My hometown, Washington, DC, is a solid Democratic stronghold. US citizens there can vote for local leaders, the presidency but have no voting recognition in Congress. There are major Trump properties (like the massive Trump hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue – pictured above – patronized by foreign and domestic power brokers anxious to make a favorable impression on the President, who profits from that reality), Trump residences (Ivanka’s and Jared’s house) and of course the White House.
On election day, major sections of the nation’s capital were boarded up and locked down as National Guardsmen took control of sections of the city where politicos frequent, but mostly of areas where those Trump residences and properties are situated. “Members of the National Guard have been called in to Washington, D.C., and around the White House, new fences have been erected around the presidential complex. The drama has even reached the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and the mansion owned by his daughter.
“At Trump’s hotel, dinner reservations were canceled on Monday [11/2] evening for anyone who didn’t have a room. An employee of the steakhouse apologetically called customers with reservations, explaining that the hotel was on high security and only guests staying at the hotel would be allowed inside the building.
“The move to restrict access to the president’s hotel, which is located less than a mile away from the White House, comes as polls show former Vice President Joe Biden ahead at the national and state level. Faced with these numbers, Trump has indicated his campaign might raise legal challenges to the voting process.
“Washington, D.C., a Democratic stronghold, previously locked down during the protests in the summer following the killing of George Floyd. Now, both sides of the campaign blamed each other for the election tensions, and protesters have already started gathering in front of the White House.” Yahoo News, November 3rd. There have been approximately 400 lawsuits files against election practices this year; most have been settled or generated a ruling. The latest, a GOP effort in Texas to disqualify any ballot collected through drive-by collection stations (about 127 thousand ballots) failed at the 100% Republican-justice Texas Supreme Court and under a ruling by a Federal District Court in Texas. A similar effort died in a Nevada courtroom as well.
Of course, although there really have been no radical leftist groups proselytizing a violent civil or revolutionary war should Trump be reelected, Trump and his minions in Congress continue to insist that the “radical left” – including “Antifa,” which is a philosophy and not an organized group according to the FBI – remains the only threat of violence against all things Trump. But radical right-wing militias, including the Poor Boys, the Wolferine Watchmen, Q-Anon, and the Boogaloo Bois, among many such extremists and white supremacists, have openly issued unequivocal threats to fight a war against the radical Democrats they despise… should Biden prevail. “Tim Murtaugh, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, alluded to the notion that ‘leftists’ drove the prior protests and suggested they would be responsible for any election tensions.
“‘No one is boarding up windows or fortifying cities to protect against Trump supporters,’ Murtaugh said. ‘The violent leftist mobs aligned with Joe Biden are threatening the safety of Americans across the country. This is nothing short of extortion — leftists threatening violence when Biden loses.’
“In fact, a recent DHS report cited concerns about potential attacks, particularly from white supremacists, if Trump loses… A Biden campaign adviser blamed the rising tensions in Washington on Trump… ‘The fact D.C. is on edge speaks to the vitriolic partisanship that Trump has manifested because of how divisive he is,’ the Biden adviser said. ‘We need to be able to have free and fair elections in this country without people boarding up their businesses. ... That is the kind of country that Donald Trump has led and led us to.’” Yahoo News.
Some of those less radically inclined joined efforts mounted by extremists to press a new kind of voter suppression: block those in minority neighborhoods from even reaching polling places: “Across the country, caravans of Donald Trump supporters have taken over highways, bridges and city streets in recent days in aggressive displays of support for the president.
“One convoy drove through Marin City, California, the only part of Marin County where white residents are in the minority and shouted racial epithets at children. Another in Fort Worth cruised through a polling station in a predominantly Black neighborhood, provoking an altercation with residents. In Temecula, California, a caravan blocked access to a voting center. A group in New York shut down the Mario Cuomo bridge. In Louisville, Kentucky, a ‘Trump Train’ member directed traffic with a gun at a high school. And in Texas, near Austin, trucks adorned with ‘Make America great again’ flags swarmed a Joe Biden campaign bus in an incident that is now under FBI investigation… It’s time to stand up and take our Country back!” the group declares on its website.
“These events, and dozens more in nearly every state in the U.S., were coordinated online by ‘MAGA Drag the Interstate,’ a self-described ‘grassroots assemblage of patriots’ who organize the ‘rolling rallies’ in a purported effort to remind people ‘that traditional American values matter.’
“At least 18 of the listed event organizers in 14 states have openly supported the far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon on social media, HuffPost found. Many of the events were planned in Facebook groups listed on the website, including some with several thousand members. Newly posted videos and photos there show long lineups of honking trucks and cars decked out in Trump gear, in many cases snarling traffic to a halt.” Huffington Post, November 3rd. But at least the widespread violence that many feared never materialized, yet the vote rolled indecisively into the next day. Nevertheless, on election night, Trump announced victory and alleged fraud for any remaining votes as many states remained too close to call.
“Even dedicated Republicans criticized President Donald Trump for baselessly crying ‘fraud’ and accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election for Joe Biden on Tuesday [11/3]… As millions of absentee and mail-in votes were still to be counted in battleground states, Trump told supporters: ‘We want all voting to stop, we don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. It’s a very sad moment. We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won.’ He even threatened to take the matter to the Supreme Court.” Huffington Post, November 4th.
The message was beyond clear; if Trump were to prevail on any basis, the country would do what he wants, when he wants and how he wants with or without legislative approval. Key battle states will determine the outcome. Whatever the result, that north of 40% of Americans support a president who is openly racist, anti-immigrant, isolationist, anti-science, a strong supporter of Vladimir Putin (who continues to architect election interference in democracies everywhere) and a climate change denier is on the front page of almost every major periodical worldwide. Most of the rest of the world is aghast. Our enemies are delighted. Our allies might not be allies soon.
I’m Peter Dekom, and I suspect history will not be kind to this divisive era in American politics, if the nation can function as an integral political unit at all, no matter who wins.
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