The American coup and why Trump can't lose

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Progressives warn of intrusions into human and civil rights all the time.   It's their job.   Even Adam Gopnik agrees in his newest book--and he's just a nice liberal.

Trump and the MAGA folks set off far more warning bells than the more bellicose Republican administrations that preceded them.   Reagan and the two Bushes did tragic domestic damage--but the people they really wanted to hunt and kill were always overseas (weirdly, the same "overseas" thing can be said for Obama, and Johnson, though both professed differently).  J Edgar Hoover really owns the title for worst domestic enemy ever--and you can't blame him on any of the last seven presidents.

Trump isn't a militarist, but here's why he may have no choice other than to try to "grow" into one of his predecessors.   Albeit, no one has turned the military loose on US citizens yet, though the "Handmaid's Tale" scenario feels plausible and palpable enough that this book/TV title was the leading hashtag on Twitter the day the Alabama abortion law was signed by Grandma.

Why does he have no remaining choices?  Trump stayed out of jail back when he was just a celebrity because corporate miscreants and celebrities generally don't go to jail.   He could protect himself with a rag tag bunch of mediocre lawyers (hopefully we've seen the last of them by now) back in the day when he was hiding information from willing bankers, destroying his suppliers and employees, and competing illegally.

The minute this pathetic team saw the sharp light of federal public office, they fell to pieces, and he cast them aside like the dried out husks they were.

Fortunately, in the meantime, he's the president, and he has, and should have, significant protection from the law.   So he's OK...

...As long as he's in office.  The minute he's out, he's fair game, and he doesn't have a track record with the types of lawyers who keep UBS and Goldman partners out of jail.

So, Trump knows that he has to stay in office.   Whatever it takes.   Junta?  Ignore term limits?   Suspend elections permanently?   Disband congress?  Within six months of his departure, he'll be in jail (most likely for tax fraud, but the list is long).

Trump can't lose.  So watch out.   Just sayin...


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