Wednesday, 28 October 2020

What might Trump do if defeated?

If Trump loses on November 3 he will remain president for another 77 full days until Biden is formally inaugurated on January 20. Plenty of scope to continue building or undermining his legacy. Trump has a large ego and will want to go down fighting. I doubt he will be a magnanimous loser. It's just not in his nature. But could he be stopped if he authorised some covert foreign venture which could go wrong? Like a Bay of Pigs type venture, for example. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba plot was of course begun and rehearsed during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower but was not carried out while he was in the White House. The secret plan landed in the in-tray of President John F Kennedy when he succeeded Eisenhower in January 1961 and he went ahead with it although he must have had serious misgivings. The "invasion" was a disaster. Kennedy had literally been pushed into completing what his predecessor had foolishly started. Could Trump do something similar? Plan a covert invasion of somewhere, like, say Venezuela, and hand it to Biden to carry it through? Or even do something before the kick-out date of January 20 2021. As president and commander-in-chief, he remains with full powers according to the constitution until the next man takes over in the White House. This 77-day period is traditionally known as a lame-duck time, with the incumbent president whiling away his remaining days, pardoning a lot of buddies in jail and ticking as many boxes as he can before heading off into retirement. But I can't see Trump wanting to be seen as a lame-duck president. He will want drama and fireworks, and possibly lay the ground for causing Biden a whole lot of trouble when he first enters the Oval Office as 46th president. Or Trump could of course accept defeat with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders and be terribly nice to Sleepy Joe and leave with a final wave and air kiss. What do you reckon?

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