Sunday Reading - Giving Trump And Republicans A Proper Electoral Burial

Lots of good reads out there this morning.  As always, we hope you read the entire pieces.

Let's start with Leonard Pitts who connects neo- fascist narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump and his "rigged election" whining with a long tradition in Republican politics:

It is important to note that Trump did not spring from nowhere. Rather, he is the logical byproduct of a GOP that has spent the last quarter century telling its acolytes they were victims: of “media elites,” Hollywood values and science, to name just a few. And if you’re looking for election rigging, look no further than the party that has thrown up arbitrary legal barriers designed to make voting harder for African-Americans and other non-Republican constituencies. 

Donald Trump, in all his preening infamy, is the end result of the GOP’s years of hypocrisy and reality avoidance. Shame on anyone who takes seriously his piteous moaning about the vast forces conspiring against him. 

American democracy is the only victim here.  (our emphasis)

Speaking of voter intimidation (as we have), Colbert King wants us to know Democrats aren't going to be passive defending voting rights on Election Day:

In June, I wrote that with this election, nothing — not rallies, conventions, debates — mattered more than “getting out the vote.” 

Trump and his posse make GOTV all the more urgent. 

National civil rights groups, led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, intend to come out in force nationwide with volunteers trained to serve as a first line of defense against the intimidators. 

Others need to swing into action.  (our emphasis)

Frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank tells us why it's important to American democracy that Rump be dealt a "humiliating defeat":

The need to deal Trump a humiliating defeat has a sociological basis in the “degradation ceremony,” in which the perpetrator (Trump) is held by denouncers (officeholders and others in positions of influence) to be morally unacceptable, and witnesses (the public) agree that the perpetrator is no longer held in good standing. 

Psychologist Wynn Schwartz, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, explained to me that what’s needed to have a successful degradation of Trump is an epic defeat. “If it is lopsided enough,” he said, “you don’t have critical masses of people who feel disenfranchised” or “who feel justified in saying that it was stolen.” 

But if Clinton’s victory is narrow, the degradation ceremony fails, because a large chunk of the population feels swindled and remains loyal to Trump. “The margin matters a lot,” Schwartz said.  (our emphasis)

 Let the New York Daily News express itself, too:

"Domestic Insurrectionist" Quote of the Day

"Clinton framed his answer as a pattern of habitual sore-loser-dom, which Trump displayed in calling several Republican primaries rigged, and making the same complaint about losing a television award. (She did not mention that he did this on Election Night 2012, too.) Perhaps she put it this way because undecided voters can relate to the familiar archetype of a bully who happens to be a sore loser. The truth is much darker and more dangerous. Trump is a domestic insurrectionist against the stability of American government." -- Jonathan Chait, writing in New York Magazine about the third and final Presidential debate where neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump clung to his "the election is being rigged" mantra.

Rump remained defiant today, doubling down today on his refusal to declare whether he'd accept the results of the election by saying he'd "absolutely" accept the results..."if I win." So says the monster who must never become President if we want to live in freedom.

BONUS:

She looks like a President, and he looks like the kind of guy the Secret Service keeps away from Presidents.#debatenight

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 20, 2016

Post- Debate Lede: Trump's Disgraceful Attack On American Democracy

Here's the only thing people are talking about in the wake of last night's third and final presidential debate:

(Attribution: Internet news headlines, via Daily Kos)

That's right.  Once again, when asked directly if he would accept the results of the election November 8, neo- fascist authoritarian Donald "Rump" Trump answered,

“I’ll look at it at the time."

When pressed for a definitive answer, Rump continued,

“What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?”

Fellow Republicans, smelling the sulfurous fumes of their party's implosion and Rump's apparent decision to take as much of American democracy down with him, were quick to react:

Trump's answer on accepting the outcome of the vote is the most disgraceful statement by a presidential candidate in 160 years.

— Bret Stephens (@StephensWSJ) October 20, 2016

My thoughts on a 'rigged' presidential election. pic.twitter.com/075n83NXMH

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 20, 2016

.@realDonaldTrump saying that he might not accept election results is beyond the pale

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) October 20, 2016

Sorry. He's yours. You deserve him. You built that.


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

How Might Trump Deal With Losing The Election? Can You Say "Putsch?"

With new polls out showing Hillary Clinton opening up a significant lead, neo- fascist sociopathic narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump is laying the groundwork for challenging the election results:

"I'm afraid the election's gonna be rigged, I have to be honest," Trump told the crowd [in Columbus, OH, today].

While Trump has often questioned the integrity of the primary contests in both parties, his newest remarks seemed to begin laying groundwork for him to contest the Nov. 8 election results. 

It was a line of attack that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone pushed on a podcast with Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos that was posted online Friday. Stone suggested voter fraud is "widespread" and said if Hillary Clinton wins a state like Florida after polls show Trump in the lead, the election would be "illegitimate." 

"If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government," Stone said. He also promised a "bloodbath" if the Democrats attempt to "steal" the election.  (our emphasis)

(That's the same vile pig shit Roger Stone who's just unleashed a vicious, malignant smear on the Gold Star Khan family, trying to link them to Islamic extremists.)

So, because by definition Rump can't be a "loser," any results that have him losing would be illegitimate. Almost certainly, Rump will not go away after November 8, but rather (to salve his wounded ego) could inflame his Stormtrumpers into feeling the election was stolen from him them. Stone already has the scenario laid out for us:  "constitutional crisis," "widespread civil disobedience," "bloodbath." That sounds like a putsch to us, does it to you?

It should really come as no surprise that a sociopath as evil as Rump would find a way to continue to seek the power that he craves and the attention his megalomania feeds on.  He isn't capable of going away quietly.  The prospect of narcissist Rump rallying his gun- humping, white nationalist supporters to try to overturn the results of a democratic election is chilling, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility.  He's cut from the same cloth as Vladimir Putin and other despots, though he's more the useful idiot than the master manipulator.

In short, we've got to expect and prepare for this turmoil to continue after November and to push back hard against any attempts to de- legitimatize the election results.

Trump's a danger to the Republic now and will be for a long time to come, unfortunately.