The coup and the grift: Understanding Trump's evil endgame [View all]

[marmar]

The coup and the grift: Understanding Trump's evil endgame
Trump's cash grab is important, and so is his effort to hang onto power. But neither of those is the ultimate point

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
DECEMBER 24, 2020 12:00PM


(Salon) Donald Trump's villainy does not rest or find any respite during the holiday season.

As Michael D'Antonio, author of "The Truth About Trump," told Salon in a recent phone conversation, Trump will accept any help — legal or illegal, foreign or domestic, from friend or foe — in his effort to remain in power. Donald Trump is America's fascist authoritarian stalker. He will not stop.

During a video released on Tuesday evening, Donald Trump again suggested that he will not leave office as required on Inauguration Day. In that same speech, Trump also offered the American people payments of $2,000 each (instead of the paltry $600 dollars yielded by Republicans) in coronavirus relief support. In effect, Trump hopes to bribe the American people — even at this late date — into supporting his attempted coup.

How has America's mainstream news media responded to Trump's ongoing coup attempt? With some notable exceptions, the professional political observers and commentariat are focused on the political countdown clock and what they see as Joe Biden's inevitable ascension on Jan. 20. But while the media obsesses about a return to "normalcy," Trump continues to scheme and plot.

....(snip)....

Barring the unthinkable, Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States. Trump's coup attempt will metastasize into a shadow presidency, and his followers will mutate into a seditious fifth column, slavishly committed to the Great Leader, his family and his amorphous "cause."

....(snip)....

The ultimate goal of Trump's coup attempt is to overthrow the norms of democratic governance and legitimacy, by any means necessary. Trump would of course like to remain in power indefinitely, but that is only the proximate goal. On Jan. 20, he will likely be deposed — but the struggle will continue. If the American neofascist movement empowered by Donald Trump is allowed to keep growing, then his coup attempt will have achieved a major strategic success. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/12/24/the-coup-and-the-grift-understanding-trumps-evil-endgame/