the people in the military who fill these jobs now will follow their former leaders.

One thing is for sure. Anyone who really believes that Donald Trump would agree to go quietly and not try to fix the election one way or another has another think coming.

Alan Chartock is professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and president and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at alan@wamc.org.