I don't want to live in interesting times, do you hear me? I want to live in BORING times.

[conuly]

Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful transition of power after Election Day

Fingers crossed that this is jackassery and puffery and not some sort of serious threat.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

what I want to know is why it isn't resulting in him being escorted out of the office right now. 25th Amendment; one of the duties of the office is to leave it at the end of one's term; "refusal" is admittedly not the same thing as "inability" but like, insert two panels of Chidi Anagonye, you get how that's worse, right?

[dine]

given it's him, it could be either - but the likelihood that it's some sort of serious threat is real, and terrifying.

I want boring times, too - so so badly

[marahmarie]

I assume he's telling the truth about this and have made that assumption for months and won't change my mind until I see, on video, actual evidence to the contrary.

All my thoughts center around him contesting the election and/or refusing to leave the White House, bodily resisting like a two year old throwing a tantrum, say, but it's not a simple as that. His followers are going to do whatever he does, or defend whatever he does, however they see fit to defend it, which means if he does what I think he will we've got a mess on our hands, if not actual civil war, whether he contests or not, but even more likely should he.

[malinaldarose]

Why did they even ask him that and put the idea into his head?

[moon_custafer]

Yeah, my first thought was “what does it say about his administration that reporters even need to ask the question?”

[conuly]

This didn't put the idea in his head.

[(Anonymous)]

It's a threat. He is normalizing the idea right now, to make it a political problem in the hopes that the military will wash their hands of it instead of making it a military problem.

[wpadmirer]

I'm with you on that one!

[batwrangler]

Boring would indeed be nice.

[aurumcalendula]

This! I want boring times so much.

[dark_phoenix54]

It's a serious threat. The mere fact that he announced it means his cultists will riot if he loses. They hang on his every word, and will take it as a suggestion from him.

[hamimi_fk]

I’ve reached a plane of constant terror and resignation. Stupid people are some of the most dangerous people and I’m losing faith more and more. It feels like no matter how loud people are shouting, Trump and his supporters are just smirking as they continue on with their batshit crazy ideas.

[lavendertook]

That’s how they want you to feel--that’s how authoritarians work. Constant terror and resignation is it. I cll it The Daily Horror. Don’t give up and don’t give in.

Get involved in get out the vote and BLM efforts both help--it keeps you in contact with other people fighting, other people who have bigger targets on their back than you or I do, and it keeps you going. Even if it’s writing post cards from home. It’s the way to fight it, and it’s the way to continue when we do get rid of Trump, because the fascists aren’t going anywhere and they’ve always been part of the fabric of this country. But so are we.

[hamimi_fk]

I’m not giving up but it’s disheartening to see what’s going on. Right now I’m struggling to convince my family to even vote for a variety of dumb reasons (one doesn’t want jury duty, one says it won’t matter, and one just doesn’t care about anyone except themselves). I plan to go in-person and vote no matter what though.

I wasn’t aware about writing postcards as a way to help. I take the BLM movement seriously but it’s another thing my family doesn’t give me support about. I mean they do care at least but they’re not proactive. My son is half-black and my family is of Hispanic heritage so to see everyone just sleeping on these things is frustrating. I will try out the postcard idea. Thank you.

[conuly]

Do you think it'd help if you showed up at their house with coffee, and told them that they'd get a crisp $50 each if they came with you to vote RIGHT NOW?

[hamimi_fk]

I live with them and while money would definitely help, I don’t have it and if I did I would never I offer it to the one who only thinks about themselves. Selfish, leech that one is. I will be dragging one with me, hell or high water. I’m sad my youngest sister is still a few months from her 18th birthday because I know she would’ve voted. (I jokingly asked her the other day why hadn’t she been born sooner?)

[brokenallbroken]

He's been saying that for over a year, as well as talking about a third term. It's what all the foo over mail-in ballots has been setting up.

I want to know what all the Second Amendment ammosexuals who spend all their time braying about how guns are critical to protect us from a tyrannical government are thinking about this.

[thewayne]

And directly beneath your post in my feed was the WordsmithDaily feed word of the day:

Brownshirt.

[readerjane]

We all know Agent Orange has no scruples; of course he’s going to use any means he can to stay in power.

I suspect it will come down to either the joint chiefs’ having to decide whether to honor the chain of command or their oath to the constitution, or the secret service crew doing the same. It’s a difficult place for them to be in. But they knew their jobs wouldn’t be easy.

[silveradept]

Even if he's not being serious about it (which, I suspect he is), the people who want him to be dictator for life certainly are serious about it. Although they might back off a little bit if they get firm enough control of the courts that they believe they can overturn anything a duly elected government might do to get them out of power.

[hudebnik]

He's saying this stuff PARTLY to trigger the libs -- anything that makes people talk about me is a win, right?

But it's also true. There's never been any realistic chance that he would concede defeat in this election. When has Donald Trump ever publicly admitted losing anything? Even when he's on the losing end of a court settlement, he doesn't admit wrongdoing or guilt or anything -- he just quietly pays the price of doing business and goes on to do it again. His whole self-identity is "winner"; he cannot lose, or he wouldn't be Donald Trump.

And his modus operandi has always been "try it and see whether you get away with it." If he concedes, he leaves office and gets prosecuted for tax evasion and fraud and stuff. If he doesn't concede but eventually loses and gets removed from office, exactly the same thing happens; there's no additional penalty for contesting the election, especially if he can find a way to fight the court battles with campaign, RNC, and/or taxpayer money rather than his own. If he doesn't concede and wins, he stays in office, pouring taxpayer dollars into his own pockets, surrounding himself with adoring crowds, and immune from prosecution. If he seems to be losing the election, he has nothing to gain from conceding, and a great deal to gain from contesting it.

An ordinary Presidential candidate concedes because it's the classy thing to do, and because preserving the infrastructure of democracy is more important than who wins this particular election. Neither of those considerations applies to Trump: he can't spell "class", and nothing is more important than winning.

[negothick]

He has never admitted losing anything. In articles from 1990-91, when the courts were taking his toys (like his yacht) and putting him on an allowance (seriously) he denied publicly that either was happening. He said he was tired of the yacht, and nobody was telling him what to do! And banks apparently believed him, because he did come back from that bankruptcy--because the real big money people were ready to trust him, who knows why? 30 years later, nothing has changed. He still believes that whatever happens, "I always win," and big money people are willing to support him in his delusions.

[negothick]

We need to remember that it's not just clueless cultists keeping him in power. If the big money stopped supporting the Republicans who back him and rubber-stamp his policies, it would be "You're FIred" soon enough.