The Rules Of Democracy Are In Effect Regardless

If @realDonaldTrump was unwilling to accept the results of the 2020 elections without resorting to fomenting violence, there is no reason to believe he will accept the results in 2024. Given this reality it is critical to understand he isn’t playing by the rules of democracy — he…

— Trygve Olson (@trygveolson) July 10, 2023

Comments like this always seem to ignore the 60+ cases Trump lost, the failure of the fake electors scheme (which is being investigated as a crime by the DOJ); the 1000+ rioters arrested, and over 500 adjudged and incarcerated, including several leaders for seditious conspiracy; the continuing investigation into Trump's criminal liability for January 6th; the fact that Trump is not and will not be the incumbent in 2024 when he loses again; in short, the fact that the rules of democracy (a/k/a the "rule of law") continue to be in place and be enforced.

I keep reading about Trump's "danger to democracy," and other than the danger he incited against Capitol Police officers (a danger I do not discount), how does Trump endanger "democracy"?  He lost the Congress in 2018, lost the White House in 2020, all but lost the Congress again in 2022, and 2024 isn't looking too good for him (or the GOP in Congress), either.

Pray tell, where is the danger?  Except from people who draw eyeballs and clicks on the internet warning us of this inchoate and poorly defined "danger"?

I don't know if you've noticed, but this ain't exactly Weimar Germany, and inflation hasn't exactly reduced us to wheeling around stacks of dollar bills because they are worthless.  The Golden Child just lamented that interest rates are up to 7% on mortgages, but my first mortgage was 10%, and I thought that was cheap (at the time, it was).  I don't think I ever had a mortgage rate below double digits, which I cite not because I walked to school uphill both ways (I did, but that's another story), but because we've seen the economy much worse, and we even had the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement in turmoil ('68 was a bad year for MLK and RFK), and George Wallace ran as a third party candidate.  Forgive me if I don't get the vapors because Trump issues a tweet accusing Biden of using cocaine and then ordering the search warrant raid on MAL (after all this time does he still not know how government functions?), or because inflation isn't gone already. (Yes, I would like to see mortgage rates lower for the sake of my daughter, and yes inflation is a problem.  But when you remember prices in the store going up as you stood there because the new shipment came in at a higher price than what's on the shelves, "inflation" has a whole other meaning.  It wasn't WWII rationing, or the Depression and the Dust Bowl, but we survived all of that, too.  And the turmoil of Vietnam and the civil rights struggle, compared to which J6 was just a pimple on history's ass.  (A lot of the riots in those days were by police more than marchers.)  I don't think Donald Trump is going to bring us to destruction and, if he does, well, that's on we, the people.)

I just don't tremble before his stupidity. I think most of the people on Twitter who want me to, seek some  personal benefit from their Cassandra-like pronouncements.  They don't deserve one.