QOTD: Trump Will Exploit War For Political Gain

 

Distinguished historian Timothy D. Snyder writes in his Substack about the scenarios and prospect of the deranged and lawless Malignant Fascist staging another coup attempt, as he did on January 6, but on a grander scale involving the military and other institutions of the Government.  An excerpt, but the entire piece is necessary reading:

"We are seven months away from the most consequential midterm election in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, we are fighting a war. These are the structural conditions for a coup attempt in which a president tries to nullify elections and take permanent power as a dictator. If we see this, we can stop it, overcome the movement that brought us to this point, and make a turn towards something better.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth are stuck in the logic of escalation, according to which the feeling of defeat today can be reversed by doing the first thing that comes to mind tomorrow. Trump is surrounded by people who are making money from the war; each day of war strengthens a warmongering lobby with personal access to the president. As the war lengthens, the chance that it will be exploited for a coup attempt increases. [snip]

It is up to us to put two and two together: Trump will seek to exploit the war (or the next one) to alter the elections. We bear responsibility for what comes next.

The eventuality can seem frightening, but Trump’s position is weak. The gambit of turning a foreign war into a domestic dictatorship is complicated and difficult. Its success depends on us. If the possibility of such a coup is not anticipated and the variants of the gambit are not called out as they emerge, he can succeed. He has attempted a coup (or, technically, a self-coup) once, in January 2021 -- there is no reason to think that he will not try to do so again." (our emphasis)

Dr. Snyder then proceeds to lay out the scenarios that the MF could follow in trying to subvert the Constitution and claim dictatorial powers.  It's chilling and realistic, but it succeeds only if we don't anticipate it, call it out and resist.