Even worse than we think?

By D-Jay

Earlier this month, people close to Donald Trump reported that he now believes he will be “reinstated” as President by August.

Could he be right?

In anything approaching a normal world, such a suggestion would be insane.

As conservative commentator Charlie Cooke wrote in the National Review:

“The scale of Trump's delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government.

There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. Hell, there is nothing even approximating a Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution."

Duh… Civics 101.

Basic psychiatry.

But what about the last five years has been anything approaching normal?

What has been done by Trump and his devoted cultists since the 2020 election that has been anything less than full-on straightjacket-worthy looney toons?

You got it. 

Nothing.

And it’s only getting worse.

Like a hyper-malignant cancer in the lungs of a chain-smoker or the latest Covid-19 variant let loose in an anti-vaxer nursing home, state laws enabling greater voter suppression, partisan vote-counting and certification override measures have been raging unchecked throughout the land. And let’s not forget all the moves for Arizona-style fraudits in other states and the threats and intimidation of honest election workers at every level, leading to a mass exodus for the doors. Any bets on who’s likely to replace them?

At long last, much of the mainstream media has caught up with Cannonfire - and caught on to the perilous state in which American democracy now finds itself.   

But is it too little, too late?

Is Civil War 2.0 now unavoidable?

Some would say it’s already begun.

Consider this. 

The Boston Globe recently published an excellent 6-part editorial called “Future-Proofing the Presidency” which examined the unprecedented corruption and criminality of the Trump Presidency.  It argued that the only way to prevent future Presidents from following this dark path is to establish once-and-for-all that no one is above the law and that anyone who betrays their oath of office in such a vile and destructive way will be punished. In their words:

“Trump’s presidency didn’t just expose glaring legal weaknesses: It also made clear that our institutions are incapable of holding presidents accountable for breaking even our existing laws. If Congress had played the role the Founders envisioned, by removing Trump from the presidency after his criminality became clear in the Ukraine affair, that might have been enough of a deterrent to scare future presidents straight. But lawmakers didn’t.

So now there is only one way left to restore deterrence and convey to future presidents that the rule of law applies to them. The Justice Department must abandon two centuries of tradition by indicting and prosecuting Donald Trump for his conduct in office.”

They are right.

And prosecutions of Donald Trump are surely coming.  Even if Merrick Garland’s Justice Department doesn’t have the stomach to go after him for any of his federal crimes, or if a blanket self-pardon he no doubt gave himself somehow saves him, the former guy will almost certainly face state or local charges in New York, Georgia and elsewhere.

It has to happen.

If it doesn’t, and if the GOP anti-democracy blitzkrieg at the state level isn’t thwarted – and soon – by federal legislation, come 2022, we can pretty well kiss American democracy good-bye.

But what will we see when indictments of the former guy are actually filed and the possibility of years in court, serious jail time, and the loss of all his money moves from the realm of the theoretical to that of the likely?

It isn’t hard to imagine.

He, and all his cronies, will scream that this is nothing but another hoax – the latest attack by the dastardly “deep state” on the one true champion of the American people.  The message will be repeated and repeated and repeated, and amplified and amplified and amplified in every last corner of the right-wing media.

Calls will soon be made for millions of his followers to take to the streets and they will do so…with their guns.  With an armed version of January 6^th as a template, state capitols, courthouses, DAs offices and who know what else will be attacked.

It will be only a matter of time before shots are fired.

The real questions will be how many, where, and what the response of our police, armed forces and other security agencies will be. 

Will they stand firm to protect our democracy?

Will they uphold the oaths they swore to the Constitution, or will the real loyalty of too many rank-and-file soldiers and police officers prove to be to QAnon and the cult of Trump?

And

And…

What will Vladimir Putin choose to do?

Will his FSB psy-ops experts use their considerable skills to further divide our country and inflame the Trumpists to even greater acts of violence and extremism?

Will they somehow exploit the access to numerous government systems they gained with the Solar Winds hack to damage the ability of agencies throughout the country to function effectively just when they are needed most?

Will a massive cyber-attack on vital US infrastructure take place, shutting down electric grids, air traffic control, water purification, nuclear power plants and who knows what else.

Could the chaos generated by a massive second Trump insurrection combined with an all-out cyberattack be so great that the country would splinter apart – if not forever, long enough for Trump to find someplace willing to declare him the “Rightful President” and offer him protection?

Is this exactly what Putin was hoping for when he threw his support to Trump, knowing full-well just how damaging his Presidency would be to America? 

Are we ready for that? 

Are we ready for any of it?

This article is being written just a day before President Biden is to meet face-to-face with Putin.

I hope he knows what to say.

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