Will Trump’s crazed attempt to steal the election wake up his enablers. They will need a plan to dispose of him if, as now seems likely, he loses the election.
As soon as it became clear, on Tuesday night, that he could lose the election, Trump began the process of seeking to steal it.
He began by tweeting that the election had been a fraud and that the Democrats were proposing to steal the outcome. He pledged to stop this.
In other words, as he so often does, he projected on his opponents the action he was contemplating. A few hours later he took that action.
From a stage wreathed in the national flag, in the East Room at the White House, he declared that: he had won the election; that the election had been a fraud (it being unclear how these two contentions related); so, he would challenge it’s conduct/outcome in the Supreme Court. Specifically, he would ask the Court to stop any further counting of votes. Actually, he has no power to do that.
It was not difficult to decipher what Trump was saying and attempting to obscure. Clearly, he could see that he might, in fact, lose the election and, he was thus beginning his legal and extra- legal action to defeat that possibility.
It is important to record that while he used some voting figures in his statement, nothing he contended was true or based on any credible evidence.
Two months ago, in these pages, (September 4th: “Grand Theft Election”) I discussed the very real possibility that events, such as we are now witnessing, would unfold.
Although at the time of writing, it seems that Biden will obtain the required number of votes in the Electoral College, if all votes are counted the, the following six things seem clear
1 There is no evidence of any serious fraud or malpractice having been conducted during the elections
2-The final outcome of the normal process is not yet clear, but it does seem that Biden may very well win.
3-Trump seems to have reached the same conclusion and, is accordingly, planning actions to defeat that result; to render it illegitimate.
4-Any case on the proper conduct of the election must first be heard by the Court of the relevant State. The consideration of such a matter by the US Supreme Court would only occur if a State decision was appealed to it. Trump’s claim that he will ask the Supreme Court to intervene is not in his gift and, it is not clear that the Supreme Court will decide to hear any given case.
5-The most likely focus of Trump’s action will be on Pennsylvania in which there remains a substantial number of Postal votes, not yet counted and, of which it seems a significant majority will go to Biden.
Biden seems to have won Arizona, and Wisconsin and possibly Nevada. The addition of the last of these would give him the 270 votes he needs to prevail in the Electoral College. If the counting also adds Pennsylvania, he would win by a clear margin and its also possible that Georgia might, in the end, go to Biden.
6-If this outcome does emerge, then the final question becomes, what will Trump then do. How far will he go?
Will he stop if the state courts and then the Supreme Court will not award him the election and, if the electoral process produces the 270 Electoral College votes needed by Biden to win.
There is anxiety that Trump will not stop but will, instead, wage a full- scale attack upon the system, including by encouraging serious social unrest.
The Trump phenomenon has only been possible because it has been enabled and supported by senior Republicans. Their actions have been widely regarded as unprincipled and destructive of the system. Key examples have been their facilitation of the burying of the Mueller Report and every other appallingly biased action of Attorney General Barr; their refusal to allow the impeachment process to proceed on the basis of facts; and their confirmation of the deeply contentious appointments to the Supreme Court of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Given this history of Republican facilitation of Trump’s conduct of his office, it was very interesting that, shortly after Trump’s election night declaration that the election had been a fraud and that he would take it to the Supreme Court, senior Republicans and some conservative commentators warned that this was a dangerous action.
Chris Wallace of Fox News said that Trump’s declaration was akin to tossing a lighted match onto an “extremely flammable situation”: – a noteworthy observation from that source.
If Trump insists on attempting to destroy the electoral system, because it has given the presidency to Joe Biden and/or encourages physical attacks by extremist groups, on people or institutions identified as their enemies, it will be essential for sources of authority in the US, including the leadership of the Republican Party, to repudiate Trump and support the peaceful transfer of power.
They would do themselves and the people a big favour, if they were to reach agreement in Congress on another Covid 19 pandemic related recovery and economic stimulus bill.
Surely such decency has not completely fled Trump and McConnell’s America.
And, they will need a plan for the safe removal of Trump.
Richard Butler AC
Comments
12 responses to “It’s Arrived: Trump’s attempt to steal the election”
surely no surprises to us this being so near guy fawkes day: treachery & all that. Nobody has mentioned Britain’s late Screaming Lord Such (SLS) and the Loony Party aka the Donald; I think the donald makes the Lord(SLS) look rather saner I think we should outsource teh AEC and or state electoral commissions. The USA needs preferential voting and uniform electoral laws to restrain gerrymandering. the chances of that happening are about as remote as removing latent racism.
Collective memories are short. With less than a century since the rise of fascism in Europe, (https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-rise-of-fascism/) civilization is proving, once again, that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (George Santayana).
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/those-who-cannot-remember-past-are-condemned-repeat-it-george-santayana-life-reason-1905#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThose%20who%20cannot%20remember%20the,The%20Life%20of%20Reason%2C%201905.
So, the fix is in. The only question remaining is whose fix will triumph at the close of day?
Trump or Biden? Biden or Trump? Really?
Poor America. And to think they are the ones we most wanted to be.
Do we still?
The Biden vote FIX is dominant; it is the establishments fix.
Trumps fixers are journeymen.
A sad state of affairs but it’s older than Caesar.
Partisan behaviour (on both sides) is so rife among officials that the election results really are suspect. It’s playing the game truthfully that legitimises the results. The closer the results are, the greater the requirement that the officials be honest.
On the great ship of established State ….The New World Order that is nothing more than the Old World Order ….to that ubiqutious juggernaut, Trump is a loose cannon.
An erstwhile non-subordinate in the Elephant Party and non-subordinate in the establishment of The Donkey Party.
Patronising to Israel and The Military Industrial Complex but not subordinate to it.
Not subordinate to walk behind Mzrs Saxe Coburg Gotha … (The inner anglophile is outraged but can’t say why?)
Not subordinate to the system of systems and probably wouldn’t have even run and become president, if the Black Gay Tool of the system, Barack Obama; hadn’t smugly taken the piss out of him.
Good guys vs bad guys? Do some bitter searching of the soul and some unbiased research of neuro linguistic programming … then come back and reassess what the subordinate Richard Butlers game really is.
Then with new knowledge of NLProgramming ….turn on the “Your” ABC and consider what its subordinate game is.
Again Trump should have never been there in the first place!
And what does the future hold ! That the Democrats lose House seats, do not win the Senate and barely manage to drag their demented presidential candidate towards a stalemate tells a lot about their lack of sane policies. A donor party completely disinterested in what the people really want – medicare for all, no fracking etc. – will have little chance to survive a future onslaught of conservatives with a more competent figure head than Donald Trump.
And really stealing an election from who? The circus of American politics have always disenfranchised the American public from any real democratic process.
People are desperate and when you are desperate you grab on to whatever there is .
A society which I believe in this case that is in an advanced state of decline. a capitalist system which is not working for the vast majority of people.
Every day in the supermarket, on the job , at home, when they go to the bank and see
how much is left in their account and all the rest!
Biden and Harris offer the same old dogma as Trump; they are part of the establishment; they have been all their political lives and they’ve never deviated in a major way from whatever the establishment wanted.
Americans want somebody to get them out of this sinking ship.
A country that prides itself in freedom of choice you go into a supermarket you get eight
thousand varieties of cereal or 20 kinds of toothpaste but when it comes to political parties somehow two is enough.
People do not have just two points of view that are nearly the same; like toothpaste they come with a variety of points of view. It is an insult to the American people what has transpired ; they should have multiple parties representing and influencing laws and policies over a wider perspective.
The two parties have monopolized everything with their cozy little arrangement; they have worked very hard to create laws and rules that make it difficult or impossible for third parties or fourth parties to get off the ground.
As the head of Goldman Sacs stated ! He is happy because it is not Bernie Sanders!
The present behaviour of Trump would count as treason in any proper sytem of government. It is only a matter of time now before deadly violence breaks out as a result of his scurrilous tweets, and he should be arrested and silenced until the election process is properly completed.
Twitter is complicit in this abuse of due process.
That’s nonsense ….
The violence on the streets is a UGLE Operation with Black Lives Matter agents et al
And If it’s real treason you want; try this: “WHERE DID THE TOWERS GO?” By Dr. Judy Wood Ph.D.
In case you die not knowing.
Trumps a goose no question but the Democrats are just as bad the place is a Plutocracy not a Democracy !
Barr and Palaszczuk behaved like adults over the pandemic, and won elections handsomely.
Trump behaved like a toddler, who hadn’t had his nap. And now he’s at it again. So sad.
And yet…He is most likely telling the truth.