A Cornered Animal is the most dangerous

Trump encouraged violence from his supporters during the first debate. 

“Stand down and stand by” is something you would say to law enforcement, the National Guard, or a security force to prepare for a bad situation. Not thugs looking to hurt people.

But this is not very surprising.

An Authoritarian is at their most dangerous when they are on the precipice of defeat

The Third Reich reached its most dangerous and evil during the late stages of World War II. This is when the holocaust began to kill Jews and other “undesirables” at truly industrial levels. At this time, the Allies had begun to push their way up the Italian peninsula, the Soviets were making rapid gains on the Eastern Front, and plans were being drawn up for D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches. Total defeat was only a matter of time.

The exact same can be said for the Japanese Empire by 1944. At that point, the home Islands were subjected to regular fire bombings from the Americans, they were losing Island after Island in the Pacific, and it was obvious that they were going to lose the war. Kamikaze attacks began as a result.

As both the Japanese Empire and the Third Reich got closer to total defeat, their violence and brutality only grew.

What happened to both the Third Reich and the Japanese Empire is what typically happens to both organized crime syndicates and authoritarian regimes alike when they are on their deathbed as organizations. Killings and other types of violence go up dramatically, the leadership starts to make wildly irrational decisions (if they were ever sane to begin with), and everyone starts to look for a way out. Their two goals are to avoid getting put six feet under and avoid facing accountability for their actions.

Trump as a case study

Using the Trump administration as a case study, we are already seeing several key signs of a leader and organization beginning to unravel. 

Trump’s personal finances are a mess. He is a lousy businessman but a great con artist. I mean, he went bankrupt six times running casinos (though his investors and daddy picked up the tab) and yet people still believed he was a great businessman. 

His campaign is facing serious money trouble. Vice President Biden has not only closed the financial gap with the Trump campaign, he surpassed his cash on hand advantage. That means he has more money to spend after all of his expenses are paid for than Trump does. 

The Trump campaign attracts a disportionate amount of convicted felons, or later convicted felons. Many of them have either flipped or have actually gone to prison. The rest are people prepared to lie and gaslight on previous unheard of levels. 

As things (seem) to get more and more dire for Trump, he is going to take more careless and damaging action in an attempt to save himself. He has already done an enormous amount of damage to critical institutions like the United States Postal Service in an attempt to steal the election. In fact, Trump’s entire campaign strategy is assuming he will lose the popular vote. This is why Trump and the GOP are planning to make election night a nightmare and his odds are riding on the electoral college. Trump is doing absolutely everything he can think of to hold onto power. 

In fact, the entire GOP will go further and further down the road of voter suppression as the election date draws closer. 

Prepare for more actions designed to suppress the vote as election day gets closer. What happened in Texas was just the beginning. 

What to expect on election night

We should all expect election night to be a nightmare. Trump will appear to be winning in some states at first thanks to the fact that he will have an edge in election day ballots while Biden has the edge in mail in ballots. He will likely claim to have won in an attempt to sow confusion and panic. If it becomes clear in the next few days that he has lost, expect him to make claims of fraud and to bring his claim to the courts. 

If Trump ends up losing on election night because he lost Florida, Ohio or Iowa, then expect him and the GOP to make widespread claims of fraud. Arizona will likely be called on election night thanks to its rich tradition of voting by mail.

Thanks to how many people are voting early, there is a chance Florida will be called on election night as well. If Florida goes for Biden, it is over for Trump. If it goes for Trump, there is still a chance that Biden can win the election if he wins Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, along with all the states Secretary Clinton won.

Even though Trump is infected with COVID-19 and is in apparently serious condition, the chaos is still guaranteed.

Pence after all, is not incapacitated. That means if Trump is for any reason put out of commission, he will be the one who takes over.

Get ready people, this is going to be a bumpy ride.