Two Frightening Headlines from Last Weekend

…Nightmares ahead?

Trump Leads in 5 Critical States as Voters Blast Biden, Times/Siena Poll Finds…Voters in battleground states said they trusted Donald J. Trump over President Biden on the economy, foreign policy and immigration, as Mr. Biden’s multiracial base shows signs of fraying. – NY Times, Nov. 5

Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term…Advisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day. Critics have called the ideas under consideration dangerous and unconstitutional. – Washington Post, Nov. 6

With regard to the reporting featuring results from a New York Times/Siena poll regarding voter preference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump…You knew that Biden’s approval ratings have been in the basement for some time -- but you had no idea it could be this bad.

Trump leads in six battleground states – all of which Biden won in 2020:

• PA (19 electoral votes): Trump 48%, Biden 44%

• AZ (11 electoral votes): Trump 49%, Biden 44%

• MI (15 electoral votes): Trump 48%, Biden 43%

• WI (10 electoral votes): Biden 47%, Trump 45%

• NV (6 electoral votes): Trump 52%, Biden 41%

• GA (16 electoral votes): Trump 49%, Biden 43

And a closer look is more astounding, and, yes, more frightening.

“The survey also reveals the extent to which the multiracial and multigenerational coalition that elected Mr. Biden is fraying. Demographic groups that backed Mr. Biden by landslide margins in 2020 are now far more closely contested…Voters under 30 favor Mr. Biden by only a single percentage point, his lead among Hispanic voters is down to single digits and his advantage in urban areas is half of Mr. Trump’s edge in rural regions…Black voters — long a bulwark for Democrats and for Mr. Biden — are now registering 22 percent support in these states for Mr. Trump, a level unseen in presidential politics for a Republican in modern times…women still favored Mr. Biden, [but] men preferred Mr. Trump by twice as large a margin..”

Opining on the potential candidates’ position on issues, voters

“preferred Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on immigration by 12 points, on national security by 12 points and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 11 points. And though a 58 percent majority supported more economic and military aid to Ukraine — which aligns with Mr. Biden’s policy — that did not seem to benefit the president on broader questions of fitness to handle foreign affairs.”

The NYT article focused on one respondent, 33-year-old Travis Waterman from Phoenix, a home restoration worker who voted for Biden in 2020, and who said: “I don’t think he’s the right guy to go toe to toe with these other world leaders that don’t respect him or fear him.”

I wanted to shake him and say: “Travis! Did you see how skillfully Biden brought the world together to help Ukraine stand up to Putin’s barbarous invasion? Did you see how he held NATO together and led it? Are you aware of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s characterization of Biden’s support in its struggle with Hamas? A sentiment that was echoed by Trump’s ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Do you think for a moment that Trump would have stood up to Putin? Or overcome his pique at Netanyahu for calling to congratulate Biden on his election to the Presidency? REALLY?”

Perhaps even more astounding was that respondents favored Biden by just three percentage points on the “handling of democracy.” Where the hell were these folks on January 6, 2021? Did they pay any attention to the J-6 hearings?

“Handling democracy”…Which leads us into that other headline, the one describing the blueprints that Trump and his allies are drawing up to snuff out democracy in America and lock up his “enemies.” In a post earlier this year (Even as the Noose Tightens, Trumpworld Plans Presidential Power Grab) I wrote that Trump’s “…team is now working on a plan to remove any independence from federal agencies, so that a President Trump could dictate to the DOJ whom to prosecute and whom to lay off.”

The WAPO reports that

Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations…Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and former attorney general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney Ty Cobb and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley…Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said…To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and unconstitutional.  

Trump and his allies learned from the first term. There will be no “adults in the room” in a second Trump administration. It will be entirely staffed by sycophants drunk on power and slavishly loyal to their sponsor. Focused on “retribution.” And self-dealing.

As one commentator put it, a second Trump term would be like a remake of Jurassic Park, and in the remake the Velociraptors know how to turn the door handles.