Går USA fra demokrati til diktatur, hvis Trump taber valget?
What happens if Trump refuses to leave the White House?
Will the United States go from democracy to dictatorship if Trump loses the election?
“It is quite certain that if the election result shows that I lose the election, then it is an election fraud.” The words are Donald Trumps and they make it trickle cold down my spine.
For what exactly is Trump doing when he says that? He does what he always does: he casts doubt on the system that enforces established procedures. And even if his statements are completely unfounded, it will make many doubt yet another pill that will make democracy and the democratic process work. It is a tactic he uses again and again.
My view is dystopian, my husband’s pragmatic
Already in the spring, I started talking to my husband about what we should do if Trump lost the presidential election in November, but refused to leave the White House. I am by nature always disaster prepared and see potential dangers everywhere.
I painted several scenarios for my husband: What if he summons his supporters, fortifies himself, and urges the supporters to protect themselves in the White House? What if he urges them to form militias around the United States and we get pockets of civil war? This would de facto mean that we would live in a dictatorship – not exactly what was the dream when we adventurous left Denmark and settled here in the United States.
My husband stared at me wide-eyed, sweeping my arguments with a string of newspaper articles explaining the constitutional principles of why that particular scenario is not feasible. Articles from one and the other professor and expert in the Constitution.
We have had these kinds of conversations many times. I keep telling my husband that with Trump you can not argue rationally with the law in hand – because with him the journalists always sit with their jaws open and say on TV and on the radio that they have never seen or heard this or that before . Again and again, the established system is taken with the pants down and has to spend valuable time recovering and then relating to his actions and postulates.
Trump is at home when it comes to litigation
Trump has been pursuing endless lawsuits all his life to expose the consequences of the illegalities he has committed. It’s a tactic that has won him time when, as a construction matador, he has not complied with applicable law, when he has taken funds from his own charity fountain, or when he has misled aspiring students at his now defunct universe , Trump University.
Neither my husband nor I have confidence that he will voluntarily follow the rules enshrined in the Constitution for election procedures should he, as opinion polls point out, lose the upcoming presidential election. He will go all the way and through the judiciary try to drag out the election result in the long run. He will argue that the election result, if he loses, is based on election fraud. I am convinced that we will not see a new president announced until months after the election.
But my husband and I differ from each other when it comes to trust in the established systems that must make sure that the person who wins the election is also the person who sits in the White House. May I just remind you that Al Gore never sat down behind the well-known desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. And yes, I’m aware that Gore himself asked the Supreme Court to make the final decision in relation to the election result – but he had probably not expected that they would make their decision before the forgotten boxes of ballots found in Florida were counted. Had they become so, Al Gore would have been the 43rd President of the United States.
Who will become president if the lawsuits drag out?
If the lawsuits drag on until after January 20, 2021, when the re-elected or new president is traditionally sworn in, it is the leader of Congress, right now it would be Democrat Nancy Pelosi who would decide the election result. But here in the United States, there are not only presidential elections on November 3, there are also elections to Congress, where 470 politicians are fighting for power. However, it is not as simple as it may sound. The leader of the congress has the decisive vote until there is a decision from the Supreme Court.
And here it gets interesting, because in the years he has been in the presidency, Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices. Now 5 out of 9 judges are appointed by Republicans, so you can figure out for yourself which way the arrow will turn if that’s where we end up. For no, I do not trust these judges to let the law outweigh their political convictions, even if John Robert’s vote does not always fall in favor of Republicans.
The choice of judges here in the USA is very different than in Denmark. In short, the appointment of prestigious positions as Supreme Court justices here has a lot to do with political stance and loyalty. And it is enough with the knowledge in the bag that Trump says as he does – that is, that he does not intend to respect the election result if he loses the election.
(Google translate)
Danish-American Eyes on Society 