By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on August 25, 2023
An Editorial Opinion
On September 27, 2020, I published an article titled, “The Plan is Set: Trump’s Not Leaving Office.” In the article, I predicted that Trump would try to stay in the White House even if he lost the 2020 election.
Trump lost the election.
The only factor that I did not foresee was former Vice President Mike Pence’s last-minute refusal to participate in the plan.
After Trump lost the election, Pence had the courage to say “No” to Trump's diabolical plan to remain in office.
Pence's single act of courage on January 6, 2021, set in motion everything that is happening to Donald Trump and his co-defendants today.
Here is my article from September 27, 2020, which was 5 weeks prior to the election:
“Whether he wins or loses in the November 3, 2020, election, the plan is set – President Donald J. Trump will not voluntarily leave the White House. If he loses the election to Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump will declare a state of emergency due to alleged widespread voter fraud and he will impose martial law until new elections can be held.
Without any supporting evidence, Trump has already cast doubt about the integrity of mail-in balloting that has been used by many states for decades. Four years ago, Trump claimed that up to 11 million illegal aliens voted for Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in 2016. He appointed a special commission to investigate his voter fraud claim. The commission was disbanded months later without finding any evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Trump has seized ironclad control of the infrastructure he needs to remain in power, should he lose the election. He has a dictatorial grip over the U.S. military, the U.S. Attorney General, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals, Homeland Security, the national intelligence agencies, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Postal Service, The Federal Reserve Board, the Republican Party, old Confederate state’s governors, the U.S. Supreme Court, Wall Street (courtesy of the $6 trillion these companies received from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve in loans and grants since March 2020), Fox News, the Voice of America news agency and a host of other government agencies and major corporations that form the backbone of America.
America’s Oligarchy
Contrary to popular belief, America is a guided democracy that is controlled by an oligarchy of wealthy corporations and super-rich individuals. We call them the “1 Percenters”. Their wealth is measured every day on Wall Street and is protected by Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and every U.S. president (some better than others).
In 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court gave wealthy corporations the legal right to buy elected officials in America, which they promptly did. This is why tax laws favor the rich and why wealthy corporations always get bailed out first in times of great economic crisis. In short, the “1 Percenters” run America and Donald Trump is their guy.
Prior to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in America in February, Trump was exploring a proposal to extend his term in office by repealing the 22nd Amendment, which limits a president to two terms in office. Trump was inspired to extend his term in office by the example he saw with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both men shepherded changes to their countries’ constitutions that effectively made them presidents for life. Both men are close friends with Trump and have mentored him in the art of governing a nation with a dictatorial grip.
The Plan to Remain in Power
Trump continues to trail Joe Biden in the polls, although the race has tightened since the political party conventions last month. Should he lose the election, Trump knows that his base of diehard supporters and the “1 Percenters” will back his plan to remain in office. To them, the end result justifies the means necessary to achieve it.
In addition to declaring a state of emergency, Trump will use federal agents and troops to enforce martial law in America, particularly in cities and states that are governed by Democrats. Trump has already declared these areas as hot zones for violence, rioting and lawlessness. Many of these places are “sanctuary cities” of undocumented migrants.
Trump would not be the first U.S. President to use the military for the mass incarceration of American dissenters. President Richard Nixon’s head of the U.S. military police devised a written plan in 1970 for the mass incarceration of black people who were believed to be violent civil rights protestors. The designated detention centers were located around the U.S. on military bases.
Trump’s ace in the hole is the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2000, the Court ushered George W. Bush into the presidency on a 5-4 vote in the case of Gore v. Bush. The Court’s vote was split along partisan lines. Trump’s two Supreme Court nominees assures him of at least a 5-4 vote in his favor on the declared state of emergency and imposition of martial law.
Epilogue
While other political analysts talk about polls, I discuss predictable political outcomes. Donald Trump has shown Americans that he will say and do whatever is necessary to win in the political arena. His mentors in the political thicket of strong-arm government are Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. There is nothing Democrats can do to stop Trump from implementing his default plan.
On August 2, 2015, I published the first article in American journalism that predicted Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. Political pundits and TV talking heads dismissed this prediction. Trump won the 2016 election.
Today, I am predicting that Trump will not leave office if he loses the November 3rd election. The ruling oligarchy in America will back Trump’s decision to remain in office. This experience, like many others during the Trump presidency, will be a first in this nation’s history.”
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This is how and why America has reached this tragic point in our nation's history. No U.S. president has ever tried to remain in office after he lost the presidential election. Donald Trump is the first and only one to try this unfathomable stunt.
Now, Donald Trump and 21 co-defendants in four criminal cases related to the scheme to keep Trump in power are suffering the consequences of their failed scheme in unimaginable ways.
Meanwhile, Trump's MAGA supporters are vilifying Mike Pence for elevating the U.S. Constitution above of his loyalty to Donald Trump.
Welcome to the MAGA cult and Donald Trump's America!