Between Constitutional and diplomatic issues, he had some things to work out first. Got it.
I’m not one that has made any predictions about what will/won’t happen under Trump 2.0. I have, however opined that he has all three branches of government on his side, that his last major official act, in Trump 1.0, was a coup attempt, and have wondered aloud what – other than his basic benevolence, human decency, respect for the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and historic US norms – would dissuade him from acting on his worst impulses.
“It’s hard,” to me, doesn’t seem like a compelling argument.
The alternate slate of electors scheme was ‘hard,’ too. The mere fact that it failed, ipso facto, doesn’t mean he didn’t try.
He did.
And I’ll repeat: it was effectively his last act of his first term.
Did Trump the Candidate for a 2nd term say something between '21 and '24 to convince you that his better angels were governing him now, that he was profoundly repentant for his earlier transgressions, that his past issues of caprice, volatility, hubris, narcissism, overconfidence, impulsivity, and judgment were no longer plaguing him?
Did the lion’s share of his appointments and nominations somehow disabuse you of the notion that toadies, stooges, loyalists, and personalities – historically, the stuff of demagogues and dictators – would constitute the machinery of his administration?
Have his activities since leaving office (to cite just one: the theft of classified documents, the frank Obstruction of Justice in order to prevent their lawful return, and the repeated conversations with Putin while retaining those documents in possible/likely violation of the Logan Act) convinced you that he possesses the temperament, restraint, wisdom, sagacity, honesty, trustworthiness, patriotism, and commitment to the US’s best interest?
What causes you to give this man such an enormous benefit of the doubt? From whence comes your apparent sanguinity about what he might or might not try, if not actually do?