I doubt riots will get any worse after the election, and they’re a local problem, not a country problem. If there’s violence where you are, I expect it to be about the same afterward, but most people in the country aren’t interested in violence and that won’t change just because the current president stays in office for a few more years.
It doesn’t matter if Trump and Pence respect the election result. If Trump loses the election, he’s not the president anymore and the federal bureaucracy and military will stop listening to him. For a supposed-fascist, he’s terrible at stocking the government with supporters, and the idea that the US military would support him in a coup is unbelievable.
It also doesn’t matter if he wants to interfere with the election, because he can’t. Presidential elections are run by state governments (and there are some strong constitutional barriers that would prevent anyone in the federal government from interfering with them).
I’m not very satisfied by answers like “X won’t support him, because that’s illegal” and “it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to do X, so they won’t.” I think these usually are correct, but over the last four years we have seen rapid deterioration of our ability to: agree on an objective reality, have an executive branch which abides by the law absent immediate and tangible enforcement mechanisms (remember when congressional subpoenas were at least often answered? now they’re ~always ignored AFAICT), have common knowledge that the law is the Law and if you break it you will be punished (obviously, rich&powerful would get more leeway in this calculation), etc.
I think many of these things have degraded and am no longer sure that anything would really stop red states from ignoring the popular results and sending their own set of electors. It’s already being discussed, and red officials have admitted they are discussing it without immediately walking it back / distancing themselves from the prospect. Maybe the Supreme Court would be enough to stop that, if they so chose. (Would they? Aren’t states technically allowed to choose electors however they please?)
If Trump loses the election, he’s not the president anymore and the federal bureaucracy and military will stop listening to him.
He’d still be president until Biden’s inauguration though. I think most of the concern is that there’d be ~3 months of a president Trump with nothing to lose.
I think most of the concern is that there’d be ~3 months of a president Trump with nothing to lose.
The idea that Trump would have nothing to lose assumes he cares about neither his business wealth nor his personal freedom and only cares about holding office. I don’t think that’s what Trump is about.
I doubt riots will get any worse after the election, and they’re a local problem, not a country problem. If there’s violence where you are, I expect it to be about the same afterward, but most people in the country aren’t interested in violence and that won’t change just because the current president stays in office for a few more years.
It doesn’t matter if Trump and Pence respect the election result. If Trump loses the election, he’s not the president anymore and the federal bureaucracy and military will stop listening to him. For a supposed-fascist, he’s terrible at stocking the government with supporters, and the idea that the US military would support him in a coup is unbelievable.
It also doesn’t matter if he wants to interfere with the election, because he can’t. Presidential elections are run by state governments (and there are some strong constitutional barriers that would prevent anyone in the federal government from interfering with them).
I’m not very satisfied by answers like “X won’t support him, because that’s illegal” and “it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to do X, so they won’t.” I think these usually are correct, but over the last four years we have seen rapid deterioration of our ability to: agree on an objective reality, have an executive branch which abides by the law absent immediate and tangible enforcement mechanisms (remember when congressional subpoenas were at least often answered? now they’re ~always ignored AFAICT), have common knowledge that the law is the Law and if you break it you will be punished (obviously, rich&powerful would get more leeway in this calculation), etc.
I think many of these things have degraded and am no longer sure that anything would really stop red states from ignoring the popular results and sending their own set of electors. It’s already being discussed, and red officials have admitted they are discussing it without immediately walking it back / distancing themselves from the prospect. Maybe the Supreme Court would be enough to stop that, if they so chose. (Would they? Aren’t states technically allowed to choose electors however they please?)
He’d still be president until Biden’s inauguration though. I think most of the concern is that there’d be ~3 months of a president Trump with nothing to lose.
The idea that Trump would have nothing to lose assumes he cares about neither his business wealth nor his personal freedom and only cares about holding office. I don’t think that’s what Trump is about.