Bill Maher Hypothetical: If Trump Refuses to leave . . .What will you do?

I don’t know if there’s anything “we” can do. We would be relying on the institutions to not obey any election overturning/transition of power delaying executive orders. It’s up to the SCOTUS to strike down an executive order, the generals to refuse to obey any illegal orders given by a president who is refusing to accept the election, the secret service, etc etc.

And especially Republicans. Republicans in the Senate, and Republican state officials in charge of validating their states votes.

And... if he’s successful in the short term(let’s say a delay in election), he’ll take such a hit politically that he would surely get creamed when we are then allowed to vote at a later date so delaying the election would be a dumb strategy.

I think he’ll be out just as long as it’s not close enough to get the Republican Supreme Court involved in a recount like Bush V Gore.

Point being: go vote and make it a landslide so we can rid ourselves of this national nightmare. You cannot put your faith in this Supreme Court in a recount.

 

With a rope or chain if they have too but he will be gone.

 

I had a strong dislike for Hillary, but still told people to vote for her if they held anything remote to liberal or center-left values.

No contest. Even if you thought she was a liar, her plans were detailed and open to scrutiny. The other guy did nothing but provide 5th grade promises and insults.

Ofc, some rabid dog will pick this up and claim I'm some Hillary lover who's part o' da Benghazzi problem...

I'm beginning to notice Con symbols are goalposts that are easy to shift around. "Swamp", "Tea Party", even "Conservative".

Easier to put a pin on...who the courts are backing up and what crimes (serving what demographic) our laws aren't penalizing.

 

If he legit loses and refuses to step down then there will be riots and protests lol

I’m not a politically active person , but I will be there too

 

I think you're making presumptions that aren't reasonable.

Predominantly
If Trump loses the election, I don't think the courts would back him.

 

I don’t think Biden has a chance.

 

I think the people who would legitimately DO SOMETHING in such a case are not the people who would admit to such a thing in a public forum.

 

I couldn’t disagree more. If we have a fair election, Biden will defeat trump handily. Tens of millions of Americans are at home now. People who only saw trump edited, trump out of context.

Now? If they are actually watching his daily “news” briefings, they are seeing trump unfiltered. trump in context. trump telling lies. trump saying one thing early in those briefings, and contradicting himself an hour later. Saying one thing one day, something entirely different the next. One thing a week ago, something else today. Then when a reporter attempts to do his or her job and asks why he’s denying he said something the day before that’s the opposite of what he’s saying now, he interrupts the question. He says the reporter is just “fake news,” that he, trump, never said what is actually on video as proof that he is lying.

I can’t believe that his supporters aren’t watching many of these briefings. That they aren’t witnessing themselves the lies he tells, over and over again. If they aren’t watching their “hero?” They are well and truly ignorant fools who care nothing for the truth. Cult followers as bad as those in Germany in the 1930’s. In my opinion. Watch trump and watch those briefings, trump followers. It will set you free.

 

A moldy tuna sandwich "has a chance" at beating Trump. You're comment here is made out of your own strong feelings I'm sure.

Can Biden lose... sure. Can Bernie lose to Trump as well... Yes. Obviously thousands of voters believe Bernie is actually the less palatable candidate so I hope you realize that your opinion on the matter has zero basis other than your emotional opinion based on zero evidence.

We really don't know what America is going to look like in the Fall honestly, and it's safe to assume economic conditions will have a huge impact in how swing voters make that decision in November. Base turnout will be historically high on both sides. It'll be the small percentage of independents who voted for Trump in 2016 in swing states, and turning out non voters from 2016 that beats Trump. Every Dem candidate can beat him, and every candidate can lose to him.

 

What would theoretically happen if Trump lost the election?

He would never admit defeat, he would have excuses already in place and right wing press would come on very strong to push the narrative that Trump really didn’t lose the election.

He would then have White House attorneys find a legal justification for him to not vacate. Trump would meet with Republican leaders in the House and Senate to circle the wagons and devise an explanation.

The Democratic nominee would file suit and Trump would file his own suit. Trump would meet with Kavanaugh and likely other Justices to devise how best to get Roberts to swing to the Trump side of the argument.

While all this is going on Trump and his operatives would attempt to sway public concern by misrepresenting evidence or facts.

The Supreme Court would hear the case and Roberts would cast the deciding vote. Based on history, if Roberts find any ambiguity he will side with Trump.

Half the country would justify and applaud the ruling. The other half would be angry and ultimately do nothing.

In the interim Trump would continue appointing federal Judges and replace Ginsberg and possibly Breyer with Judges like Walker who are young and owe their fate to the RNC. Trump will become even more bold in breaking the Constitution as he would have a super majority in the Supreme Court.

We would see further restrictions on voting for minorities and in large “blue” areas. We also would see more blatant gerrymandering. We would see abortion made illegal, mass deportations and a huge uptick in corruption by elected officials.

 

I agree with your sentiments. Almost all of them. The thing is Clinton was a better candidate than Biden in at least some regards. The guy can get very lost in his words and fumbling over himself.

I got into with someone here about not voting for Biden. That was when I thought the DNC was going to have to take it from Bernie where he had more delegates. But that is not the case any longer. So I would vote for him now. But he just seems so So weak. I guess we'll see though.

 

After what happened in Wisconsin, my fears that this pandemic will be used for the Republicans to win elections has grown considerable.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

 

He won't pass up a chance to get reelected against what... Joe Biden? The TDS in this thread is out of control.

 

I imagine old people might stay home out of fear of the virus and the youth will swing it... too bad they aren't hot for Joe Biden and want Sanders eh?

 

That isn't what happened in the primaries. I used to believe that way as well.

As far as the hypothetical, I will cross that bridge if we come to it. What will happen if Trump loses and quite possibly if he wins as well. is this.

1. He will blame a crooked election.
2. He will blame illegal voting by democrats and illegal immigrants.
3. He will accuse the Democrats of rigging things.
4. He will likely accuse a foreign power other than Russia of trying to help the Democratic Candidate win.
5. Trump will accuse the deep state of helping to rig the election.
6. Many of his followers will eat it up and repeat it along with a dozen or so crazy conspiracy theories.
7. These will be the same supporters that kept shouting about how Democrats just need to face the fact that Hillary lost the election in 2016 and that investigating Russia was just because the Democrats are poor losers.

 

I think there is a limit to how far things go before people just have enough. I think history shows that too. This, this is far enough and unprecedented and I think the reaction would also be unprecedented.

I don't necessarily disagree that this could happen but it's going to take someone slicker and less up front about it to happen. It's very hard for any party in this system to hold power for too long. The winning side starts feeling content and satisfied, thinking that they can't lose while the losing side continues to get angry for every year they are not in power.

Some of these things, like abortion being made illegal, isn't going to sit well with a lot of people. Mass deportations, I think people not affected will shrug at that (As we've been deporting people by large numbers even under Obama...), but when you are talking about personal rights people get really angry when the government messes with those. We'll see what happens when (If the SCOTUS can do it this year) they take up the abortion cases. It'll be interesting to see where Roberts stands on those. Honestly, just a hunch I know, I don't think Roberts is going to tear up abortion rights.

If trump loses narrowly, I could see this indifferent reaction. It's easy to spin that and with what happened with Bush V Gore, it would be similar enough for people to just accept it...but if there is some kind of large margin? I don't know. I don't think the country as a whole would accept it. It would be so bold and out there that I think there will be a retching from many that this just isn't right. At least I would hope so, it would basically be Trump saying "I am Putin now, you cannot get rid of me no matter what you do..." and I don't think that will sit will with a lot of people.

I think it's far more likely that Trump does his Trump thing, blames everyone else for losing, then either leaves the country or Biden tells his side to chill out, that they've won, and that they will leave Trump alone and unify the country instead of trying to bring him before congress for a trial. With the Trump family pretty much protected, we'll be preparing for Ivanka or Eric in 2024.

I guess that's where I differ, I don't think defeating Trump is even a loss to Trump. He's still going to have a major influence in the country if he decides to and I'm not so sure the DNC will go after him at that point as then it politically doesn't benefit them at all to do so...and Trump will go back to doing what he does best, being in the entertainment business, tweeting out how the Biden administration is failing, how he never did lose fairly, this and that, blah blah blah... while his son and daughter try to continue his political legacy.

At the end of the day, Trump is a coward. That's what he's always been. To claim himself as dictator after cleanly losing an election would be the boldest thing he (or any American president) has ever done. Instead, he'll just sit around and watch TV all day, tweet, and secretly sigh with relief that he doesn't have to do this anymore. As long as it's understood that he's not going to be before congress he's going to be happy he doesn't have the job anymore while the GOP will rally around his children.

 

There is no right way for him to do this though, the constitution is pretty clear on that.

If the margin is thin, yes, he can contest the vote and that's where things get interesting. That's really the only path he has.

If it isn't close though? Say Texas went blue after all these years or Biden wins every state he needs to...there just isn't much he can do.

It's like when the Warriors get away with moving screens...it's alright because it's something so minute that many fans will just wave it away. Now imagine if instead of moving screens, the Warriors players were openly tackling defenders and hold them down...that would be the equivalent here.

I also think a lot of anger is growing over the voting suppression, it doesn't all erupt at once, it always builds up. It takes time but the more people learn about it the angrier they are getting.

 

So treason then?