I was wondering what sort of carnage a furious and vengeful Trump might wreak between now and Biden's inauguration, but then I found this article, which covers most of it. Apologies for yet another Trump/election thread but it's a broad discussion and I wanted to focus on a specific aspect: the immediate aftermath. What do we think will happen?
There has been talk of a self-pardon, or putting Pence in charge to pardon him for some of his most egregious offences. Not sure how successful this would be, but he'll certainly try - won't he? Another aspect to all of this is the vital Georgia run-offs. Will a couple of months of Trump-fuelled chaos give the Democrats these seats? Now that he's lost, it seems extremely likely that Trump's actions will focus even more on what benefits himself rather than the country. I'd imagine he couldn't care less what happens in future GA elections; that's a problem for someone else to deal with. And to what extent will prominent Republicans continue to back him? Will they break ranks? Will they continue to mostly support him given that almost 50% of voters still love the guy? Appreciate that the transition itself is largely handled by civil servants, so should be smoother than might be envisaged were it entirely Trump-managed. But still, lame duck, baseball bat...
There has been talk of a self-pardon, or putting Pence in charge to pardon him for some of his most egregious offences. Not sure how successful this would be, but he'll certainly try - won't he? Another aspect to all of this is the vital Georgia run-offs. Will a couple of months of Trump-fuelled chaos give the Democrats these seats? Now that he's lost, it seems extremely likely that Trump's actions will focus even more on what benefits himself rather than the country. I'd imagine he couldn't care less what happens in future GA elections; that's a problem for someone else to deal with. And to what extent will prominent Republicans continue to back him? Will they break ranks? Will they continue to mostly support him given that almost 50% of voters still love the guy? Appreciate that the transition itself is largely handled by civil servants, so should be smoother than might be envisaged were it entirely Trump-managed. But still, lame duck, baseball bat...
Quote
“If Trump loses power he’ll spend his last 90 days wrecking the United States like a malicious child with a sledgehammer in a china shop,” said Malcolm Nance, a veteran intelligence analyst and political author, speaking before the result of the election was known.
“We’re likely to see the greatest political temper tantrum in history. He may decide he wants to go out with a bang, he may decide he will not accept the election result. Who knows what a cornered autocrat will do?”
“We’re likely to see the greatest political temper tantrum in history. He may decide he wants to go out with a bang, he may decide he will not accept the election result. Who knows what a cornered autocrat will do?”