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comment by OftenBen

Just the secret police, out disappearing troublesome provocateurs. Nothing to see here.

Just like the brown shirts in DC.

When the election is canceled in November, nothing to see here.





johnnyFive  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I don't think the election will be canceled for two reasons, or maybe two and a half.

First, I don't think Trump's ego will allow for him to plan for something like this. He is literally incapable of imagining a scenario in which he's not beloved by everyone, so the idea that he could actually be voted out is just not something he can comprehend very well. This makes planning for such an event difficult.

Second, assuming I'm wrong about this (or that Trump is manipulated into affecting the election), it's too overt. It would cause significant unrest, even more than we've already seen. Even if Trump's supporters among the powerful don't actually care, it's still messy and would hurt their bottom lines. Especially when there's an alternative: create just enough in terms of impediments to voting and the like that the election still happens, Trump wins, but there's nothing overtly illegitimate about the process. If it takes more than a single sentence to explain why the election is illegitimate, you've lost the argument. Meanwhile, Biden will concede "for the good of the country," and there we go. It's rocky, but Trump gets what he wants, and without even more civil unrest (read: economic harm).

The third / second-and-a-half thing is that, like uhsguy says, there's not the support among people who could actually pull this kind of thing off subtlety. Trump has his acting DHS secretary, but I question whether enough people within the DHS and other three-letter agencies would actually be willing to go along with this for it to work. At that point he'd have to do something incredibly overt, which brings us back to my first two objections, only worse, because he'd have significant parts of the defense/intelligence establishment openly opposing him.

OftenBen  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I want to believe you.

johnnyFive  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Me too!

ilex  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think we're far more likely to see a hotly contested election than an outright cancellation. There's a reason we've been arguing about mail-in voting for months now.

uhsguy  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I really don’t understand the election being canceled batshittery. Nothing is going to fundamentally change Biden is the establishment candidate. He’s supported by every 3 letter agency and mega corporation and he’s up double digits in the polls. Nobody is canceling anything.

The real election was the primary and yes I suppose that got canceled but nobody cares.

b_b  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

If I were Trump I would seriously consider pulling a Nixon-Ford deal with Pence. Odds are Biden will let all of Trump's crime go unpunished for the sake of "unity" or whatever, but if I were Trump I'm not sure I'd want to take that chance.

uhsguy  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I could see it happening post election. Trump could resign into the lame duck period and get pardoned

b_b  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Trouble with that is there's nothing in it for Pence in that case, except I guess getting the title and the portrait. Maybe that's enough.

uhsguy  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

President title is a pretty sweet bonus.

OftenBen  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Mother would certainly be pleased to be First Lady for any period of time.

After some reflection,

Pence definitely has a stack of stuff in the 'Things I would do if I was President' list that are in pursuit of his own agendas. Any amount of time as President furthers one or more of those goals.

b_b  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I just puked in my mouth

OftenBen  ·  1590 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Whatever you say guy.