Transition to chaos.

 Donald trump constantly jokes (or not) about being El Presidente for life, or at least for a lot longer than the two terms that the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution allows. 

His followers would certainly like that, because it would mean that their cultish devotion to "Dear Leader" would continue for a very long time. The rest of us would either be taking up arms, or heading North (or South) in droves. Of course it wouldn't matter to the trump people, they would have the country all to themselves. They would be free to marry family members at will, and build as many gold statues as they want in praise of Mr. trump.     

The following are excerpts from an article in The Atlantic: 

"It's a nightmare scenario of course, but given where we find ourselves in this country it is one that could certainly take place. 

A brazen refusal by the president to leave office is surely a nightmare scenario. But even if President Donald Trump were to lose and accept the results on November 3 or soon thereafter, he could nevertheless wreak significant damage during the period between the election and the inauguration of Joe Biden—endangering the incoming administration, at best, and actively sabotaging it, at worst.

Presidential transitions are perilous even in normal times. With each inauguration of a new president every four to eight years, the executive branch undergoes a massive overhaul; more than 4,000 new political appointees flood into federal departments and agencies, including 1,200 senior officials who require Senate confirmation. The minute a new president is sworn in, his administration assumes responsibility for everything from nuclear launch codes to pandemic response, economic policy, and counterterrorism—at the very moment when the government’s capacity is most diminished. At the Defense Department alone, the nation’s largest employer and perhaps the world’s most complex organization, the top 59 senior civilian leaders, from the secretary of defense on down, are political appointees requiring Senate confirmation. A private-sector company would be crazy to emulate this approach, yet the security, the health, and the prosperity of Americans depend on its success.

Facilitating the smoothest possible transition—if one should happen in January 2021—is of paramount national importance, particularly at a time of ongoing upheaval at home and abroad. If elected, Joe Biden would face the extraordinary challenge of seizing the reins of government amid the triple crises of a global pandemic, an economic collapse, and a national reckoning over racial justice, and his effectiveness in managing these would redound to the entire nation’s benefit. Yet there is ample reason to worry that the outgoing Trump administration will disregard the laws and the norms that are supposed to govern the transition period. Without question, a stolen election or a refusal to accept electoral results is the nightmare scenario. But well short of a constitutional crisis, the Trump administration can nevertheless hobble the incoming Biden team and endanger the nation with a scuttled transition process.

Presidential transitions are both remarkable and risky. Unlike nations with parliamentary systems and wholly professionalized bureaucracies, the U.S. federal government undergoes extensive turnover whenever a new president comes into office with thousands of political appointees in tow. This turnover is important, as it injects fresh blood and ideas into a too-often-sclerotic system and ensures that the daily work of the executive branch aligns with the president’s—and, by extension, the electorate’s—will. That the U.S. has experienced 44 peaceful transitions of power, even as the anti-majoritarian Electoral College has overridden the popular vote in two elections so far this century, is a testament to the strength of the American political system and norms that date back to George Washington." {More}

That was then, this is now. This is not your father's America. These Americans are now afraid of losing their America, so the old rules of civility no longer apply. Mr. trump represents their last hope of holding on to that power that they have become so used to. His behavior, no matter how outrageous, will not be enough to convince them to embrace the America that they once knew, and that they held out to the world as the greatest experiment in democracy known to mankind. 

For them, it was never about equality. It was always about being in control and allowing the pretense of democracy to keep everyone happy. The black lives matter movement, to them, is a bridge too far, and the very thought of it both infuriates and terrifies them at the same time. (See Mike Pence struggling to say that black lives also matter.)

Yesterday the president defended a man that has been accused of murdering two of our fellow citizens. He did it while telling Americans that their are people in "dark shadows" controlling his opponent, and he lied about hearing about a plane full of "thugs"dressed in black and ready to do damage. 

I know that it all sounds insane, and in normal times we would be marching around the White House and demanding that this lunatic leaves before he does more damage, or that the 25th Amendment be invoked. 

Sadly, though,  these are not normal times. There are people in America who believe in this man. And there are just enough of them to create some serious issues come November.