# ...but, then, if The Donald loses in November 2024 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 11, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416 "2024-02-11T03:00:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/21 "2024-02-12T17:47:54Z")
Republicans picked up 14 House seats even as Trump lost the Presidency in 2020. And the problem in the Senate is that three Democratic incumbents are in deep-red states and 4-5 more in closely divided battleground states. If the R Senate candidates outpace Trump by just a percentage point or two that could make all the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/22 "2024-02-12T19:17:29Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If Trump loses the 2024 presidential election, he won’t be in any position to meaningfully hold the GOP by the short and curlies. Not only are the odds good that he’s going to be convicted and imprisoned, but given his age, he’s never going to be a candidate for the office again. Such has been Trump’s malign power thus far that I think your predictions here are wrong. If he can still walk and talk under his own power, they’ll keep sending him out and propping him up with a good chance to win. And I deeply doubt he’ll ever see prison in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/23 "2024-02-12T19:34:01Z")
Yes, the “smart money” all along has been a divided Congress again, but the Dems taking the House and the Reps the Senate no matter who wins the Presidency. Seemingly the only way out is either Biden or Trump not running, probably for health reasons. That could lead to sufficient voters staying home that the downoffice elections are no longer close. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/24 "2024-02-12T21:02:57Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Such has been Trump’s malign power thus far that I think your predictions here are wrong. If he can still walk and talk under his own power, they’ll keep sending him out and propping him up with a good chance to win. And I deeply doubt he’ll ever see prison in my lifetime. He’s going to be in prison. Even if he’s able to walk, hobble, or be rolled on stage, he’s not going to be making any public appearances. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/25 "2024-02-13T02:48:39Z")
Impressive confidence, there. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/26 "2024-02-13T07:10:47Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If Trump loses the 2024 presidential election, he won’t be in any position to meaningfully hold the GOP by the short and curlies. It was clear he was doing that while in office. It’s been pretty clear he’s been doing that to keep certain people from testifying against him after his adminstration ended. I just don’t see that stopping whether or not he loses. If he does get in office again I suspect he’ll dig up more secrets on his ‘colleagues’ and increase the pressure for key politicians to comply with his wishes. It just seems to be the way he approaches “The Art of the Deal.” Somewhere, somehow, Faustian bargains were made. Why and when did it become surprising for that deal-maker to threaten to use his **Trump** cards#? And something woeful in the back of my mind thinks he’s going to live past 100 just to get back in the media spotlight one last time (and to spite people). –G? #Yeah, I had to stretch to make that one work. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/27 "2024-02-13T11:48:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Well, it’s happening very slowly. He’s already due to pay out $88m to EJC, he’s likely to take another big hit from the Trump Org case, and there are assorted other civil cases (including Rudy’s) that will drain his coffers (or at least his donors’ coffers). I suspect you’re right about him escaping prison (or at least anything worse than house arrest) for the criminal charges, but we’ll see. He’ll never not be in court. Swalwell and Capitol cops have pending suits. We’ll never run out of people with a legit reason for suing him. Once all his appeals run out, he’ll flee the country, scofflaw that he is. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/28 "2024-02-13T11:52:04Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Once all his appeals run out, he’ll flee the country, scofflaw that he is. Nah. By the time every appeal is exhausted, he’ll be dead. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/29 "2024-02-13T18:50:43Z")
Yeah fleeing the country, that’s another prediction that I don’t expect to see happen. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/30 "2024-02-13T18:57:33Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Wasn’t (hell, might as well say _isn’t_) that because he cannot conceive of himself losing at anything? Partially. It’s also because he already predicted there would be fraud before the election occurred. > **[US election 2016: Trump says election 'rigged at polling places'](https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37673797)** > > Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says those who cast doubt on his claims that next month's US elections will be rigged are "so naive". Note that the article above was October 2016, a month before the election. It wasn’t just the fact that he couldn’t stand to lose in any way, he also couldn’t stand to look wrong. He was pretty sure that he was going to lose the election and had already sowed the seeds for his inevitable gripes about a stolen election, then **he somehow won**. Note this quote in that article from the time: > Polls suggest Mr Trump is losing ground in some key battleground states against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. So in order to not look like an idiot for winning an election that he swore was rigged, he pivoted and claimed that it’s the only reason he lost the _popular_ vote. And then went so far as to create an investigation (which found nothing, though he swept that part under the rug). > **[Report: Trump commission did not find widespread voter fraud](https://apnews.com/article/f5f6a73b2af546ee97816bb35e82c18d)** > > PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The now-disbanded voting integrity commission launched by the Trump administration uncovered no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud, according to an analysis of administration documents released Friday. That made it easy in 2020 to claim vote fraud since he had so much practice at it already. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416/31 "2024-02-13T20:25:39Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I’m sure Trump will try to do as much damage as possible on the way out, but I suspect when he loses even many of his followers will see him as a loser. This feels right to me (I’ve posted something similar, can’t remember where). Sure, there will be some subset of the MAGA tribe that will follow him to the very end and drink the Kool-Aid when he tells them to. But I think a significant percentage of reasonably enthusiastic MAGA cultists would react to a call to action with, “Yeah, I’ve seen this movie before, it’s getting tired. Let’s do something else, something that doesn’t land us in prison. It’s over.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-then-if-the-donald-loses-in-november-2024/997416.md?page=1)