I see a lot of people are discussing the possibility that Trump will win the general election. However, based on his campaign so far--and in particular what we saw on CNN earlier this week-- Trump does not seem all that interested in expanding his base, or appealing to any voters that might be "sitting on the fence," if there are any such voters anymore. No, he seems squarely focused on riling up his cult, preparing them for their roles in the coming "retribution" he promised when he announced his run.
If you cut right to the chase, Trump is running on the following message (I'll support it with quotations in a minute).
1) I am the rightful president of the USA. This country is under "deep state" occupation with a fake president who ran, lost to me, but manipulated the system somehow and now sits in the oval office. One way or another, I will take the power back that belongs to me by right.
2) My people know that this is true and the other people that don't know that this is true are stupid. My people are also losing patience, and if you don't set things straight again and make me president somehow they will unleash violence death and destruction on the streets of our country. Don't say I didn't warn you.
3) Either I become the President again, or I will drag this country through a violent conflict the likes of which you have never seen in modern America.
4) So get ready, because the gloves are coming off. If I am not declared the winner there will be hell to pay.
Of course, he didn't say it in just those words, but let me offer a translation of some key statements made in recent weeks, beginning with a statement just prior to the trial in NYC and others from this week's CNN Town Hall program.
1) "I'm going to be arrested next Tuesday." He then called on his followers writing "PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!" He went on to warn that if charged we might see "potential death and destruction...that could be catastrophic for our Country." (i.e. When I don't get my way, people kill and destroy for me, either because I suggest it or because they love me that much, and I won't tell them to cool down-- so watch out!)
(From CNN Town Hall)
Asked if the 2020 election was rigged:
2) "I think that, when you look at that result and when you look at what happened during that election, unless you’re a very stupid person, you see what happens.
A lot of the people – a lot of the people in this audience and perhaps maybe a couple that don’t, but most people understand what happened.
That was a rigged election."(i.e. I'm the "real president" now, since I won. Biden is a mere pretender in the WH)
Asked if he would accept the outcome of an election in 2024:
3) "I If I think it’s an honest election, I would be honored to." [trans: I will not accept a loss under any circumstance]
Trump continued and made what to me sounds very much like a threat-- perhaps the scariest line of the night.
4) "And, right now, we are so far ahead of both Democrat and Republican. And you know what? If I don’t win, this country is going to be in big trouble."( of course this can be understood as the claim that without his leadership America will plummet, but in light of all the other quotes, the emphasis on "retribution" and the lion's share of the time that night being spent on his insistence that he won in 2020, his view that insurrectionists in prison should be pardoned and are "beautiful people," etc.; in light of all that this is my translation of what he means by "big trouble"-- " If I don't win, I'll trash the country; that's what I'm planning to do if I lose. I'm here for revenge one way or the other." That statement is a threat.)
When asked why he did not call off the attack on the Capitol on 1/6/21, K Collins added, "You know those people [i.e. the rioters/insurrectionists] listen to you like nobody else." This is worth quoting in full:
COLLINS: When it was clear they weren’t being peaceful, why did you wait three hours to tell them to leave the Capitol? They listen to you like no one else.
TRUMP: Yes.
COLLINS: You know that.
TRUMP: They do. I agree with that.
When you add these up, you have a person who can watch people die on TV knowing he could stop it going on to now warn Americans on CNN (3.1 mil. viewers and many more who read about it) that if he is not "restored" to power, he will do everything in his power to unleash violence, perhaps causing domestic terror to spike the way it did in Ireland during the "Troubles"-- i.e. a civil war of sorts. The CNN audience that clapped at his every cruel word is but a drop in the ocean of like-minded Trump devotees out there. With 43% of Republicans claiming they would endorse violence against the gov't if things "go badly," we better think long and hard about how to make sure our leaders fully understand this looming threat. I don't think they do.
If they did Biden would not view Trump's despotic behavior as something to use to scare people into voting for him. That's what he's been doing. Team Biden announced this week that they are already editing select portions of the CNN Town Hall footage for campaign ads. Indeed, the only time he seems to talk about Trump or Maga or 1/6 is when he and or other democrats are up for elections. He made a melodramatic speech about Maga and Trump on the eve of last year's midterms, and after the town hall meeting has indicated this will be a big part of his ad campaign. He also launched his official campaign with a video that kicks off with footage of 1/6 in which he talks about Trump and Maga threatening our way of life and our democracy. If only he had taken any action at all consistent with such a serious threat. No. Instead Biden is busy exploiting Trump as the bad monster he can run against (knowing that his ratings are pretty low, and so safer to run against someone scary than to run for his own ideas and personality). CNN is busy exploiting Trump for ratings and money. Frankly, most of what I read in our media outlets is repetitive criticism of Trump written by and for people who already agree with everything they repeat. They do not advance a cause, but merely argue over just how bad he is, just how realistic the threat of Maga GOP is regarding democratic backslide and so on; but as Snowflake has said recently, they offer no vision, only critique. Stale, warmed over dinners from 2019 and 2020. Hell, make that 2015 and 2016. We've not only seen this movie before, but it's been running over and over like a loop in our media outlets for years now, in one form or another since Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his bid in 2015. The only noticeable effect of all the 24/7 Trump denunciations has been to please Trump and his fans who thrive on the chaos and panic, while irritating and angering the rest. Pragmatically, it accomplishes nothing for those who would resist Trump, and the GOP he has thoroughly refashioned.
How is it that this threat goes unchecked? Something like 1/3 of the country doesn't believe our president is legitimate. Biden's inauguration occurred in what looked like a military barracks with razor wire fencing and up to 25,000 National Guard troops with weapons, in order to protect politicians from potential terrorists. And yet the promised reforms in domestic terrorism that Biden discussed at the time never came through. Why should we have another election with groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers alive and well (even if their leaders have been sent to prison, which can only anger those members left free). Even Canada outlawed these groups immediately after 1/6. These are potential death squads that wear patches that read RWDS (Right Wing Death Squad), and mean it. Why aren't Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Rudolph Giuliani and the other thuggish architects of 1/6 in prison just like Enrique Tarrio and Stuart Rhodes? How is it that with all the evidence available, Trump was not indicted in 2022 for intentionally attempting to overturn a legitimate election and unleashing insurrectionist violence aimed at preventing a peaceful transfer of power on 1/6?
Obviously a Trump victory in 2024 would be a devastating blow to this country. But I have yet to hear an intelligent discussion about what to do if Trump loses and incites violence that could lead to, say, the equivalent of Oklahoma bombings in multiple cities after a Trump loss, and possibly for a length of time [Note: Imperator Machinarum has correctly pointed out that this scenario of multiple Oklahoma type bombings is not realistic. On re-reading it, I plead guilty of hyperbole. However, significantly less severe bombing plots are plausible, as the continuing search for the 1/6 pipe bomber illustrates. ] BTW, Oklahoma City was not "lone wolf" but White Nationalist, as Kathleen Belew has documented in her book Bring The War Home, among other authors and journalists. Warnings from her and many others-- both in academia and law enforcement-- went unheeded after Congress held hearings on the problem of domestic terror after 1/6 in 2021.
I hope I'm wrong, but hope is not a strategy. Forewarned is forearmed. We have no time left to waste. This message should have reached the authorities by now. I hope it has. This is what the press should discuss when the name Trump comes up rather than treating him as a legitimate candidate who must be stopped the old fashioned way-- by votes. Why do they think another election result can settle this thing, when Trump has only gone on to turn 2020 and 1/6/21 into the basis for his moronic but millions-strong authoritarian cult? It's the closest thing to an "ideology" Trump has-- this myth of the "stolen election" and the coming "retribution." I think the way our leaders and media outlets respond to Trump's candidacy is naive and dangerous.
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Full CNN Town Hall Transcript: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/11/politics/transcript-cnn-town-hall-trump/index.html
Also, The LA Times published an editorial in November 2022 which takes much the same view that I do here. It is entitled "Trump doesn't want your vote in 2024. Just your obedience while he trashes the US again." It's worth reading: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-11-15/trumps-dangerous-declaration
What are your thoughts?
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