All Over But The Shoutin’

As in 2020, we’re not paying NEARLY enough attention to the danger awaiting this country when Trump loses. He won’t accept the results. As in 2020, he’s setting the table RIGHT NOW for violence & unrest. And he has allies in states who’ll fight the results.

We’re not prepared.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 2, 2024

I really want to know where that violence is going to be aimed, and how he’s going to aim it. 

During the Covid lockdown, there were growing protests and angry crowds, some more significant than others. The ones that got attention were organized. The many that thought all they needed was an announcement on Twitter or Facebook, fizzled. Recall the truckers protest in Canada which scared everyone into thinking IT CAN HAPPEN HERE!!!! Except it didn’t. Repeatedly.

Protests around courthouses and government buildings were popular, too. Except after the first notable one, every such attempt was smaller, until finally in Texas (IIRC), three guys with rifles (open carry, y’all!) stood outside a courthouse for a few hours. When hordes of sympathizers didn’t choke the streets with traffic trying to join them, they quietly slipped away.

Similarly, college protesters were on a handful of campuses in the’60’s; not at every college in America. You can be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Even the shooting at Kent State in 1970 was over a protest by a handful of students. None of the students shot were doing anything but going to class. The political violence of the’60’s, though, bled into the actually more serious violence of the ‘70’s. (“Network” is under appreciated as a time capsule in that regard.) Just so, the anger of the Covid lockdowns bled into the riot on J6.

But that was an organized effort involving political operatives and government employees. And it was aimed at Congress by a sitting President who could, among other things, commandeer the Mall for his speech that day.

Trump can’t do that anymore. 

The man couldn’t organize a two car funeral procession. (Hell, even his campaign can’t organize a message against Kamala Harris.) He’s losing support daily. His supporters might be angry, but they’re as organized as a group of cats. (In fact, there’s a reason we don’t have an everyday term for cats moving in concert. Even cows stampede together; and dogs roam in packs. Cats? Collectively?) “Herding cats” is a metaphor for futility for a reason.

Covid gave some social cover for guys with pipe bombs to roam the Capitol on J6. It gave impetus to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two highly (as it turned out) organized groups. (And unlike the drug cartels, when the heads of those snakes were cut off, they did die.) Where, even, is QAnon today? I’m old enough to remember when Q was going to kill us all in our beds. Now?

At this point it’s more likely Trump will be trounced so badly even his most ardent supporters will withdraw in shame. It’s a far more likely outcome than nationwide civil unrest and a coup that puts Trump in power, a la Venezuela today. And Maduro is trying to stay in office, something Trump couldn’t even do.

Trump may have allies in states who will fight the results, but the fight will be in the courts, not the streets. Delay won’t help Trump. The Electoral Vote Count Act (i.e., Bush v Gore) will set a deadline that will end all challenges and force acceptance of the vote, or lose that state’s electoral votes altogether. The MAGA stalwarts may like that outcome, but their states won’t.

There won’t be any coup, and violence is itself unlikely. By the time Trump loses, it’ll all be over but the shoutin’. And it’s likely the shoutin’ will be over by then, too.