No, I don’t think you’re too pessimistic. I think the MAGATs are entirely capable of trying to seize power by any means necessary, no matter the outcome of the US election. And their side is extremely well armed!
Huh, interesting responses. Only @madmonk28 seems to share my view. I’m sure he joins me in hoping that we are ridiculously wrong and the rest of you are right.
I take your point, but I also think that it can’t hurt to take whatever steps are possible to mitigate “stop the steal” nonsense. I’m such a Girl Scout - my motto really is “be prepared.” I just don’t know what the people who operate the election infrastructure can do to show people that fraud is rare. Prevention is better than fighting back.
Kind of, my wife agreed we could finally emigrate if Trump wins and I’m oddly conflicted by Harris’ momentum. Also, any patriotism I once had died while I was trying to help Afghan colleagues get out of Kabul.
Yes.
I’m worried about more aggressive driving on the streets, highways, and freeways.
And, yes, I’m serious: that’s the number one arena for disappointed, deranged, or inconvenienced people to vent their vents. It’s a constant concern, and, no, I’m not kidding. I see it ten or twelve times a week commuting, and it isn’t even “election day” yet.
MAGAgs? Yeah, same as always. If “they” “win,” probably a lot of Proud Boys showing their stuff. If they lose, same, plus likely a good amount of cops.
Harris wins? Probably more “powered scooter” dipshits toddling around, taunting. If lose, more daring l33t manœuvres to outwit those wily commuters and cagers.
Meh, it’s a probably a wash as far as dumbassery on the highways goes.
Not worried in the least. For myself.
Don’t like what could happen.
I say, go vote if you haven’t previously. Lock down on the day of and a few days after the election. If you hear if unrest in your area, stay off the street.
There’s nothing you can see or do. Taking video on your phone is not needed.
Just stay home.
If someone comes to your house to do illegal activity, don’t go out. Call 911. If they break in, defend yourself the best you can.
My always go to: stay home away from the fracas.
This is where we are in 2024.
I’m out in a fairly rural and red area. People get up to no good out here even in regular times. I’ll hunker down with all the cartridges I’ve reloaded, and wait for it. Enough folks around here driving around in their trucks flying the flag. It’s as if it’s replaced the Confederate flag as a signalling device.
I get the feeling 99.9% of Trump’s most loyal supporters have the same level of fanaticism as super fans of sports teams. Extremely passionate and vociferous - some even prone to spontaneous violence - but not the kind of commitment to sustain that pique for more than a day after a defeat. That’s the sort of people the police are used to handling. If an organized right wing militia takes the field, they will be slaughtered by the national guard the first time they fire a shot.
I’m not convinced the unwashed, stupid masses of MAGAs can even form a plan far from who will fill the ice chest with cheap beer.
Now there’s a few with a brain in their melon that might, just might be able to.
Hopefully the little brain will click on and see the error of what an organized rampage will get them. A nice stint in a federal lock-up.
You have to remember that the nation’s foundation, and particularly foundation myths, are in revolution, including the Revolutionary War. Add a century of movies where the underdogs win in the end, and a subpopulation that is armed to the teeth, and a few who buy into the South’s Lost Cause narrative. It’s a tribute to our standard of living that people have enough to lose that they don’t act these things out more often. However, we don’t have as robust and secure a middle class as we once did, so I’m not sanguine (so to speak) about it.
I would not be at all surprised if there were locally significant but sporadic insurrections. I suspect the FBI etc. keeps any larger organization in check, so I don’t think there’s a serious threat to the country as a whole. Anything that does happen is probably going to be a bunch of guys in their 50s and 60s in an underpopulated part of the country, à la that Bundy guy and his militia, and as easily dealt with.
I think if we’ve proved anything on the Dope it’s that leftists are armed also, myself included. More hunting inclined, but still.
This is certainly good advice regarding personal safety, and if I lived in Washington DC I’d definitely follow it.
To be clear, I don’t anticipate a level of violence such that your average Doper is directly affected. But I foresee riots in some areas that become violent.
Yes and no.
Yes, we have already seen election-related violence in this cycle and more is to come. If the worry is that people will die due to election-related violence, that is realistic.
Election-related violence poisons the political life of a country. And it probably would reduce the chances of MAGA-ism going away after Trump hopefully loses again.
What I do not understand is how election-related violence could change the outcome of the election. There typically are election violence deaths in many countries, including India, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Iraq and Nigeria. I cannot recall the violence ever working except in the case of assassination. And now that the Secret Service had a close call (with one death), I expect them to be extra careful for at least the next few years.
Re the thread title, can I point out that we are liable to see election-related violence in Chicago next week even if Harris appears, as now, on track to winning? We could easily see election violence – say, rioting – if either ticket wins.
Oh, I agree with you there. I’m not so pessimistic that I think Trump supporters will pull off a successful insurrection that ends with Trump in power. I just think that enough of them will succumb to the temptation to indulge in chaotic acts of violence that we’ll be seeing it in the news, and it will mar the joy a Harris victory will bring for many of us. (Assuming she wins of course - but I think that’s a reasonable thing to hope for.)
Large scale, -organized- violence, even to the comparatively small scale of Jan 6? No, not even close.
Lots of little acts of violence and vandalism (including those targeted at related individuals such as Mr. Pelosi)? Yes. If I was working at an election center and was a known Democrat, or a judge/lawyer on one of the inevitable Trump challenges, or was a Harris-Walz office, I’d be worried that there are going to be cranks who believe in the cultish sense and take action.
But no, nothing organized past a certain number of semi-large scale but more-or-less legitimate protests where there will be plenty of pushing, shoving, and maybe some broken windows.
So worry about lone-wolf crazies, not so much an armed militia.
That is more in line with what I think will happen. I am doubtful, for reasons already articulated by other posters above, that an organized, armed militia is in the cards. (A few delusional assholes who THINK they’re an armed militia, definitely.)
I live in a low-density, politically unimportant, mostly-blue area. I’m not worried about riots near my home. Will there be riots in other areas? Damned if i know. It may depend on what Trump says building up to election Day, etc.
I live in red world.
Lots of Trumpists who talk a smart ass game.
I also know these people.
Ultimately they talk, yell, put up big signs and flags, cuss, bother people but they won’t do much. Maybe a kegger that night at the camp.
They are mostly blow hards.
The ones I really feel sorry for are their democratic family members they go home to. How awful that must be for them.
If he can’t take it out on the evil government who will he kick?
Only if people in power in swing states encourage it.
No major incident in DC. Not having the terrorist organizer in the White House puts a damper on things. Biden will have the DC National Guard in place. Security on 1/6/25 will be massive.
In the rest of the US there will be sporadic and unorganized violence. A few people will die. My hope is that the Harris victory will be so convincing that all except the most addle-pated will recognize its legitimacy.