2. He is plotting to steal the election

It has been rumored for months that DT intends to use a predicted “red mirage” on Tuesday night to declare victory prematurely and then fight to have the remaining uncounted ballots discarded. Sources close to the White House today have confirmed that this is indeed the plan. Let’s be very clear about this: even if it seems likely that he will lose the election, the president is planning to claim to have won, and he is prepared to use any and all resources at his disposal to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans who cast legitimate ballots. If you think this subversion of democracy sounds more like something that would happen in a banana republic than the nation that bills itself as the Land of the Free, you are not alone. How did we fall so far, so fast?

The signs of a decaying democracy have been present in the U.S. for decades, and they have grown in number especially since the Republican Party systematically purged its ranks of moderates in the 1990s. The last four years have been particularly worrisome for the fate of our republic, as the thug in the White House broke taboo after taboo in his quest for dictatorial control of the country. Now, as Election Day is almost upon us, it seems increasingly likely that DT will take whatever action he deems necessary to remain in office, with zero regard for the repercussions. He will attempt to use his own appointees on the federal bench to halt the counting not only of absentee ballots but also ballots cast in person during early voting. He may press his allies in certain state legislatures to appoint new electors. He may even declare his opponent, and Democrats in general, enemies of the people, and advocate for their arrest or worse. If civil unrest breaks out on a large scale, matters will be further complicated because his own henchmen will nominally be in control of the forces required to stop it.

Navigating the nation past this crisis will be a tricky thing. It will require a degree of coordination that may be hard to come by between disparate cohorts, including the multiple factions of the Democratic Party, the mass media, state and local elections officials, and at least some Republicans on Capitol Hill and Republican appointees in the judiciary. It is unclear if this even will be feasible, given the polarization that Republican extremism has created. What the end result will be is, quite frankly, anybody’s guess.

The wheels of justice

For four years, America’s reputation has suffered badly as a result of the rise of DT. Now the fundamental integrity of our system of government is on the brink of suffering, too, and it could be a fatal blow. At some point in the future, no doubt, retribution will fall on those who have allowed the situation to grow this dire, but in the meantime we may be in for a rough ride. It will be the duty of every genuinely patriotic American is stand up and speak out, refuse to accept that a red mirage constitutes a victory, and demand that every legitimate ballot be counted.

The worst may not come to pass. It remains possible that DT will be voted out of office by a sizable margin, that his defeat will not depend on slow-counting states such as Pennsylvania, and that such an outcome will be clear by late Tuesday night. So anyone who hasn’t voted for Joe Biden yet should plan on doing so. Tuesday is our last chance to ensure a smooth continuation of democracy. Then, beginning in January, we can work on ensuring that this never happens again.