Waiting For January Isn't Good Enough

In many respects Donald's Trump victory in 2016 was a fluke. His opponent was historically unpopular, he lost the popular vote by three million ballots, and won the electoral vote based on razor-thin margins in three states. His failure to do anything to expand his base of support, combined with an absolutely calamitous response to the coronavirus, means he is way down in the polls to a candidate who is barely campaigning.

It is very tempting to assume Trump is going to lose the election and to be hopeful about a new direction come January. However, I increasingly feel that this attitude is encouraging a dangerous complacency. And no, I do not mean complacency about winning the election. I am thinking that the damage Trump will do between now and January will be unbearable. 

As long as he is in power, there will never be a unified national response to the coronavirus. What that means is tens of thousands more unnecessary deaths. Furthermore, Republican governors take their cues from him, and they are currently pushing to open schools and prevent mask wearing. 

If Trump loses the election in November, I cannot imagine what kind of horrific things will happen in his lame duck session. I can see massive conservative court packing and midnight appointments, along with pardoning of cronies. That's the best case scenario. We could also see a nationwide application of the use of paramilitaries, as we are seeing in Portland. Or the intentional destruction of the postal service to prevent voting by mail or disrupting its process. 

There needs to be a show of force in the streets. Trump's Republican enablers need to understand that they have to choose between him and popular wrath. Some of them actually seem to be wavering in the blood oath they signed with him in 2016. Now is the time to force them to make a choice, and in making that choice make decisions to prevent tens of thousands of deaths. Saying "go vote" and waiting until January won't cut it.