If Trump is Charged and Arrested, and He Calls for Insurrection, What Do You Think Will Happen?

Politics & Elections
21

This is frustrating because it is more complex than what is most likely. I don’t even think the guy will get charged over the documents issue, and if he is charged he will have his lawyers negotiate an only slightly worse deal for him than if he went to trial. He will plead to some related but lesser crime and agree to not run for office – then cry victim! Victim!! VICTIM!!! At most he will be confined to his golf course for three months. But the Georgia case and the insurrection case may lead somewhere- so we must be prepared for the possibility despite my strong belief that documents = zero. (The Mar a Lago thing is like a flustered, exasperated parent trying to contain a sugared and caffeined toddler after a long, long day. The government is going to threaten the death penalty-- but once they get the kid in the bathtub and into bed – they don’t give a shit anymore. Any punishment for the toddler is worse on them than it is on the child. Same with Trump shove him into bed in Florida and forget about him as much as possible!)

I believe that if Trump, or Trump and his allies call for an insurrection, it will mostly be small groups of armed and vocal protesters who are all talk and little action. But a very few protests are very likely to have a synergistic moment when groups of like minded people who thought that they were the last good, God fearing, Trump inspired people in town meet others just like themselves. Maybe some weed or some beers are shared and they become emboldened because — see, we were the ones who were right all along!! Jed and his crew are just like us!! Good American Patriots!

Mob rule is a dangerous and instant thing that grows beyond anyone’s control much too fast. The Capitol on January 6th was spectacularly successful in that manner. NO ONE expected these protesters to breech the Capitol, to chase Mike Pence, to go nearly as far as they went. If just one or two of these picnic warriors end up in some perfect storm of being belligerent patriots who decide to show the libs how devoted patriots roll - - - - and they take over some federal building or other. The next day every one of Trump’s 74 Million voters will be at a federal building armed to the teeth.

Nothing motivates like success and if two or three of these groups manage to hold a building over night it really could inspire a large nationwide protest. Most will peter out, but if a few grow violent, well showing enough force to restore order WILL ABSOLUTELY look like government goons in Jackboots suppressing free speech. Once it goes that far – anywhere in the entire nation, there are only two choices and they are both bad. 1) Take them by force and be the overreaching government they said you were, or 2) Have a stand-off that stretches on and on like that business over grazing cattle in Oregon that didn’t end until someone died.

I believe there are three issues to be aware of:

  1. If these were rational people they would not be supporting Trump, plus they will be armed.
  2. A crowd can become a mob and a mob can cause a riot pretty quickly and it always goes further than anyone ever thought possible.
  3. Once one has committed to a serious misjudgment, it can be pretty hard to back down or find a way to save face while making compromise. I have worked on construction sites my whole life; I know that every man becomes a Samurai when everyone is watching, death before dishonor becomes quite real under certain circumstances.

I also think a bunch of small outraged groups will wave flags and honk horns, then get home before Tucker Carlson’s show to see if they were on TV. But some people are meeting in basements hoping and praying for an opportunity like this to fall in their laps.
(Two of these guys died raiding FBI offices in separate incidents within two days – that chilled everyone’s shit out! But think if they got there and found one or two other guys with the same intention!! Those kinds of people with something to prove and nothing to lose just might unite at one of these protests and tragedy could result.)

What all these protests would have in common is angry, armed people who are either off their meds-- or self medicated – things could go wrong, very wrong. At the very least, before charges are filed maybe they should check with the threat assessment people and be sure there are not ten-thousand people in every red state just looking for an excuse to rumble. In any military situation, in any situation where lives are on the line, one must plan for what is possible-- not for what is likely. So do everything possible to mitigate the violence and every other potential down side risk. Then do justice by following through and convicting the bastard despite any and all risks.

In summary:
What any of us think is likely to happen doesn’t matter at all. The government has to be prepared for the worst thing that can happen to happen (Prepare for the worst and hope for the best- it is a way of life!!)

Second, whatever the risks, if the government has a case and a likelihood of conviction it MUST press the charges and deal with the fallout. It is a moral imperative.

(Now I still do not believe the fact that Donald J. Trump committed numerous crimes in broad daylight before multiple witnesses is enough to bring charges in this case-- but I sure hope I am wrong. Georgia on the other hand needs to bring charges and the sooner the better in this voters opinion.)

22

If Trump were to call for insurrection you could take all of the people at the Capitol on Jan 6th, spread them around the country, and listen to them shout “Where are we supposed to gather!??”
There would unfortunately be “lone wolf” psychopaths who create random armed violence in the name of their infallible con man.

23

“Bring it on” should be the byword of every law enforcement organization in the country. I don’t begin to understand how calling for anything other than mass arrests of rioters can be justified.

What, we’re supposed to think “If you threaten to upset the civil peace, we’re going to change radically the way we enforce the law”?

24

I’m of the “a few desultory protests and a few violent gun nuts” view. It’s possible that one or two small militias may get their shit together long enough to hire a U-Haul and go cause mayhem somewhere, but it won’t be widespread or coordinated beyond the local level.

25

Except the people who planned it, gave recon tours beforehand to facilitate it, stripped the capitol of enough security forces to defend it, refused to let the national guard in, and formed a command bunker to control the insurrection. This was not a case of spontaneous mob mentality, this was a deliberate and planned attempt to overthrow the US government through violence. It’s frustrating to see people constantly downplay how malicious and intentful it was just because the people who planned it were incompetent.

26

This will be a great opportunity. The traitors will come out and identify themselves and we’ll round them up and send them to gitmo to await trial.

27

will we?

28

It’s very important the Republican party leaders begin preparing the public for Trump’s possible arrest.

Start criticizing Trump and remind the public the mishandling of classified documents is very serious. There’s also the investigation of election tampering in Georgia.

I’m well aware the Republicans have supported Trump. They can’t continue that support if the Justice Dept has a strong case. There’s a point where Republican leaders have to step away from Politics and support our rule of law. Openly distance themselves from Trumps legal difficulties.

That would remove a lot of Trumps supporters. Making any civil unrest unlikely.

Things got scary after the search and Republicans were attacking the Justice Dept investigation. Mike Pence’s speech reminded them that isn’t acceptable. Republicans can’t play politics with our legal system. They have to support it.

29

I was in one of my online games doing voice chat [Discord] and there was the normal smacktalk. Somehow it meandered to potential insurrection and a now-booted guildie was blathering on about his group was going to go house to house and if the house wasn’t “annointed” [shades of the lambs blood on the lintel of the house a la Plagues of Egypt!] then they would go in and kill everybody in the house. He was crowing about owning the libs and how weak and helpless Democrats were. I pointed out to him that not all liberals or Democrats were helpless, and I informed him that I now only owned weapons and was proficient with them, I owned my own body armor [from back when I was an armed response guard] and while I was very physically handicapped, his best bet at killing me was catching me asleep because I would definitely be shooting anybody doorkicking their way in.

Oddly, he really didn’t like a mere woman disrespecting him, and he went off in a frothing rage. He apparently did not realize that I was female [I normally don’t actually talk in game, so most people don’t know I am female. ] And on that note - I do actually have security cameras around the barn and do actually have them cycling on a tablet so I can watch the outside. So far, i am getting the neighbors cow, goats, some chickens and various local wildlife - but they are motion detecting and have an audible alarm if something is noticed. I would not put it past this idiot to decide to go and kill us liberals at some point.

30

Yes we will. We did it on Jan. 6, this time we won’t get caught by surprise and the Guard will be waiting for them. Okay so the National Guard has no real training for this situation so as usual they’ll resort to shooting pretty quickly. I don’t approve of that but it shows we have to send Trump’s Magalomaniac supporters to Gitmo for their own protection.

31

Never mind…

32

I think there would be some lone wolf attacks and maybe some incidents like Jan 6th, except with better preparation by federal security and law enforcement. And I think a judge would very quickly shut Trump’s ability to communicate publicly through social media if he were to call for any violence after being charged.

33

Can’t they? Is there? Because current evidence suggests that their plan is to discredit the DoJ and smear law enforcement. They have already openly abandoned support for rule of law in pursuit of their political goals.

34

How about an Ammon Bundy-style takeover of isolated federal facilties? Armed MAGA militias could overrun small federal offices with a small squad and terrorize employees and visitors. A standoff could prove sticky. Unless it is put down quickly with overwhelming force, a prolonged standoff could create a rallying point for other like-minded insurrectionists. On the other hand, if they are wiped out in a SWAT operation, they become martyrs that enflame others to mount an insurgency of isolated attacks that drag on and on.

35

Many cops support the fascists, look how many were participants in the attempted coup.

36

Time to round them up too.

37

A few idiots will get themselves arrested or shot; that will encourage the others to confine themselves to angry ranting.

About the only practical effect is that it will rule out the otherwise option of a relatively cushy house arrest or Club Fed option – they’d need enough security to firmly discourage “rescue” attempts from Meal Team Sixpack.

38

There would be widespread unrest if Republican leaders don’t support the AG and Justice Dept decision to charge Trump (if it happens). His popularity would swell and there would be demonstrations in a lot of Red states.

This is very uncharted territory. The leaders of political parties are expected to make responsible decisions. What they do influences millions of Americans.

The US has avoided a lot of civil unrest and violence because our political parties acted responsibly. Our political system has broken down and resulted in a horrific civil war. We can only hope that never happens again.

39

I hope those idiots understand we have all the voting machines rigged so we’ll know if they vote for Trump or any of his stooges and round them up too. Somebody should explain to the half-wits that they’re better off staying home on election day.

40

We shouldn’t minimize the danger inherent in the relatively tiny number of nutjobs who are likely to do something if Trump goes into full rebellion mode. It’s easy to point to the various fizzled protests, but I think it’s more instructive to look at what’s happened even without explicit calls to action. There’s already been plenty to be concerned about.

My prediction, in the event of the OP, is that a lot of people die. That doesn’t have to mean riots or militia attacks. It could simply mean a few dozen nutjobs all perpetrating mass shootings in the same 48-hour period.

I think the militias and puffed-up internet warriors are a bit of a red herring, and I think they’re useful idiots for Trump apologists who want to wave their hands dismissively and say “oh please, that’ll never happen.”

A completely unhinged Trump would be more than enough to push otherwise borderline individuals over the line from inaction to action. Therein lies the real (as in ‘more likely’) danger.