The vote is now down to two presidential candidates in 2024, and one will lose the election. What happens then?
Historically, but for one time in the history of the republic, the losing candidate congratulates the winning candidate, and there is a peaceful transition of power to the newly elected president.
What could possibly go wrong?
If history, and recent history, is any guide, we know what could go wrong. Should the losing candidate be Donald Trump, is there any reason not to consider that violence, civil disobedience or insurrection will not follow the loss by Trump?
Has Mr. Trump promised to accept the election results in 2024?
He has not.
Has he expressed his regrets for the violence he brought to the halls of Congress in session to certify the 2020 election?
He has not.
Has Mr. Trump ever provided any evidence that the 2020 election was not free and fair?
After sixty-plus court challenges, he has not.
Now, nearly four years, Donald Trump has done nothing to suggest that he will not once again invoke his followers to reject the outcome of the 2024 election.
Indeed, Trump has offered to pardon the hundreds of convicted felons who stormed the capital, who violently chased our elected officials from their duty and obligation and threatened to hang the sitting vice president.
Trump has called these violent insurrectionists, guided by his words and deeds, heroes, though they stand convicted in our system of courts and laws.
Worse still, the 145 elected Republicans who refused to certify the free and fair election are guilty of being co-conspirators with Trump on that horrific day in our history, yet they remain un-indicted.
While these legislators have violated their sworn oath to our constitution, Trump’s attorneys have not fared so well.
At least eight of them have faced disbarment or sanctions, with more facing judicial action for lying for the ex-president before the courts.
And Trump’s co-conspirators, those who attempted to steal the election by serving as false electors, are still facing charges in several states for their blatant attempts to nullify the votes of eighty million voters.
Over one thousand men and women have been convicted or are still facing judgment for their actions on that fateful day, that blemish in our nation’s history. And, while Trump has successfully avoided his own trial for his actions on that day, that will still face him in the future.
So, what will happen should Trump lose again in 2024?
Trump’s Republican allies are better prepared this time to hover at every election booth in the nation to build a case that any outcome but a Trump victory is tainted by claims of impropriety.
The Trump campaign seeks to have 100,000 poll watchers to intimidate voters across the nation, particularly in precincts where voters might tend to vote more Democratic than Republican.
The campaign intends to have attorneys present to object to any procedure that does not favor their candidate.
Expect poll workers to be intimidated, as they were in 2020, for not aiding the Trump votes in the counting process.
Poll workers will once again be accused of hiding Trump votes and counting fake votes where no evidence of such fraud exists.
And, if all else fails, expect Trump to call forth his army of violent insurrectionists once again, an army abutted, supported, and inflamed this time by Trump’s Republican friends throughout the nation.
They will call a free and fair election a theft and do all that they can to overthrow the outcome.
They will not succeed, but they will further undermine the trust in our very republic, the foundation of the nation, and the trust in the vote.