I’m still trying to get my head around the idea that the fate of a great republic could turn on the whim and aim of an unbalanced young man armed with an A-15. It is at once frightening and ridiculous. The cascade of race-jarring events in recent weeks — Biden’s evident infirmity at the debate, John Roberts’ monstrous ruling on presidential immunity, and Aileen Cannon’s brazen middle-finger to stare decisive — may have been to some degree foreseeable, but the sheer, vertiginous rapidity with which these events have unfolded leaves me feeling disoriented.
The national polls have barely moved in response to these shocks, with certain polls even showing Biden advancing in recent weeks. These are strange times indeed. There has been no other presidential campaign in my lifetime as unpredictable and potentially unstable; nor has any other campaign been so stable over time from the polling perspective.
As hazardous as it may be to predict anything in this funhouse of democracy, I believe there is one thing that is becoming quite clear: should Biden outright win this election at the ballot, or should the election remain unsettled for even a brief period following Election Day, one or more swing states with republican-controlled legislatures will reject the election result and submit slates of Trump electors. They will assert the “independent legislature” theory, some variant thereof, of whatever other theory Thomas, Alito et al concoct out of thin air and on the fly. They will make baseless assertions of election fraud and “irregularities.” And there will be no republican Raffensbergers or Kemps this time around — not one elected republican official will defy Trump.
I would suggest there is one other thing that has become very clear in recent weeks: John Roberts will unstintingly endorse this republican election theft. The Supreme Court will not save us. I’ve read his immunity opinion multiple times now. There is a gleeful perversity in the language, an impudent delight in the distortion of history, the constitution and legal precedent. He is as grave a threat to the republic as Trump.
I have a question for every Democrat and every Kossack: will we be content to have this election handed to Trump by this corrupt and increasingly voracious Supreme Court? Or are we prepared to defy the Supreme Court? Or will we permit John Roberts to anoint the next President, one Roberts is prepared to cloak in monarchical power?
I believe Biden must be prepared to defy the Supreme Court, to fully mobilize DOJ and the FBI to stop the theft, seize voting machines, and nationalize the National Guards of these wayward swing states. I believe he should be prepared to detain corrupt republican election officials and suspend habeas corpus. I believe he should use the full panoply of powers granted him by Roberts’ immunity decision (short of the “seal team six” option). I believe Vice President Kamala Harris should be prepared when Congress gathers to count and affirm the electoral college votes to reject the fraudulent slates of electors submitted by North Carolina, or Georgia, or Arizona, or whoever.
This scenario should be getting war-gamed by the Biden Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress NOW. There must be universal support within the Democratic Party for these actions should they be required. Uncertainty and indecision on our part in the face of the resulting firestorm will be fatal. There would have to be ruthless enforcement by party leadership in Congress — “back Biden 100% in defying the SC or your career is over.”
Liberals I’ve discussed this with have invariably responded along the lines of “what are you suggesting, martial law?” To which I’ve responded “I believe the measures I’m proposing will be sufficient to stop the Trump/Roberts election theft, but if a declaration of martial law is required then I will back it.”
Were Biden to defy the Supreme Court and refuse to surrender power, it would also be necessary to have the Joint Chiefs on board. If any one of the National Guards in these Neo-confederate swing states refused to be nationalized, there would be no choice but to involve the U.S. military. I do not particularly fear the military interceding in this constitutional crisis unbidden; I fear they may decline to intercede in support of Biden’s suppression of the MAGA insurrection.
I know this sounds out there, but my point is precisely that WE, AS A NATION, ARE OUT THERE. The territory we’re already in is not only constitutionally uncharted, it’s in another dimension. Perhaps you think my scenario fanciful, but would it not be irresponsible for Biden and the Democrats to dismiss and ignore the potential of red-state and Supreme Court perfidy in the Electoral College?
If we as Democrats aren’t prepared to defy the Supreme Court, and take the measures attendant thereto, then either we’re not serious about the Trump/Roberts threat to democracy, or we’re prepared to sacrifice democracy and the republic to a misguided and feckless fealty to a constitution that no longer exists; a constitution that, in the hands of John Roberts, is effectively MAGA occupied territory.
We have to be preparing for this. My position is simply that a Trump/Roberts led election theft is increasingly likely, and even if you believe it unlikely it is sufficiently grave to require that Democrats start debating immediately where we are. There will be no time for debate or delay when republicans take their election theft scheme to the Supreme Court. If, in this instance, Democrats cannot overcome their characteristic indecision and fragmentary inclinations, we’re cooked.