If Donald Trump wins the election – whether by hook or by crook, it won’t matter, at least not from a Constitutional perspective – then there won’t be a Constitutional crisis to worry about on November 4th. But he’s taken the position that either he’ll win or the election will have been rigged. So the question to ask him is, if the election is rigged against him, if only in his mind, and so notwithstanding it was rigged, will he or will he not nonetheless hand over the keys to the White House at noon on January 20th? If the answer is no, that he’s not leaving the White House in any case, then why would his detractors bother to vote? Why would his supporters? So either a) he’s just announced a coup d’etat, in which case there’s going to be a civil war, or else b) anyone who does vote thinks it’s all just bluster.
Now personally I think it is just bluster. If he loses – and notwithstanding he and Fox News will claim it was rigged – he will not need to be forcibly escorted from the White House. That said, I have to admit that, for detractors and supporters alike, it would make a fine photogenic spectacle.
But what would be truly spectacular would be his inauguration if he wins. A million celebrants from all over the country, cheek to jowl and not a mask in sight. I figure by Valentine’s Day the U.S. will have about the same population as Prince Edward Island. And at least there’ll be no more talk about finishing the Wall.
On the other hand, if Biden moved into the White House, and so God once again let His countenance to shine upon the American people, Rachel Maddow will have nothing to awfulize about, and Tucker Carlson will be too embarrassed to. So both MSNBC and Fox will go the way of the Edsel, and we’ll be left with Chris Cuomo’s let-no-guest-finish-a-sentence and Don Lemon’s cloyingly meaningful silences. In short, it will be the end of history, and I’ll have to go back to doing philosophy.
So either way, January 20th is going to be (what a friend of mine calls) “a very bad day”.
Categories: Editorials
Paulosophical Vimplications 
On January 20 we find out who is the Commander in Chief of the US military. If it is Trump, then even if Biden wins the election he will not be admitted to the White House. If it is Biden then Trump will be evicted unless he leaves voluntarily.
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I remind you that the person sworn in as President on 20 Jan. will be, by definition, the lawful Commander-in-Chief. If this is Biden, for a soldier to obey orders from D. Trump, private citizen, would violate her oath to uphold the Constitution and to obey all *lawful* orders, which could come only from President Biden. Individual soldiers don’t receive orders from the CiC, they get them from their sergeants, captains, colonels, brigade and division commanders up to the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, the only soldier who takes orders personally and directly from the President (excepting nuclear strike).
It is unthinkable that the Chair, JCS, would unlawfully obey an order from a private citizen to carry out an unlawful military act on U.S. soil. Ain’t gonna happen. If citizen Trump refuses to leave the White House he will be escorted off the premises as a common trespasser by the National Park Police, assisted if necessary by the D.C. Police. Any threat to President Biden that might emerge will be handled by the Secret Service as usual.
Besides, the Right is going to get their Supreme Court seat anyway. Trump is expendable after that. They won’t lift a finger for him.
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If you read left leaning media, you might believe Trump will have to be dragged out. If your read centre to right leaning media, you have a better chance of believing he won’t have to be evicted, but there is a possibility the Supreme Court will have to rule on something – which is why Trump doesn’t want a court that could be tied 4-4.
Reuters quotes Trump as saying: “Certainly if I don’t win, I don’t win. I mean, you know, go on and do other things,” Trump told Fox News Channel in a television interview broadcast.
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Exactly. A lot of what Pres. Trump says is trash talk, not meant to be perceived as a clue to his true beliefs or desires. A few days ago the Left was melting down because he had made some off-the-cuff musing about “negotiating” for a third term (assuming with bravado that a second term was already in the bag! — see how it works?). But he knows, we all know, that a third term can’t happen without a Constitutional amendment which requires an enormous degree of cross-country consensus, including state legislatures, to pass, … all just for him. He just likes getting the Left wound up over stuff like that, and they always rise to the bait.
Not my business to tell Americans whom they should elect for president or dog-catcher, but I am rather looking forward to the day, whether it’s 2021 or 2025, when I no longer have to hear what the president said, every single day, and the internet ‘s “outrage” over it, every single hour. The guy wears me out. I’m old enough to die of Covid, I want my remaining days to think about something else, like my grandchildren.
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