The scenario that Bill Maher sees is the most plausible outcome in 2024 yet put forward. Trump, as usual, will have lost the popular vote. But his minions are in place to overturn enough of the results to give him a win. Even in failure, they will have at their disposal an energized mob that has learned from its previous failure to stop the certification of Biden’s win.
This time Maher sees the chaos spilling out into streets across America as opposing political groups meet in violent confrontation. We already know the police are split in their allegiance. So it is more likely that rather than control the mayhem, they will split and join sides. The military will be in a quandary as there is no Constitutional guidance for such situations. The only option is for the Democrat in office to declare martial law and use the troops to quell the rioting and maintain order while the legislators and judges sort it out.
This will be a seminal moment. Citizens will have to choose which is their America, the Red or the Blue. And the likely outcome is that the Reds and Blues will go their separate ways, each with their own president. Then there would need to be a new Constitutional Convention to determine how to manage that which they still have in common.
All this can be avoided if Trump could be eliminated now. There is enough evidence of his coup at work to arrest and charge him and his supporters with Treason. They should all be tried by military tribunals, convicted and given life sentences in Guantanamo.
Then we can get about the business of Constitutional change and laws that will provide a road map on how to deal with any future tyrant. And to make our democracy more equitable, making sure all voters can vote and can be counted. And to create government that serves all the people, not just the richest class and their political cronies.
I doubt that I will live to see all this transpire, and if I do, I won’t be in the so-called United States but rather in a more peaceable kingdom.