[and now: your daily dispatch from the North America region.]

You know who this reminds me of? Manuel Noriega; I don't think it'll happen here but I'm still worried. I'm angry and embarrassed with half (or at least 1/3) of America right now.

Noriega, that’s an interesting reference.

He reminds me of a lot of tinpot dictators right now, but without the competence and with a whole lot of laziness.

The dude is 70-something and eats hamberders all day. He would rather go golfing then sit in front of the TV watching a sycophantic news network and tweeting in all-caps than do the hard work to actually effectuate a coup. He could have put in a lot more effort prior to the election. Instead, he waited until it happened to effectuate a big legal push and when he tried it was scattershot and ineffective. He would have needed a much closer election to try to tip the scales.

Plus, our country has too long a history of democracy compared to many other places where coups were successful.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being naive toward the dangers. This is just my impartial analysis and prediction it won’t happen.

What should terrify us all though? The next Trump, who will be hungrier and more focused and disciplined and professional, and won’t be saddled by the legacy of a botched pandemic response. This election has shown at least 74 million Americans are ready for a fascist right-wing president no matter how repulsive. What happens when we get a GOP candidate that’s actually good at it?

I think one or a dozen of his hardcore red-hatters might do something violent before January 20; a Boston marathon-style bombing or even taking a shot at Kamala, or something. Also, there's a chance Trump will run in 2024, he would be Biden's current age.

No doubt Trump will at least announce he’s running for President in 2024, whether he intends to follow through or not, as a way of maintaining his influence within the GOP. It also lets him continue to feast on donations by the gullible.

Reports are that he plans on announcing the day Biden is inaugurated.

As for rightie violence, I am honestly surprised something hasn’t happened yet. Q has apparently gone radio silent. Maybe they really still think there’s hope through non-violent means. Maybe it really is just a bunch of hot talk. Tweeting about having other people pull off a coup for you is a lot easier than actually picking up a gun and trying to make it happen.

I’m actually not sure where coup-plotters could even plot such a thing without the FBI busting them. The FBI knows all the dark corners of the internet, too.

Yeah, they might not be smart enough to evade the FBI during a plot.

I’m not sure what TJ (we’re buds) thought about the value of faux-patriots’ (Trumpsters’) plasma, but I’m willing to wait and see.

Michael Flynn is calling on Trump to declare marshal law, suspend the Constitution, silence the media, and have the military oversee a new election.

I said months ago this is going to get way worse before it gets better. If Trump has any support from any sector of the military, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Trump make an major play to stay in office. Right now, he’s essentially pulling the slowest moving coup in history.

Yeah, I read that about Flynn.

https://m.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/michael-flynn-martial-law-new-election_n_5fc7d3e6c5b6f3fe59724a45

Many Generals came out and condemned him, though. And Flynn is a retired general, he’s not in the game. Flynn is more of a conspiracist/pundit at this point than someone with serious pull within the military. My read on it is the Army is full of a lot more small-c conservatives than rabid Trump loyalists. Heck, I saw polls saying most in the military supported Biden. It takes a special kind of Republican to lose the military. Shitting on John McCain and other soldiers and veterans can do that.

Trump also sacked some top Pentagon positions and installed loyalists. That was worrying.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/11/10/politics/pentagon-policy-official-resigns/index.html

Don’t get me wrong, I’m more concerned about the subversion of the peaceful transfer of power at this point than at any other in my life. But I don’t think he pulls it off.

AG Barr came out against the voter fraud narrative. Trump could sack Barr but his replacement would lack credibility and have not much time at all to do anything before the Electoral College meets. Trump would have to do something very soon.

Trump is for sure sitting and stewing and doing nothing but golfing and plotting his own ways to stay in power, but his efforts so far have been fruitless and Team Biden (which prepared massively for legal battles in the event of any scenario) hasn’t even had to fire a shot. The margin of victory was so decisive in so many states and the claims so meritless they’ve been able to sit on the sidelines.

Citizen resistance also hasn’t kicked in yet. If Trump by some miracle used the Army to stay in power, American people would riot in the streets, refuse to pay taxes, etc etc. I know there are grassroots organizing groups that are prepared to dig in as well.

Tl;dr — The Military, civil society, judges, lawyers, the entire Democratic Party, most independents, and sizeable numbers of Republicans will not accept a stolen second Trump term. Therefore, it won’t happen. Democracy will prevail just as it has for 230+ years of our history. Trump has broken a lot, but he cannot break everything. Because we’re Americans.

I would normally be inclined to delete a comment like this, but...

Apparently the ImgFlip mods take the view that *speculating* about future political violence is not equivalent to actually advocating it.

So, I won’t mod this sort of commentary here by lefties when it is considered kosher when done by righties in “politics.”

Apparently, Trump treats his security detail as if they were the hired help, violating what I can only assume is Rule 1 of Dictatorship 101. Another reason to doubt he would ever pull off a coup.

Anyway, if they didn’t quit en masse after the Covid exposure fiasco I doubt they’ll do anything now.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ajc.com/news/report-at-least-130-secret-service-agents-either-infected-by-covid-19-quarantining-after-trump-travel/GA5Z7RLDPNCXXL3YTCWJOAGRBM/%3foutputType=amp

If Trump steals the election (which I don't think he will), there will be massive civil resistance from most segments of society all the way from the top to the bottom. There are guides out there for how to resist. I haven't looked into them in detail yet since it hasn't reached that point, but massive protests (peaceful and otherwise) and refusing to pay taxes are a couple ideas that come to mind.

GOP sycophants tolerate Trump, but the American public at large does not and will not have a second Trump term forced upon them the way he's forced himself on so many women.

I'll leave it at that.

Trump’s not a Che Guevara, and neither are his supporters for all their whining.

I think he’s continuing the con on the gullible for as long as possible, just as he’s done all his life, Seeking to prove he has loyalists behind him who will raise hell at any notion of holding him legally accountable after he leaves office. And seeking to maintain his status as kingmaker in the GOP.

In all that, his strategy is paying off. But he will not remain President.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-has-raised-200-million-since-election-while-playing-up-fraud-claims/

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