Elections in the United States, Donald Trump and the coup theory: the vote by mail is the wick to not give up the White House in case of defeat

When this summer Donald trump sent federal forces to Portland, “To quell the revolt”, Charles Fried made his voice heard. Fried is a lawyer Harvard Law School, republican, State Attorney General (head of the Legal Advisor representing the Federal Government before the Supreme Court) with Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. Fried he is also a refugee. In 1939, at the age of five, he left Prague, Where was he born. HE parents Jews, they fled Nazi persecution. Shipping to Portland of the troops of the Department of Homeland Security, Fried reviewed an old script. “They could have worn brown shirts,” he said, noting that Triumph and his attorney general William Barr they could use “degli agents provocateurs, far-right people to infiltrate the demonstrations of left, largely peaceful. In this way, they would provoke accidents and would justify the use of force ”.

Fried He is not the only conservative who has raised the alarm in recent months. There are the Republicans of “Lincoln Project“Those who believe that Trump is a danger to democracy. There are the “Republican voters against Trump“They define the president as” dangerous. “There is even the former president of the Republican party, Michael steele, what do you think Triumph he’s ready to “open Pandora’s box of deceptions”, just to stay in White House. Second Steele, the president would be sowing doubts about the vote by mail, and it is very probable that “he will not accept the results of the elections.” Steele It is not considered Triumph a reincarnation of the fascist dictators of the Twentieth century, but rather a “21st century PT Barnum, who doesn’t give a damn about people from Portland, who only cares about himself. “Ultimately, the conclusion he reaches Steele however, it is the same as other conservatives. Triumph I could try a coup in November, just to stay in power.

The definition “coup” is effective for a country with a millenary tradition democratic As the U.S – and in the mouth of a series of conservatives moderate and generally very careful with the use of words. But the presidency of Donald trump it has turned out to be anything but moderate and “normal”, and even his possible exit, or re-election, promises to be problematic. To examine all possible post-election scenarios, people like Fried, Steele and other old Republicans joined a patrol of Democrats and created the “Transition Integrity Project”. The group just released a 22-page short report, titled “Preventing a Transition and Interrupted Presidential Elections“(Full text here), in which we try to list all the risks of these elections. In particular, the outbreak of unrest, the use of federal force by Triumph, does not recognize the result.

Those of the “Transition integrity project”Start with an observation. And this year the concept of “election night” does not make much sense. The probable and massive resort to vote by mail, caused byhealth emergencyIn fact, it will ensure that many votes cannot be counted in the hours immediately after polling stations close. Take the case of Pennsylvania, a state where in 2016 Triumph He won against Hillary clinton by only 44,292 votes and that today is still vigorously contested among the President in charge and rival Joe biden. The law of Pennsylvania allows voters to request a vote-by-mail before 5:00 p.m. on October 27. Votes must arrive before 8 pm on November 3, the official voting day. There Electoral Commission however, you cannot start counting the ballots received in the previous weeks before 7 a.m.Election day. This means that thousands and thousands of votes in the mail will accumulate in the offices of the Pennsylvania, and that the result in the state will remain with each opportunity pending for hours, if not days.

The same goes for other states that are likely to be decisive. In Wisconsin, in 2016, Triumph he won by 22,784 votes. In Michigan, by 10,704 votes. Except for sensational surprises, direct vote, at the polls, will not solve anything. To assign constituencies, you will have to wait to examine the mail-in ballots. It is during this period of time, which could last days, if not weeks, that the “Transition integrity project“Pauses. In fact, the administration dislocate the troops of the National Guard in electoral colleges, with the official excuse of controlling voting operations. After all the same Triumph, the day of acceptance of the nomination by Biden at the Democratic convention, he suggested in an interview with Fox News that could have ordered the federal forces “and even bailiffs“To enter the polling stations to monitor any fraud (The subject of certain mail-in vote fraud has been relaunched dozens of times by Triumph in recent months, but without testing). Sending the troops it could provoke unrest in several cities, a scenario that we have already witnessed last summer of tensions racial – giving the president more reasons not to recognize the result in the presence of street clashes.

The report also speculates on the attractiveness of Triumph, via Twitter, to the extreme right militias. It raises the opening of a series of legal disputes in the different states, which could delay the transition of powers and even the day of theOpening, January 20, 2021. The final judgment on the winner could go up to Supreme Court, as it happened in 2000 (the Bush v. Gore case); but this time Triumph would not accept the verdict of Cut. On the contrary, it could deploy the organs of the State that most of them are in its defense. favorable – in particular theImmigration and Customs Control and the Customs and Border Protection – not to be kicked out of the White House. Either way, the result would be the same. Bring the Republic on the brink of dissolution. Putting American democracy at risk of destruction.

It is about Science fiction? Possible. Of limit-scenarios that have no chance of being realized? Probable. However, the unrest in recent weeks is growing, so much so that it has led to an open letter to the chief of the US Army, General Mark milley, by two esteemed war veterans in Iraq, John nagl me Paul Yingling. They both write: “Yes Donald trump I should refuse to leave White House At the end of its constitutional mandate, the army of U.S he must remove it by force and must give the order. “Here again, it is a distant hypothesis, which among other things contradicts the ancient tradition of non-intervention in the political affairs of the army. U.S. But the fact that the hypothesis has been formulated is already significant in itself. In recent months, the network of groups me associations who say they are willing to intervene, with the means of legal and political mobilization of the masses, in case of problems post-voting. These are acronyms like “Stand Up America “, “Public citizen“,”Republicans for the rule of law“,”Indivisible Project“His goal, as he explained Ezra Levin, co-founder of “Indivisible Project”, Is to bring millions of people to the streets of America, just in case Triumph did not recognize thevoting result. The model, explained again Levin, It’s of mobilizations a Hong Kong: millions of people in the square, for days, on behalf of democracy. How to say. the coup unlikely, but worth preparing.