Trump is strongly implying, insofar as it is possible to make sense of what he says, that a Biden victory will inflame things, will embolden the protesters by validating them. I think it would, rather, satisfy them – they would take it as permission to go home, and wait and see how the new crop of elected officials (local as well as national) will deal with their grievances.
But, OTOH, I am concerned that a Biden win might draw Trumpers into to the streets to protest the results. Worse, some of them might be armed from the get-go.
I’m not worried. 99% of these armed Trump voters are all talk and no action. They will type up a fury on their keyboards but won’t actually do anything.
And what are they going to do, barricade Congress and the White House?
I agree. As I’ve said in other threads, an acquaintance is giving up a self made business and moving practically cross-country because he fears a shooting civil war no matter who wins, and I just don’t see it, especially since the unrest NOW hasn’t caused it (though of course it has caused a lot of other bad things, not trying to downplay that) and my view of the other side is the same as Velocity’s.
I may be wrong. I could be wrong. But I’m just not convinced right now that my acquaintance’s actions are based on anything but fear mongering.
Civil unrest POST election? Have you been watching the news? We’ve got plenty of civil unrest already. I’m not saying it can’t get worse, but IMHO it is already unacceptable behavior for a free and supposedly civilized society.
The could probably murder people they don’t like in broad daylight and the cops won’t do much. Bundy was a harbinger of what was to come, white terrorists realizing they could pretty much use violence with impunity because law and order doesn’t really apply to them.
If Biden weren’t such a lame duck, I have no doubt he’d be assassinated. Obama was probably the last vestige of our make believe civilized society. The floodgates have busted open and there’s no going back.
If Biden wins, Trump will call his protesters into the streets to ensure things are as inflamed as possible. To the degree there are elements in the Federal government willing to violate the law to help Trump we may have agents provocatuers on the Federal payroll as well. Perhaps thousands of such if the DEA or FBI has been turned.
Aside: It’s interesting to me how many of your flurry of OPs amount to sounding like a reasonable centrist worried that sliding slightly left would be far worse than turning hard right. Usually containing the word “concerned”.
Trump has stated on the record that “The only way we can lose this election is if it’s rigged”. To most people that statement is probably throw-away but to a small group it will be taken seriously.
I agree that the election itself may bring out a bunch of nutters with their guns and MAGA paraphernalia for a little while afterward, but they are mostly going to be all sizzle and no steak. What WILL set them off like enraged chimps will be getting mocked and humiliated in public - that may actually force some of the more unstable ones to start pulling triggers. It will be a delicate situation for a few weeks to be sure.
They are going to drive cars into crowds of people, they are going to shoot up black churches, and they are going to use their jobs in law enforcement to push their white nationalist agenda; all the things they do now, but at a more intense pace.
We’ve just become numb to the frequent political violence from the right. Any time they dislike a policy, they show up with guns screaming like lunatics.
Whether or not there are going to be mass riots on election day or the days that follow, meh, I don’t know about that. But generally speaking, I think it’s a safe assumption that ginning up one side - particularly the side that seems likely to lose this upcoming election at the polls - to assume that the inevitable or likely result is a farce, is disturbing. At minimum, Trump’s team is setting it up so that one half of the country believes that the other half - the winning half - conspired against them to win an election and power using illegitimate means.
Democracy requires competition to be successful. It requires that two or more teams compete against each other in a marketplace of ideas so that good ideas can out-compete bad ones, and so that quality leadership out-competes leadership that has ideas that are less practical, useful, or tasteful. But democracy also requires cooperation. It requires that the party that loses the competition accept the results and that it agrees to act in good faith, even when they haven’t been rewarded with power. Trump and the Republican party are openly telling millions of people that they don’t have to cooperate with anyone - period. And that is dangerous. Democracy simply cannot survive that way.
I avoid posting in Great Debates. I especially avoid politics. However, I would just like to remind you that four years ago, there were HUGE protests against Trump winning, virtually days afterwards - The women’s marches with the vagina hats comes immediately to mind. The Democrats did not accept that Trump won and act in good faith, and haven’t for the past four years. I’m expecting the exact same thing after this election - If Biden wins, Republicans will protest. If Trump wins, Democrats will protest.
Yes there were protests. I’m not sure why that’s such a terrible thing.
Quick note, they were “pussy hats”, not vagina hats. As in kitty cat pussy, not women’s nether region pussy. It was a play on Trump’s words when he declared that he liked to grab women by the pussy, though what he was talking about was actually a women’s nether regions. I see sometimes people get confused by this rather simple differentiation.
It’s easy to remember, when Trump grabs them by the pussy, that’s sexual assault. If someone is wearing a pussy hat, it has cute little kitten ears. Any questions?
How so? Did Obama not hand over the reins of power? Did Clinton not step aside and allow the person who won the Electoral College take power? Was the transition not peaceful?
This is true, Democrats have not accepted that Trump has acted in good faith.
I expect that the parties will continue to do what they have historically done if they don’t get their way democratically.
Democrats will protest, probably a whole lot of protests.
And Republicans will get in armed standoffs with federal agents doing their jobs, take over federal property, and stage armed assaults on state capitals.
I think there is a difference between accepting the results of the election (which most people did) and opposing/protesting all the stupid stuff Trump has been saying and doing since day 1 of his administration. Losing the election does not guarantee everyone will just suddenly roll-over on their positions and get behind the newly elected official.
Otherwise, I agree - whomever wins, the opposing party supporters will be out protesting soon afterward. But, this time Trump himself is already stirring the pot by claiming there will be election fraud, but only if he loses. I do not recall any Republican or Democrat ever making such a statement or threat like that. That is different, and a little unsettling.
That’s true, but what most people were protesting was not just Trump winning, but also how Trump won and what his winning meant for the future of the country. I don’t accept that both sides of the political debate are equally valid. People who voted for Trump did so democratically, but they weren’t voting for a fully democratic country. Nobody is going to convince me otherwise. This doesn’t invalidate Trump supporters as people or citizens, but I think their attitudes that they’ve manifest over the past 4 or 5 years (longer than that actually) do invalidate the legitimacy of their protests. They’re pissed that America’s changing and rather than evolving with the country, they’re fine with using extra-constitutional and anti-democratic means to prevent it at all costs.
Are you equating protesting with violence? The right bombed Oklahoma City, after a white nationalist drove a car into a crowd of people in Charlottesville, Trump said their were very fine people on their side, Trump has called for his supporters to commit acts of violence against protesters at his rallies and praised someone who murdered protesters. Right wingers showed up armed at state houses to protest mask mandates and the Republicans invited a couple who brandished guns at peaceful protesters to speak at their convention. You honestly are drawing an equivalency between that and
pussy hats?
