It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted. To be honest, with work, school, travel, the holidays, and various other responsibilities and activities (including, I must confess, a new video game to explore), I’ve had little time for much else. But here I am, back in the saddle again. Wish it were for a more pleasant purpose.
Let’s be clear from the outset that I am a firm believer in the sovereignty of God Almighty, and that despite my citizenship and residency, I am merely an alien and stranger in this land we call America. My faith is in God and in my Lord Jesus Christ, not in the presidency, or the U.S Supreme Court, or Congress, or even in America writ large. None of the foregoing hallowed institutions will accomplish anyone’s ultimate, or even temporary, salvation. In fact, God, in His sovereignty, has often allowed even His chosen people to undergo generations of suffering and strife. I have no reason to think He might not allow it to happen here in America, which, contrary to much evangelical popular opinion, is not equivalent to His chosen people.
Having said that, I love my country, and that’s what’s causing me to be somewhat . . . troubled. I pretty much took a hiatus from the news cycle for the past few weeks, figuring that a holiday from such stuff would serve my psyche well as I concentrated on other, more explicitly spiritual matters. However, this morning I’ve been looking at what has happened in the political arena recently, as well as what is likely to happen in the next few months, and I’m beginning to get a bit queasy. Bottom line: I don’t see a good outcome on November 11th. No matter how the general election comes out, I believe it could spell trouble that could even touch my family here in the deep red South. In fact, possibly especially here in the “conservative” South, because I believe problems could originate on the far right Republican side of the spectrum.
Let’s start by postulating that Trump loses the election. That could happen any number of ways, but all possibilities will infuriate the Trump faction to head-exploding proportions. The Colorado Supreme Court has already ruled that Trump will not be on that state’s ballot, stating that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies him because he engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021. No matter what you think of that ruling (I personally think the decision was factually correct but legally improper), if that decision stands (it’s temporarily on hold pending SCOTUS review), the Trumpists will point to it as proof that the Democrats were rigging the election against their Annointed One. Never mind that Colorado only has 10 electoral votes, all of which would almost certainly go to Biden anyway, since Colorado has long since given up being a swing state.
The Maine Secretary of State has also declared Trump ineligible to be on that state’s ballot, which is not just legally suspect, but flat out improper (again, in my opinion). Again, Maine only has 4 electoral votes, and even if all four went for Trump (doubtful, but Maine is one of two states that can split its electoral votes, so Trump could plausibly garner a couple), it would not meaningfully affect the election. There are currently still lawsuits pending in as many as 19 other states, most if not all of which are Democratic or swing states, which are contemplating the same action.
If the SCOTUS does not resolve this question for the entire country, we will likely wind up with Trump being absent from at least a few ballots. Trump and his legions will accuse these states of interfering with the election and participating in election theft. In fact, he already has. In this scenario, my fear is that the extreme right (including Trumpists, but also possibly including those who are less committed to Trump but heavily committed to the Republican Party) could react in a fashion that would be January 6th all over again, but on steroids.
But what if the SCOTUS does decide the ballot issue? If the high court affirms the individual states’ decisions to keep Trump off their ballots (probably on the basis of federalism which, ironically, is a very conservative notion), we wind up with the same result as above, but with a Supreme Court that looks weak, ineffectual, ideological, and untrustworthy. However, if the high court decides that Trump has to be included on all states’ ballots, we will wind up with a Supreme Court that looks weak, ineffectual, ideological, and untrustworthy. After all, it is a heavily conservative Court, and Trump appointed three of them. Democrats, as well as many independents and even some few Republicans, will view such a ruling as evidence that the Court is just another political institution (which they have treated as such for decades anyway), currently Republican-leaning, and with no credibility.
If Trump does wind up on all states’ ballots and still loses, the far right will lose the argument of ballot-rigging, but they will still make all the same election interference/election stealing arguments we have heard ad nauseum since November, 2020. I mean, how could Trump possibly lose a fair election, right? In particular, and among all the other rehashed conspiracies, they will point to the fact that recently Trump has been consistently beating Biden in head to head national polling. If that holds up until October or November and Trump still loses, it will constitute “proof” that the election was stolen. Never mind that the same type of polling showed Hillary Clinton beating Trump in 2016, Trump beating Biden in 2020, and Republicans demolishing Democrats in 2022. In this scenario, I again believe there will be the possibility of . . . let’s call it “extreme civil unrest.” I don’t want to let my mind go farther than that.
But that’s if Trump loses. What if Trump wins?
God help us. I mean that literally.
Trump will be positioned to be the dictator he has always wanted to be. Unrestrained by considerations of re-election, or any political, party or civic accountability, he will proceed to execute his visceral, glandular agendas with little fear of accountability. He’ll have no fear or respect for the SCOTUS, inasmuch as it will proven itself to be weak and quite possibly appear to be friendly. And with two impeachments but no convictions under his belt, as well as a feckless and obsequious Republican majority in the House (not to mention the feckless and obsequious Republicans in the Senate), Congress will be a non-factor in Trump’s calculations. He has said he’d be a dictator on Day 1 of his administration. Unfortunately, I think we’ll find that it will always be Day 1 in a Trump White House. He will, in his own way, be every bit the authoritarian strong man as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, all of whom he has praised for their leadership style.
This environment, too, could result in “extreme civil unrest” as a reaction to Trump’s authoritarian impulses — this time from the left, center, and moderate right, but triggered by Trump, and the extreme right.
All of this is very gloomy, and it does trouble me. Because despite my faith in God’s sovereignty, my family — and yours — may still have to deal with any civil unrest that could result from any of the foregoing scenarios, just as the Israelites had to live with the genocidal proclivities of the Seleucids and Ptolemies. But again, to look at the bigger picture, God is on His throne. He is not sweating this election. He is not hoping for some outcome. He has decreed it. And He has promised us that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Notice the important qualifiers here, though: (a) love God, and (b) be called according to His purpose.
Do you? And are you?
