Trump’s Plan: There Will be no Transition of Power, Only a Continuation

Trump refusing to lose the election even if he loses -- 

“get rid of the ballots” 

In recent days, the president has blandly stated that there will be no transition of power, only a continuation of his rule. He plans to go straight to republican state legislatures to have them ignore the popular vote in their states. He calls the upcoming vote a rigged hoax. As usual, the president's false allegation is not supported by any evidence. Instead of going with the popular vote, republican legislatures will pick republican electors for the electoral college vote. That will negate any popular vote loss in battleground states with republican legislatures.

Unfortunately, doing what the president proposes appears to be legal. The constitution states that legislatures have the power to pick electoral college electors. It says nothing about paying any attention to how people in the state actually vote. This is another of those norms that used to help hold the states and the American people together. It is another toothless democratic tradition that the president wants to do away with.  

The New York Times reports on the president’s comments at a news conference. In response to a question about whether there would be a peaceful transfer of power if the loses the election, the president said: “We’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. .... Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.” 

The NYT also reports that on Wednesday, the president said that “he needed to swiftly confirm a successor for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because he expected disputes over the election result to be resolved by the Supreme Court, which could split 4-to-4 if a ninth justice is not seated.”

That is how the president plans to win the 2020 election. And that is apparently at least partly why the president and the GOP senate are in a rush to put another radical conservative judge on the supreme court. What the majority of the American people want is of no concern to the president and maybe also GOP politicians. This is what the continuing fall of American democracy looks like. This may be what the president’s supporters are willing to accept to stay in power.

This is what the tyranny of the minority looks like. It isn't clear to me how likely this scheme will come to pass and throw the election to Trump. Increasingly, one has to look to the president’s supporters and ask what are they thinking and how much more damage to democracy and the rule of law they are willing to accept in their desperate efforts to hold back natural social and demographic changes. 

Are most Trump supporters really willing to trash democracy and the rule of law to stop the future from happening? Maybe the election and its immediate aftermath will tell. They have shown that they are open to the idea of trashing facts, truths, sound reasoning, respect for political opposition and a free press. How much farther down the road to an incompetent, kleptocratic tyranny are they willing to go?