Let’s suppose that the economy continues to unravel and the misery index spikes. Now maybe the masterminds, among the powers that be, decide that letting Trump clean up the mess would actually be smarter than owning it. So, they unfortify democracy temporarily in Philadelphia and Detroit and, miracle of miracles, Trump wins.
Then what?
Of course, for a few months the dirt people will be dancing in the streets. The mockery of Biden and all of the Democrats will be unrelenting. And all kinds of brave talk will be heard about “draining the swamp” and “cleaning out the FBI.”
And then what?
Truth be told, maybe a whole lot of nothing. Trump has said he intends to fire all of the disloyal FBI and Justice Department officials who wrecked his presidency. In order to do any of that he will need a filibuster-proof senate majority. And even then, the lower courts will fight him tooth and nail and we would probably see nefarious action by the intelligence agencies and the Justice Department to attack Trump’s lieutenants and even himself.
And even if he has the Congress to pass these measures, he will be juggling restoring the country to solvency along with this delousing program. And because fixing the economy is a very difficult job, he has to get all this done in two years. If he doesn’t, he’ll surely lose the Congress in the mid-terms. And nothing of note will happen after that. So, if Trump is elected, he must hit the ground running and do all of his hatchet work right from day one.
As daunting as that sounds it’s also kind of bracing. To me it sounds like he has no choice but to go to the nuclear option from the git go. It would be like a right-wing New Deal or Great Society sized effort. And since this is a one-shot deal, they could do things that haven’t been contemplated in decades. They could cancel all kinds of defense appropriations for useless weapons systems and literally and not figuratively close down whole agencies. How many times have we heard about closing down the Education Department or the FBI and absolutely nothing has come of it. But if the will were there then it could be done for a short window of time. And for Trump eliminating the FBI and firing most of the Justice Department is almost a case of self-defense. Because if they’re still in charge when he finishes his term, they will imprison him for the rest of his life and go after everyone in his sphere of friends.
You notice that all of this is built on a pile of ifs. The biggest one is that the people running the country decide that it’s time for the Republicans to clean up the Democrats’ mess. And it also assumes a Republican Congress wouldn’t just stab Trump in the back again as soon as he was in the White House. Based on past performance that is the likeliest case. But who knows? Mitch McConnell might drop dead and if the economy continues to go south there might come a point where even the degenerates who inhabit congress might be willing to play ball with Trump just to save their own hides from the mob. After all, we’re getting closer and closer to French Revolution territory every single day that Joe Biden drives this country off a cliff. If the timing is just right, we might see something real happen in November.
Or maybe we’ll see nothing at all.
The president does have firing authority over a bunch of folks – Pretty sure the entire justice department. Remember when Clinton fired almost the entire DOJ?
Beyond that, Trump has already said he will do what PINO Joe has done and govern by executive order. Sure some of it may get overturned, but it will take a while.
Chemist, the Republicans have been dope-slapped by the Democrats for so long it’s hard for me to believe they’ll ever win. But I try to keep optimistic.