Adolph Hitler could not destroy America.
The Soviet Union could not destroy America.
Osama Bin-Laden could not destroy America.
Donald Trump can but he needs help.
On January 3, 2021, I posted a political action thriller blog. It was about the books and movies from the 1960s, where people were trying to take over the country and/or destroy the world. The blog was written prior to January 6. It also was written prior to all that we know today about the events surrounding the failed insurrection attempt by a defeated President. Just when you think you know all that there is to know about the event, you realize that you do not.
Sometimes actions are funny like throw a plate a ketchup on the wall and see what sticks.
Sometimes they are revealing like the lunge for control of the car to turn it around and take the Loser to the Capitol so he could appear as the valiant hero leading his forces to victory in the House chamber.
Sometimes they are scary when you realize the forces sworn to defend the Constitution took the advice to stand down. After all the insurrectionists were “my [armed] people” who had been marshalled to storm the Capitol and not Black Lives Matter or Antifa.
The question We the People now have to ask is could it happen again? Could the insurrection be successful in 2024 whereas it failed in 2020?
The second question is do the American people realize that the insurrection of 2024 is on the ballot in 2022?
THE 2024 INSURRECTION
2024 will not be a repeat of 2020.
The Insurrectionist in Chief will not be in the White House and Commander in Chief.
The Vice President would not do what the 2020 Loser wanted the 2020 Vice President to do and the laws will have changed.
If armed forces were gathering at the Capitol, the government forces would shut them down even before the event occurred.
Many of the people who led/participated in the insurrection have been arrested, found guilty, or even pleaded guilty to sedition.
There will be no Gettysburg (January 6, 2025: Suppose Biden Loses?).
The battleground will have shifted elsewhere.
THE WOUNDED EMBATTLED INSURRECTION LEADER
The situation for the leader of the insurrection also will have drastically changed. The immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old will be in a vastly altered terrain than he inhabited in 2020. No matter how much he still wants to play President, no matter how much Team Wackadoodle tells him he is the President, and no matter hard he clings to his souvenirs about when he was President, the landscape will be very different.
Just think of upcoming events this months:
1. His upcoming deposition about a rape case
2. The sentencing of Stephen Bannon and his tentative efforts now to avoid prison contrary to his early bluster
3. The start of the trial against the Trump Organization with his very own CFO testifying against him.
Even his own lawyer knows that Mar-a-Lago indictments will follow shortly after the election.
And there is more to come. In other words, there will be a constant stream of legal activities surrounding the Loser and his associates. For months if not years to come, he will be busy defending himself and throwing other people under the bus.
One should keep in mind that he is not an authoritarian leader as in China and Russia. People still make the mistake of analyzing his actions as if they were those of an adult. He lacks the cognitive skills to plan and organize anything remotely resembling a fascist authoritarian state. He is an immature child of the moment responding in CAPS to any attempts to hold him accountable in the adult world and force him to stop playing. That does not mean that there are not people working for him or on his behalf who are not seeking an authoritarian order as long as it is the right person in charge.
One may anticipate, as is already happening, that as the legal world closes in on him, so his performances in the political wrestling arena will ramp up. He will be more openly bigoted and more fervently embracing of QAnon. He constantly will be stoking his people to rise up the likes of which has never been seen before in this country the more the law moves to catch up with him and hold him accountable.
STACEY ABRAMS MOMENT
Remember Stacey Abrams? It was not that long ago – one governor cycle – when she was the “It” girl. She was the one getting widespread media attention about the changes she was about to spring on the State of Georgia and American politics write large. Now she is running again but with hardly any notice. And even the Democratic Senate wins in Georgia in 2020 are largely attributable to the actions of the meddling President as well as to her.
The same can happen to Ron DeSantis. Right now he is receiving a great deal of attention. Can he maintain that level of public interest and standing until 2028? The same applies to any of the wannabees. It is very difficult to sustain a level of enthusiastic support for years upon years if you are not named Kardashian. Just as Abrams had her moment in 2018, the wannabees will have their moment in 2024. If they do not act then, except perhaps for the one who is selected to be the Vice President candidate, the others will be relegated to the sidelines.
This means that Trump is going to be double-squeezed. On the one hand, the legal entanglements will continue to mount. They will become more and more serious. The attempt to reorganize out of New York State demonstrates the recognition that he has a lot to lose financially. Other cases suggest he could be facing not only civil penalties but criminal ones. I am struck by the comment by the judge in the rape slander case that the defendant and plaintiff are in their late seventies so the constant delay tactic will no longer suffice. Legally, Trump will become a wounded crybaby constantly lashing out in CAPS and reminding people how unfit he is for the job of President.
Sometime in 2023, a DeSantis or another wannabee will have to strike. Sometime in 2023, a DeSantis will have to proclaim there is an alternative to the wounded crybaby and he, Ron DeSantis is the one. We can see glimmers of the canaries in the coal mine already. We can see Trump-endorsed candidates pulling back from the Trump platform. In one case, we can even watch a candidate do a 180 degree turn. So there are signs that if one wants to win a state or national basis as opposed to a gerrymandered-House district, relitigating 2020 might not be a proven winner.
If a wannabee does push the wounded crybaby offstage, how much of the MAGA enthusiasm is transferable? Right now he is their Lord and Savior, the Chose One, Blessed Be his Name. The wannabees do not possess his charisma, energy, and skill in exploiting the MAGAs. QAnon cannot so easily switch to a new savior. The racist anti-Semitic militias cannot so easily switch their allegiance to anyone else now in the national arena. So if the wounded crybaby drops out for legal reasons, all bets are off in the chaos that follows to attempt to fill his shoes.
STATE ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE
In the meantime, the effort to seize control of the election infrastructure continues. Think of 2020 as a beta test to determine the election weaknesses which can be exploited in 2024. It isn’t as if 2020 started out that way but now with hindsight it exposed the people, positions, and laws which needed to be changed to ensure a Democratic defeat in 2024.
The upcoming elections represent a test drive of the Steal the Election 22.01 for 2024.
Laws have been changed to enhance voter suppression and rig the counting.
People have been installed in the trenches to intimidate voters.
Trumpicans have cleared the decks of Republicans in elections throughout the land.
The last part of the testing for 2024 will occur in three weeks.
Given the low ratings of Joe Biden and the immediate concern over inflation, food, and rent, people are more likely to vote locally than based on the national need to save democracy in 2024. At this point, no one anticipates a blowout like 2010 or 2018, still in the civil war currently underway, it is reasonable to expect gains that will translate into success in 2024. So while the political action thriller movie is not yet over, we are getting closer and closer to the moment of truth. The war is being fought on so many battlefronts and on so many political levels that it is hard to follow all the action and unlikely that either side will achieve a decisive blow in this election.
The countdown to January 6, 2025, continues.
