This is a follow-up to the essay,
If Trump Gets Re-elected, America Will Become a Tyranny.
By Alastair Browne
As I write this, on August 12, 2023, Trump has now been indicted for the third time. This time for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden by inciting the riots on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.
Here he is charged on four counts:
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States - The Defendant and co-conspirators used knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes.
2. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding - The Defendant and co-conspirators organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven targeted states…
3. Conspiracy of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding - The Defendant and co-conspirators attempted to use the power and authority of the justice department to conduct sham election crime investigations…
4. Conspiracy against rights - On the morning of January 6, the Defendant and co-conspirators repeated knowingly false claims of election fraud to gathered supporters, falsely told them that the Vice-President had the authority to and might alter the election results, and directed them to the Capitol to obstruct the certification proceeding…
As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.
Jack Smith, an attorney who prosecuted war criminals for atrocities committed in Bosnia is on this case, and continues to dig up evidence against Trump. Smith is not being deterred by any threats from Trump or any of his followers. He refuses to be intimidated.
That’s a lot, and this is just one indictment. This is the third one, the first two being falsifying business records in New York for tax purposes and to cover up a payoff to Stormy Daniels, who tried to sell her story about an alleged affair with Trump. In other words, tax cheating and bribery!
The second indictment is illegally stealing and keeping classified documents, many of them top secret, containing sensitive information of weapons systems, including nuclear, and other such plans involving foreign governments (like Iran) and were never meant to go public. Many of these documents were shown to guests at Mar-a-Lago at parties, mainly to impress them.
So far, Trump has one more indictment coming, when he tried to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into finding 11,780 votes so he could win that state’s electoral votes. Raffensperger would have none of that.
All of these charges are compounding Trump’s problems with the law, with more on the way.
It looks like Trump is headed for prison. He certainly deserves it.
He is also running for President again, for a non-consecutive second term.
This must never be allowed to happen. Trump must not be re-elected. If he is, he will do away with the U.S. Constitution, put all Departments under his heel by appointing “yes-men,” to lead them, and will take control of both Congress and the Supreme Court, both having, or will have Republican majorities.
Worst of all, even the American people who support him and intends to vote for him will lose their rights and privileges, and will regret supporting him, when it’s too late!
I have explained all this in greater detail in my previous essay, the prelude to this one mentioned at the beginning of the essay you’re reading right now.
This is the Race Against Time. Trump has been indicted on three counts, soon will be four, many of which carry serious charges that have sent other people to prison, and Trump is in danger of that. It has been proven that when convicted by federal prosecutors, they win 94% of the time. The odds are against Trump.
The race is that Trump is running for President, and if he wins, he will shut down all investigations, literally pardon everyone involved, including the January 6 rioters, clear himself of all charges, be it a pardon or expungement, and he will become absolute ruler. He will then take he revenge on everyone that went against him, especially those that are testifying, or prosecuting him. His revenge will be cruel.
This sums it up to a race between good and evil, and Trump is evil; not an opinion, a fact!
The bright side is that Trump can still be disqualified by the 14th Amendment, Section 3. He can also lose popularity and not be nominated, or if he is, he could still lose.
Trump could be tried and found guilty with a prison sentence, or he could become President again. The Sword of Damocles is hanging over the whole country.
There are still six months to go before the primaries, and 15 months before the general election, and Trump is ahead of all his other Republican opponents in the polls, by a long shot. In spite of all the charges being laid upon him, Trump is only increasing in popularity. Some say it’s because of these charges.
Trumpism is a cult. There are people who have said that they will vote for Trump no matter how bad he is, “even if he kills somebody on the White House steps.” (Yes, that is an actual quote.)
This man cannot be disgraced, and if he is nominated, there is a chance that he will win the Presidency again. Then what?
Tell these voters that America will become a dictatorship, and they will cheer Trump on, thinking that Trump becoming a dictator would be a blessed event for America.
To sum up our fears, Trump is so popular that he could very well win the Republican nomination for President. If he gets nominated, he could very well win.
The more Trump gets charged, the more popular he becomes.
And Now The Good News
There is a silver lining to all this, and there is an equal chance that Trump won’t be re-elected, even if he is nominated.
This is our race against time! It is a race between good and evil, and both are tied in the running. Who will win?
Many Americans, in fact the vast majority, know of Trump’s crimes and are not willing to see him in office again. Trump’s party lost seats in Congress (House or Senate) in the last three elections, being 2018, 2020, and 2022. Trump lost the popular vote in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, the last by seven million votes to Joe Biden.
A new generation of voters is coming up, Generation Z (the Millennials) and most are not pro-Trump. The previous generation that is passing on were, so Biden has a good chance of getting a lot more votes.
There is also the abortion issue. The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court angered most of the female population in the U.S., and with Trump opposed to it (in order to gain more votes by Republican and Christian Fundamentalists, not because of his beliefs), they are not likely to vote for Trump.
Right now, it is neck and neck between Biden and Trump in the electoral college, but that can change.
Recently, in Ohio, there was a referendum to amend the state constitution to protect the state from interest money. It was a sneaky tactic. The real issue was to raise the winning majority percentage to 60%, as opposed to just the majority of over 50% before any new constitutional amendment, put to a vote, can be added. This would favor the Republican majority, especially in the issue of abortion rights, which most Republicans oppose.
The Ohio voters didn’t buy it, and they voted against it, because of the abortion issue.
Abortion is legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio, and that right will not be relinquished so easily.
The same applies in other states such as Michigan, Kentucky, and Kansas, all of which rejected referendums that would ban abortion, along with Wisconsin, who voted for a judicial candidate who endorsed abortion rights in a state that banned the procedure.
(Lerer, Lisa; “Ohio Vote Shows Abortion’s Potency to Reshape Elections,” The New York Times, Aug. 10, p. A13).
Abortion is one issue that could cost Trump literally millions of votes, even the election should he get nominated.
Trump is raising millions of dollars in donations, and they increase every time there is a major indictment. However, all of this money is going to legal fees to aid Trump in his defense, not into his campaign.
In one PAC (Political Action Committee), Save American began with $105 million, but now only has $4 million, the rest going to his defense.
Sixty million dollars from his campaign funds was originally meant to go to television commercials, but it was requested that it be sent back, due to Trump’s legal problems.
Another PAC, MAGA, had to send back $12.25 million to a group to pay legal bills.
(Haberman, Maggie; Shane Goldmacher and Jonathan Swan; “Trump’s PAC is Nearly Broke After Paying Large Legal Bills,” The New York Times, August 2, 2023, p. A13).
This means that his followers sent millions of dollars to his campaign thinking that it would go to his campaign, but was diverted to Trump’s lawyers. They were fleeced!
How long are they going to tolerate this? Are they willing to send money to Trump’s lawyers to cover his legal fees, rather than he campaign? Will they develop “donation fatigue” (my own phrase) where their money will not help Trump get re-elected, as they originally intended?
Trump may be on top now, but there are still 15 months before the election, so how long will it be before voters get tired of him? In 2000, it was predicted that Al Gore would win the Presidential election - he didn’t. In 2016, it was the same for Hillary Clinton - and she didn’t. This was unfortunate, both for them and the American people.
When Trump was impeached for the second time, after the January 6 insurrection, there was the chance for the Senate to vote him guilty, insuring that Trump could never again run for office. They chose not to do so, even though they knew that Trump incited the insurrection. Many, I feel, were afraid to vote against Trump for fear of what might have happened to them, even though many, I feel, wanted to vote against him. They just didn’t have the guts to do it.
This is moral cowardice on their part - not an opinion, a fact!
There is another way to disqualify Trump from running again. It’s the 14th Amendment, Section 3, which states:
“No person, shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
This amendment can be very easily used to bar Trump from the 2024 election, if Congress is willing to do it! Many are not, and that’s a sad thing for the Constitution and the American people.
Of the three indictments, there are 37 charges against Trump, so far. When you read this, there will be a lot more, especially with Jack Smith prosecuting him, and this is still one more indictment pending.
The fourth indictment is expected in Georgia, on charges of election tampering.
To give the prosecution more fuel, provided by Trump himself, Trump posted a message on Truth Social, his own social media platform, a strongly worded threat:
“IF YOU COME AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.”
This proves my earlier statements of his campaign for revenge after he is sworn into office.
Trump, obviously, is filled with hate and revenge.
Jack Smith and his team aren’t buying this. They will simply use this threat as one more piece of evidence against him. No threat of any kind should be tolerated from a political candidate. That alone smacks of tyranny.
This is where the race against time stands right now. The forces of good and evil are, so far, neck and neck in the race, and we still don’t know what will triumph. When I say good and evil, I do not mean any individual person or political party, I mean freedom, justice, and everything for which the U.S. Constitution stands for, against those individuals who want to destroy this system and replace it with a tyranny, and that is exactly what will happen should we allow evil to triumph.
Are we, as Americans, going to stand for this? Are we, who still care about the fate of our country, and the world, willing to go all out and do what it takes to defeat Trump and all he really stands for? Are we willing to stop him, at all costs?
Trump is still a danger and a threat to our democracy. We have to fight him, and we can do it, and win! Victory is achievable, and the forces of good can prevail.
It is up to the American people if they are willing to make the effort, beginning with voting against Trump and keeping him out of office, permanently.
Author’s note:
This is the second in a series of essays I am writing, the first being “If Trump Get Re-elected, America Will Become a Tyranny.”
Charges are piling up against Trump, and in spite of his popularity, there is still some time to go before the election.
As time progresses, I will continue to write follow-up reports to this series of essays to record our progress.
We, as Americans, are facing the biggest challenge to America’s survival since the Civil War.
I am optimistic that we can win this struggle, for the sake of our survival and our freedom.
