When you woke up, you must have thought to yourself, “I’d love to read the 150,000th piece fantasizing about President Trump losing reelection but refusing to leave the White House, cuffing himself to the Resolute Desk.”
In that event, the New York Times will have had you covered.
In Friday’s paper, aspiring fiction writer David Brooks imagined a scenario wherein Trump appears to be handily winning the election, only to see his margin slip away as mail-in ballots supporting Joe Biden are slowly counted.
“Trump says he won’t let Democrats steal the election and declares himself re-elected,” wrote Brooks. “It’s an outrage, but as when he used the White House for a campaign prop during his convention, who’s going to stop him?”
With great suspense, Brooks continued to detail his fever dream with premonitions that both the Right and Left will end up “in the streets” and the certainty that “the very existence of the Republic is at stake.”
He closed with an ominous warning for readers no doubt on the edge of their seats: “It’s time to start thinking about what you would do.”
Well, Brooks is nothing if not unoriginal.
CNN.com, Aug. 17: “If Trump loses and won’t leave, it could get ugly.”
The Intercept, Aug. 11: “What If Trump Won’t Leave?”
The Guardian, July 27: “What if Trump loses but refuses to leave office? Here’s the worst-case scenario.”
By the way, why isn’t anyone in the media breaking out in a cold sweat imagining the possibility of Democrats refusing to concede the election when Biden loses?
We actually have a pretty clear idea of the ridiculous scenario wherein Trump physically refuses to leave office: His Cabinet members would, including the Democrats’ favorite one to hate, Attorney General William Barr, and what is the presidency worth if you have no Cabinet?
But we don’t know what happens if and when Democrats run around screaming that the vote wasn’t fair. They’re already saying it.
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn has said Trump “is not going to win fairly.”
Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer has said the only way Trump will win the election is “to steal it.”
Hillary Clinton has said the voting results will likely “drag out,” so Biden “should not concede under any circumstances.”
Maybe it’s “time to start thinking about what you would do” if Democrats deny the legitimacy of the election and the media don’t try to stop them.
