Imagine it’s the morning after the election is finally called and you wake up to sounds of jubilation chiming in your text messages, your social media feed is blowing up in celebration, and the newspaper headlines read: KAMALA HARRIS WINS!
You’re thinking it’s the end of Donald Trump saga. But don’t sleep…if the Jan. 6 domestic terrorism were any clue, he probably won’t go quietly even in the face of clear defeat. He didn’t last time and there’s no reason to expect he will now, and neither will his army of MAGA lackeys.
Despite no concrete proof of massive fraud anywhere, people ranging from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance — who happens to be running for vice president — insist there was. They are inciting what some fear could be a repeat of the U.S. Capitol riot, so much so that security is being beefed up for the December electoral vote.
There is a long list of people who are personally invested in the belief that Trump won. If they were going to disappear with a Harris victory, there would be no problem.
But there is little reason to expect they will. In June, Trump himself all but said that he wouldn’t accept the results if he loses. ”That’s the only way we’re gonna lose, because they cheat,” he said at a September rally in Michigan.
Think of the social media post below. These people are predicting violence if things don’t go their way, still in the delusional guise that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
In 2021, Liz Cheney, former chair of the House Republican Committee tried to shut that noise down. “There were over 60 court cases where judges, including judges appointed by President Trump and other Republican presidents, looked at the evidence in many cases and said there is not widespread fraud,” she said.
But you can best believe there are people who reject that outright and are not only expecting a loss, but have been planning to dispute a Harris win. How wild things get remains to be seen, but knowing the racist attitudes that persist in this country, there will be at least as many people who are furious that a Black woman has been elected as there was when a Black man was elected.
The race is within a razor thin polling margin and it’s still anyone’s guess who the winner will be. If it’s Harris, we don’t know if people will be driven to deadly violence like they were in 2021. We hope not. If the GOP retains the House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson, another election denier, could potentially try some congressional wrangling to delay Harris from certifying the results, which would be her job as Vice President.
It’s unfortunate that we’ve come to the point in this country where we actually expect a political repudiation that could become violent thanks to political beliefs becoming religious dogma. Some of these people are Joker-level crazy, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they pull something even weirder than Jan. 6. Just keep your eyes open and stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.
Will cooler heads prevail? Hopefully yes, but that’s only if the far right doesn’t call for them on a platter.
SOURCE: theroot.com