Is anybody else worried about what happens after those bogus audits in the states “reveal” that Trump won the 2020 election? The Republicans shout “We won. Yada yada nah nah. So there.” 

Trump takes a victory lap saying “It’s clear nobody but me can win in these states. If the Dems win in 2024, we’ll have to oust them violently. But we’re going to win in the 2022 midterms so we can impeach and remove Biden and I can take my rightful place.” 

Biden goes on television and says he’s sorry they feel that way and how about that infrastructure bill.

Democrats will scream that these people cannot run the 2022 elections, let alone the 2024 one. Lawsuits will flood the courts. The Roberts Supreme Court finds a way to delay until after the election or will run that it’s really up to the people to decide in the election. 

The Justice Department will be called to investigate and demands will be made to send federal troops to observe the election. President Carter offers his services to all states to ensure a fair election. 

It’s going to be an interesting 18 months until the midterms.

The QAnon Trumpers believe that the results will lead to a popular uprising. Thousands will desert the military and join them at state capitols where they can prepare to fend off the expected federal invasion. 

Overlooking the fact that the likes of the Proud Boys simply don’t fight superior forces; forgetting that the state guards will be nationalized and ordered to arrest the deserters; skipping over the number of military bases in each state that can be mobilized at a moment’s notice, these people think the federal government will be easily defeated. 

In fact, they expect Biden to resign and the military to throw their support to Trump. Their whole plan is based upon the assumption that the federal government won’t fight back. What if it did?

Let’s say that in the midterms some of those audited states go Democratic and the Republican state legislators reverse the vote. Say Georgia did. 

A Democratic-controlled Congress would create a commission to count the disputed votes. The Justice Department would send letters telling the legislators not to destroy ballots and the National Guard or nearest military personnel would be sent to Atlanta to collect the ballots. 

Biden calls the governor and tells him that tampering with the ballots is close to treason and certainly against federal law. Hand them over without a fuss and you won’t be charged. Otherwise … look me in the eye and tell me that our governor and the Republican legislators in Atlanta won’t cave. Which side do you think Coke will be on?

Let’s say they didn’t. State’s rights and all that. Nobody’s going to tell me what to do. What’s the next step? The traditional response is to lay siege to the capitol. We’ve seen it a hundred times in other countries. We did it in Panama. The scenario goes like this:

Tanks surround the building; electricity and water are cut off, loud music is played. Negotiations for surrender go on for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, the building is bombarded until the people inside surrender or die. That’s the way sieges have gone since before the Middle Ages.

For those of you who think the federal government would never bombard a state capitol, I refer you to “Gone With The Wind,” a good movie you should see on a big screen not a cell phone. I also point out that we are the only country in the world to use an atomic bomb on a civilian population to make a point-twice. 

After one or two state capitols are taken by force, the others concede.

It is possible that Biden will opt not to destroy the buildings but go with a special forces assault. The men who fought door to door in the Mideast will be sent to fight the dissenters from our military to stop them from destroying ballots from a legitimate election. They will win and the Commission will recount the votes or hold another election. We’ve done this before.

All those folks changing voting laws, forensically auditing the 2020 election, cheering on the defiance of that election result should really think about what happens if they actually succeed. Worse case scenario we have a civil war. 

Who wins a second Civil War? No American.

 

Dr. Jane Elza, Ph.D., retired, is a resident of Valdosta.