Autocracy: How Trump Might Start a Civil War

If this article does not convince you to VOTE, I don't know what does...

US election 2020 - Donald Trump's strategies for the coup

A column by Sascha Lobo

Should he lose the election in November, Donald Trump will probably not recognize the result. No one will be able to prevent him from staging a coup d'état, he and his allies have long made sure of that.

When slavery was officially abolished in the USA in 1865, the great fear of the white Southerners was that the black population would gain too much influence through voting rights. 

"Voter Suppression" was intended to be an antidote, the deliberate making of voting more difficult, especially for black and also economically weaker Americans. This attitude derives the current understanding of democracy by the Republican party leadership. Majorities are at stake - but not all of them.

That is why prison inmates (40% black) are often not allowed to vote, for example. That is why tricks such as gerrymandering have been developed, in which electoral districts are tailored so that one party benefits from them, that is why in some states certain identity documents are required for voting, which poorer parts of the population rarely have.

Since 2001 - The recent history

With the victory of George W. Bush, an idea that has been discussed since the 1980s at the latest reaches the White House: a "perpetual presidency" of the Republicans. The notorious strategist Karl Rove speaks of the "permanent Republican majority". And this is to be achieved by almost all means. Democracy should be the backdrop against which a permanent Republican rule is installed.

October 2016 - The background

Not that one wouldn't trust Trump to do everything anyway after he identified "very fine people" waving swastika flags and after children were put into cages in the USA. But a quote from 2016 seems almost like an announcement. Three weeks before the election Trump says: "I will absolutely accept the result of this great and historic election - if I win!"

January 2017 - the start of the election rigging

The extreme narcissist Trump cannot lose and if he does, he invents a reason why he actually won. Hillary Clinton got more votes overall, Trump got the majority of the electorate and became president. But his inauguration statement is a tough one: he claims that Clinton got more votes than he did by rigging the elections. It is the beginning of the electoral fraud story, Trump's strategy to delegitimize election results at will.

From 2017 - The Projection

In psychology, it is called projection, when you project your own plans onto others. "The Democrats are planning a coup," Trump has repeatedly claimed, on the investigation by former FBI Chief Robert Mueller and the Democrats' impeachment considerations. It is also an attempt to turn the defense into an attack disguised as self-defense.

From 2017 - Creation of a Trump Reality

Trump's followers are in a reality of their own; they do not care about factual reality, but develop a sectarian understanding of the world: Trump is always right, even when he is not right. Because everything that speaks against Trump is staged by his enemies.

In case of doubt, it is a "deep state", an official conspiracy against Trump, of which he himself often spoke. It is a trick to make state action appear legitimate only when it has been approved by Trump: sheer authoritarianism, in other words.

April 2017 - Trump's first constitutional judge

The Supreme Court is essential in the American electoral process in deciding controversial practices and situations. George W. Bush also won in 2000 because the Constitutional Court stopped a recount. At the beginning of 2016, a conservative constitutional judge, who should have been replaced by the then incumbent President Obama, will die. The Republicans use procedural tricks to delay the nomination so that in April 2017 the first trump judge Neil Gorsuch is elected to the highest court.

In June 2018, a rather liberal judge who was actually appointed for life, resigns under strange circumstances. Trump gets his second constitutional judge and thus a clear, conservative majority in the Supreme Court.

September 2019 - The Impeachment Debacle

The Democrats, with their majority in Congress, are starting an impeachment process. A few months later, they will fail as crashingly as foreseeable against the Republican Senate majority, but now Trump's story that the Democrats are planning a coup against him has official fodder. Very cleverly, Trump builds a counter-narration that he posts on Twitter. where he posts, "Democrats want to steal the election".

October 2019 - The followers radicalize

Trump's supporters have been radicalized since 2016. Even during election campaigns, the aggressive mood, for example against the free press, was described several times. In the meantime, things have gone far beyond that. In October 2019 the right-wing to right-wing extremist festival "Trumpstock" will take place in Arizona. 

One visitor says he has hoarded weapons in case Trump's re-election is not successful: "Nothing less than a civil war would happen. I do not believe in violence, but I will do what I must do." 

Two months later, a man at a Trump rally says unflinchingly to the camera of one of the biggest TV stations: "It won't be canceled... My 357 Magnum feels good with it. End of story." 

Mind you, this is a perfectly normal, democratic process: a lost election...

November 2019 - The Insider's Warning

In the USA, the book "A Warning" is published, written by an anonymous person from Trump's immediate environment in the White House. It contains the following quote: "If Trump is removed from office, whether by impeachment or a narrow defeat at the ballot box ... Trump will not quietly and simply resign. That's why he talks so often about coups in progress and civil war on the horizon. He plants this tale in the minds of his followers, and this tale can end tragically."

April 6th, 2020 - The Supreme Court test run

The Supreme Court will decide whether there can be an extension of the deadline for postal voting in Wisconsin. The Democratic governor had initiated several proceedings because of the Corona pandemic in order to be able to vote as safely as possible. But absentee voting is seen as electoral facilitation that is more likely to benefit the Democrats. The Supreme Court rejects it.

April 30, 2020 - The militias threaten

Between 30 April and 15 May 2020, there are alleged "anti-Corona protests". In Michigan, they are mainly directed against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a favorite enemy of Trump, who has often contradicted him. 

The protesters, recognizable by their signets as radical right-wingers, enter parliament armed and threaten the members of parliament. The Pro-Trump militias, which have formed, armed and trained throughout the country, can immediately recognize this visual language as a signal: When in doubt, we must use the force of arms to put pressure on parliaments.

May 2020 - Trump's preparation

Picking up on the 2017 election rigging story, Trump continues to stress on Twitter that the November election could be rigged. He is particularly interested in the absentee ballot, which may be of benefit to the Democrats, but at the same time is only a pretextual argument. Trump is preparing to call an election outcome that does not suit him a falsification.

May 10, 2020 - Trump's propaganda channel immunized

Fox News, the lying propaganda platform for Trump disguised as a news channel, speaks again and again of an alleged coup d'état by the left. It is ultimately the well-known self-defense story.

14 May 2020 - Concern grows

Suspicions about Trump's plan of a coup had been raised again and again in smaller, leftist, and more aggressive media over the years. Now even the Washington Post is headlining with concern: "We must prepare ourselves for the fact that Trump will not accept the election results." 

The opinion piece asks what will happen if Trump tweets that he actually won, and ends with a maximally helpless statement: "Republicans who care about the Republic must act now." They have failed to do so many, many times before in Trump vs. Democracy, actually every single time. The Republican Party under Trump is not interested in democracy.

May 30, 2020 - The Riots and the Right Fired

After the murder of George Floyd by police officers, there are protests all over the country. Trump himself pours oil on the fire, because the more civil war-like the situation, the better for him, who wants to stage himself as the supposed Law and Order president. But extreme right-wing Pro-Trump groups are also playing their part, seeing their chance to pursue their racist agenda in the turmoil of a civil war.

There are increasing signs that Nazi groups set fire to shops during the protests in order to harm the movement #BlackLivesMatter. Twitter reveals that the account "Antifa_US" actually belongs to right-wing extremists who want to discredit the antifascist movement. The secretly right-wing account had repeatedly called for violence and had been quoted in media.

01 June 2020 - Trump threatens military deployment

Trump threatens to deploy the US military in the country itself - against protesting Americans. Put simply, the respective national guard, like the police, is more likely to be under the ruling governors of a state, whereas the army is clearly under the control of the president.

Not only does this dangerously polarize him, but he also uses a law that is more than 200 years old, which allows him, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, to directly exercise executive power on the streets.

02 June 2020 - The great danger

For years, too many observers did not take Trump at his word, thus playing down his monstrosities. But Trump is doing what he said he would: He deploys U.S. military forces in Washington, DC. Heavily armed soldiers under Trump's direct command. Helicopters flying low to use war tactics against unarmed protesters. Trump uses tear gas to clear the way to a church, where he presents himself with the Bible in his hand. 

Congressman David Cicilline tweets:
"We have never been closer to a dictatorship."

November 2020 - An unfortunately likely scenario

Should he lose the election in November, Trump will stage a coup d'état and no one will be able to stop him. I fear he will not recognize the election results, prematurely claiming on Twitter that he has actually won and supported by Trump-listening propaganda media such as Fox News. 

He will explain all differences with other media claiming: "This is fake news!" and all reports from government agencies with a "deep state" conspiracy of the Democrats. He will immediately use the US military under his command against any protest, against Americans on American soil.

He will eventually appeal to the Supreme Court to back up his version of the election results. The protests of the Democrats and the upright, critical media will be as helpless and ultimately ineffective as all rebellion so far. 

However, there is not all lost:

Former chief of staff John Kelly says he agrees with Mattis. “I think we need to look harder at who we elect. I think we should look at people that are running for office and put them through the filter: What is their character like? What are their ethics?”

What can you do to avoid this "war"?  VOTE - not only on November 3 - but alsoat every Primary, and on every level of government, starting on the local level up to Federal elections. EVERY VOICE COUNTS!

Do it for the 45 Million unemployed and the 108.000 deaths.

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