Who Will Stop Trump if He Refuses to Go?

Hint: don’t count on Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitution, or the military

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

“Stand back and stand by” was the message Trump had for the white supremacists and militia groups he was asked to condemn during last night’s debate. That didn’t sound like a condemnation to me. It sounded like a command.

And last week, when asked whether he’d commit to a peaceful transition, Trump answered: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”

I don’t know about you, but I increasingly fear there might be only one way to get rid of Trump, and it won’t be by voting.

Trump’s game plan is clear.

For months now, through tweets, speeches, and interviews, Trump and his allies have been laying the groundwork for disputing an unfavorable outcome of the election by alleging that voting by mail will cause massive fraud.

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As Trump said at the Republican National Convention: “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.”

And in response to a question from a reporter concerning his refusal to commit to a peaceful transferral of power: “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”

There is no evidence for this whatsoever, but at the same time it will be hard to prove that there wasn’t any fraud.

It’s a clever trick, really, when you think about it. Keep warning mail-in ballots will lead to massive voter fraud, then when you lose the elections challenge your opponent to prove there was no fraud (while you still hold all the power), essentially forcing them to prove a negative.

The fact that mail-in ballots take longer to count may even enable Trump to “show” there was voter fraud.

This is because of a scenario dubbed the “red mirage.”

It’s a situation where Trump appears to have won on election night because most Republicans will have voted in person while Democrats will have voted by mail. But then as all the mail ballots are counted over the following days or even…