Individual-1

[timelets]

Let's say, Covfefe loses 2020 elections. Will he pardon himself to prevent pending prosecution? Or will he resign, so that Pence pardons him?

Comments

[ecreet]

By November 2020 that quote will be common knowledge among the right wing media and its consumers: a Democratic candidate winning the election equals a coup. The logical development would be for Trump to declare that the election has been subverted and is therefore void, and become a de-facto dictator backed by the army, the National Guard, and the police. This would be presented by everybody (including NYTimes) as very legitimate measures taken to protect the country. The only thing that makes me doubt this scenario is that I suppose (and hope) Trump has pissed off the military enough that they wouldn't go this far to protect him. In this case, we will probably not see an organized rebellion, but a spike in mass shootings and a lot of obstruction and sabotage.

[timelets]

Not going to happen. American people, including the military, know that the body that makes decisions about validity of elections is the Supreme Court. It's quite possible that Trump will sue, though. That's what he does every time he loses or about to lose.

[ecreet]

Oh, on that I am 146% sure the current Supreme Court will find a reason if not to declare the elections invalid, then to withhold their judgement. After all, there is partisan politics happening, and they cannot go near partisan politics (as we see from their decision about gerrymandering).

[timelets]

Then, it'll be decided by district courts, which is even simpler. He'll make a lot of noise — nasty, obnoxious, etc — but nothing would come out of it. There will be no Trump rebellion because the country is old and, more importantly, his supporters are old.

[ecreet]

Tl;dr: I think we are further down the drain than you think.