How Trump plans to take over the country. After the initial publication of this post, the following came to my attention:
This video shows why government officials at all levels MUST protect our democracy by preparing a response to Trump abusing his emergency powers to steal this election. Retweet to help #StopTrumpsElectionTheft pic.twitter.com/1nABN4bhqm— Jonathan Greenberg (@JournalistJG) September 13, 2020
You should also read this piece in the Financial Times.
To repeat a point I've made previously: The power that blocks a Trump takeover may not be military but economic. Money isn't really green -- it's blue. The blue states of California and New York make this government possible, and blue taxpayers won't tolerate a red dictatorship.
So keep an eye on how the financial press responds to Trump's lurch toward tyranny. Civil war is bad for business, and so is a taxpayer revolt. Even the dullest denizen of Wall Street must understand this fact.
The bulk of today's post is by D-Jay, who has a few things to say about Roger Stone and his call for open fascism. We learned today that Barr tried to bend the justice system on Stone's behalf -- a gesture which, in sane times, would have sufficed to derail the presidency. I must ask: What stops Pelosi from impeaching Barr? Or, for that matter, from impeaching Trump again?
And now for D-Jay...
* * *
I, ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
-- United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office
Members of the U.S. military swear an oath to the Constitution – Not to the president. Not to their commanders. Not even to their country. They swear to “support and defend” not property, not land, not the flag, not political leaders, but the democratic principles upon which American society is based.
That Constitution is now under assault. As Joseph’s recent post, Enemy WITHIN the Gates, nicely summarized, Roger Stone made that perfectly clear with his open call for Trump to institute martial law if he loses the election.
And if you think that Stone was saying anything that Trump himself hasn’t thought of a thousand times, dream on.
This is where we are.
The chance that the United States will slide into overt fascism by the end of the year is real.
Perhaps even likely.
The only important question, therefore, is what can be done?
If there is any good news in all this, it is that more and more people on our side of the aisle seem to be finally waking up to the danger and starting to make contingency plans. In fact, one of the main things that prompted Stone’s outburst of fascistic honesty was a report in the Daily Beast that, “a coalition of leading progressive groups gathered on Zoom to begin organizing for what they envision as the post-Election Day political apocalypse scenario.” Evidently, their temerity was too much for Roger’s delicate sensibilities. Imagine a group of Democrats actually trying to prepare serious responses to Republican ratfuckery instead of just rolling over as usual and taking it in the you-know-where. The nerve!
Enough, however?
Not even close.
What I want is for people to immediately start inoculating the body politic against the political pandemic heading our way at warp speed.
For starters, Stone has made clear that martial law is very much on the table.
The potential flaw in this plan, however, is that martial law gets nowhere without the military. In the end, the fate of our democracy might lie with our armed forces. If Trump orders them to support a power-grab in any way, will they follow his orders or not.
No matter how alien a concept it might be to Trump, their oath is to the Constitution – not to him. If he doesn’t have clear and incontrovertible evidence of massive fraud by his opponents – not just his own blowhard claims – our soldiers, sailors and airmen would have every reason to regard Trump’s orders as illegal ones that they are obliged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice NOT to obey.
But this is not likely to be an easy call for individual soldiers to make.
So – Generals Mattis, Kelly and McMasters – the time has come for you to step up to the plate and decide if you are going to fulfill the solemn oaths YOU made to the Constitution, or if you are going take the easy way out, keep your mouths shut, and sit back and watch while our country slides into darkness.
You worked directly for Trump.
You know exactly who he is.
You know what a danger he poses to our democracy.
You know that if he has HIS way, the military will – in fairly short order - swear its allegiance to him rather than our sacred Constitution.
Go on the record now – loudly – publicly – in print and in person – telling serving members of the U.S. Military that Trump has NO evidence that Democrats will try to steal the election.
That he has NO evidence that mail in voting will be rife with fraud.
That he has NO evidence that anyone besides him and his buddies in the Kremlin are seriously working to subvert American democracy.
That his QAnon acolytes are conducting a military grade PSYOP on a gullible portion of the American people.
That any orders he gives to interfere in any way with the election, or try to support any claim he might make to remain in office after he loses will be illegal, and that it will be the duty of all members of the military NOT to obey.
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