I cannot imagine the mood of this country should Trump somehow remain in office past January 20th. Effectively we'd have two presidents, almost like the historical Great Schism of the Papacy where every Catholic had to decide who to follow. Maybe a real civil war, or at least military coup, would come out of this. Nobody knows.

It is also possible most of this is Trump just thrashing on the end of the line like a fish with a hook in its mouth. This garbage has been able to slither out of every mess he ever made, betraying his creditors, investors, wives, contractors and finally the American people. But this time he has no place to run and his failure is exposed to the world. Most people learn resilence through occasionally losing. But like an instititonalized person he has always been sheltered from such reality. No longer. He may blame everybody else on the planet but at the end of the day he is still the loser. And that must really hurt.

Snowflake2005 is correct--at least from everything I have read recently on the subject. The states have to pass a law on how their Electors are slated. Federal law says this must be done before the election.

Of the two choices offered in today's blog, extremist Republican legislatures and governors signing onto one-sided legislation that would fundamentally alter the honor-bound tradition of faithfully assigning electors according to voters' wishes, with the in-your-face intention of reversing the outcome of a legitimate election, would probably be the least likely. Call me Pollyannish, but even the most fascistic Republicans in the reddest of states might have trouble ramming that one through in this highly charged political atmosphere where almost 150 million voters are laser-focused on the fairness and integrity of elections. Never say never though.

But it is entirely likely if not absolutely positive that Donald's lizard brain knows full well he lost the election and has reflexively reverted to the basic instinct of survival by juicing his lame-duck denial of defeat for all the money it's worth, fleecing his gullible cultists for all they're worth. He will certainly need a helluva lot of the big-bucks to hire lawyers in his private life since his acute litigious addiction will no longer be supported on the taxpayers' dime.

Donald John Trump breathes, eats, and shts money, first, foremost, and forever. The magic $cha-ching$ arouses his flaccid mind more than anything else -- just ask Melania. In fact, it's highly probable that money even trumps Trump's enormous ego, God forbid, or that both are so tightly entwined it's impossible to tell them apart. Nothing happens in Trumpworld without lots of cash, preferrably OPM (other people's money).

kenocc12, Believe me, I hope you are right and you certainly sound authoritative, though vague on specifics. I’d say rumors already abound. And did Gen. Flynn receive this training too?

I’m not trying to be flippant, but the assumption that a coup is not possible, by its nature, leaves the door wide open for just such an event. I’ve yet to hear from any of the top brass assuring me that they would intervene to thwart such a coup. Even the fired Gen. Mattis has been relatively mute regarding Trump’s abuses of power. And we know we can’t rely on Republicans to counter a takeover by Trump. They are running like scared rats when confronted by the media.

In fact, Republicans have shown a remarkable disdain for Democratic institutions. McConnell is busy trying to turn the country into a theocracy by filling the courts with evangelical judges with the full blessing of Congressional Republicans.

Again, I hope you are right, but so far, while Trump’s ambitions may occasionally be stymied by the Democratic institutions that govern our country, he has yet to be held accountable for his many abuses of power.

Anyway, thanks for the comforting analysis. Still, I would like to see factual assurances that a coup is not possible and I think ignoring that possibility could be very problematic. Better to err on the side of caution!

For several reasons (all regularly discussed by Thom) our elected officials do not meet their Constitutional purpose as proposed by Alexander Hamilton 1788 (it's more elegantly contructed than the Preamble yet addresses the same intent):

"We are attempting by this constitution to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare."

James Madison described what was meant by "factions" in Federalist 10, when he wrote that they are "A number of citizens" who do things "adversed to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."

It is abundantly clear that our government has neither abolished factions nor united us for the general welfare. The Constitution offer a remedy for these two grievance, but sadly, because our democracy is being destroyed by factions (especially the big ones like the oligarchs of money, war, and carbon), and their control over our goverment, we can't rely on our elected officials to work with our citizens to solve our problems. Therefore, that leaves our fellow Americans and what is left of the free press to make it happen. If only there was a way for us to unite for our general welfare by compelling our elected officials to meet their purpose, instead of serving the factions so they can get reelected.

Stopgap- yes! Why did he fire Mark Esper now? This was the guy who refused to send in the troops agaist protesters. Will Trump replace him with someone who will? Also consider that Ron DeSantis is trying to expand the "Stand Your Ground" law" in Florida to make it okay for you to run your car into protesters on the street (if you say you did not mean to, oopsie...) and shoot somebody if you think they are looting, among other things. What is he gearing up for? Right now Trump's loyal voters are pacified by the hope of the courts ruling in Trump's favor. When the courts say Biden won, the most loyal of his voters will go crazy. They will stir up trouble in democratic voting areas and Trump will declare a state of emergency and "have to" remain president. It won't matter who started the fight.

A third reason for Trump's refusal to concede: Gain more time to destroy records and other evidence of the corruption, malfeasance, and incompetence of this administration over the entire four years.