Americans will refuse to live in the next Lebanon.

[Tom Rinaldo]

Ultimately that is the bottom line, and that is why Trump's desperate attempts to hold onto power will fail, pulling down those with him who might try to prop him up. Americans do not want a race war, nor another civil war, no matter what the Proud Boys and their ilk might be dreaming. Americans do not want armed militia's gathering on our streets and storming State Capitals. They don't want mobs menacing Town Halls, Main Streets and Court Houses in small towns and cities all across the nation. They don't want their country's government convulsed in chaos like a fledgling banana republic. And they don't want to live and breathe breaking politics each day of the year.

Americans want peace, they want prosperity, but on top of all that they want the stability that they have become accustomed to for virtually all their lives. Trump not only can't provide that for Americans, he promises the exact opposite, and for that he will neither be tolerated nor forgiven should his bluster not prove empty. Instead he will be opposed, and deposed by lawful means, if ultimately that proves necessary.

This transcends ideology, it is deeper than partisan politics. It is a big part of what makes most Americans proud to be Americans. Extremists of whatever stripe may disagree, but that is what makes them extremists. Extremists are out there of course, but they will not prevail if they delude themselves into thinking that they can. They will be crushed, at what price may yet be uncertain, but it is certain that they will be. America will not allow itself to be torn apart to keep Joe Biden out of office, if it is obvious to most that he won a fair election.

The Supreme Court, even if Trump fills another seat on it, will not save Trump anymore than it did Nixon. On Trump's best day he might find three Justices willing to knowingly plunge America into the extreme and long lasting instability that any attempt to overthrow the clear will of the voters would unleash upon us all. That would not serve the interests of those who in America benefit by a status quo that rewards them daily with the wealth and privileges they now enjoy.

[katusha]

1. well put n/t

[StClone]

2. Ironically my Neighbor is from the REAL Beirut, Lebanon

As head of the regional hospital system here is doing well and moved here because, he wanted to raise his kids somewhere other than Lebanon.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

3. Republicans do not

Abide by the social contract that enables us to be civilized together.

GOP is a psychopath party
It always has been.

It's an antisocial party,anti social contract party and that's why they cheat ,brainwash and lie and are traitorus.

It goes much deeper than politics.

[TheRealNorth]

4. Thats what I am afraid of

that people will quitely acquiesce to the end of Democracy and the Proud Boys "dissappearing the enemies of Trump" so long as it doesn't affect them. And only gradually, will that indifference be replaced with fear.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. Quiet acquiescence will not be an option.

There will be nothing "quiet" about the reaction to Trump trying to openly steal the election. As I wrote in another response to a post to this OP, nothing about what is happening resembles 2000 other than the unlikely (though possible) scenario of this reaching the Supreme Court.

If the election were somehow declared based on election day tabulations alone, with tens of millions of legal mail in votes left uncounted, do you foresee a quiet acquiescence to that? I sure as hell don't.

[TheRealNorth]

12. I sure hope not

but some people here seem to think law enforcement or the military is automatically going to come to our rescue. I am afraid that a large segment of the security state will be the instruments of repression, augmented by RW militias, as has been the case in many other parts of the world. Kenosha was a clear example of that dynamic in play.

The point is, in the end, if it comes down between justice (what is right), and law and order, many of them will side with the latter. And they will be well-rewarded by the Republicans.

[notinkansas]

5. Bush v Gore

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Bush did not campaign against Democracy, and that election was known to be close

Bush did not spend the summer and fall saying the only way he could lose was if the vote was rigged. He did not make wild public assaults on the integrity of the voting process before election day. Americans saw two credible candidates for president, behaving well within the bounds of how presidential candidates had always behaved during these contests. Polling did not overwhelmingly indicate who was winning the race. George W. Bush was viewed as likable by tens of millions of Americans, perhaps more so than Al Gore.

Democrats and Republicans were united in agreeing that the vote margin between Bush and Gore was extremely narrow, in Florida in particular. It seemed plausible to honest partisans on each side that the vote count could go either way. The nation was not in any crisis in 2000, none health related, none over our racial divide, none economic, none related to national security. The contest seemed to be a legitimate toss up, and for most Americans the stakes did not seem that high. In that context the only thing that manifest any significant instability for Americans was the uncertainty itself over who had legitimately won.

The current situation is different by several light years. The clear majority of Americans know, heading into election day, that Trump wants to steal this election. That fact is blasted in the news daily and fear that Trump will refuse to leave office peacefully is openly talked about. The Supreme Court today, even more so than in 1975 and far, far less than in 2000, knows that a blatantly partisan decision that prevents voters from having their will upheld, would profoundly destabilize this country.

[notinkansas]

13. While I agree that SC intervention in the election

would most likely destabilize the country, I don't believe that would necessarily stop them from doing it. 45 has admitted that is exactly his plan. And this cabal knows no bounds.

BTW - when the ballots actually were counted (NY Times maybe, about a year later) - Gore had won that election.

[Mister Ed]

6. Terrorists can only hold sway in countries where the infrastructure has been shattered.

Unlike those countries, the U.S. has the law-enforcement infrastructure and the military capability to deal quite readily with armed gangs of yahoos riding around in pickup truck beds. And if these beer-bellied warriors think Law Enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces will be joining them when they declare their "civil war", they will quickly find that they have miscalculated.

[drmeow]

7. Having lived in Beirut

for the first year of the civil war I can tell you most Americans have no idea what it is like living in a war zone.

Ideologically, the Proud Boys are losing the race war and they know it. Obama's 2 term Presidency was a huge wake up call for them and the size of the BLM protests are reinforcing that. Trump was their last best hope and he's succeeding in doing a lot of damage but he's also cementing and expanding those ideological changes.

Unfortunately the Proud Boy types still have too much control of the institutions. They think a civil war (which they think they will win) will decide who retains controls those institutions but, ultimately, it won't. A lot of the institutions are under state and local control and states that try to maintain the Proud Boys control will just become poorer and more pathetic.

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. I honestly can't imagine how intense that had to be, and still is for those who live there

I agree 100% with everything you wrote. We may well face significant major disruptions in a worst case scenario, up to and including numerous fatalities, but Americans will not be confused about where to lay the blame for a dangerous and unacceptable state of affairs. They will want domestic terrorists dealt with harshly, and ultimately the majority of the Supreme Court will not permit the American experiment to die on their watch.

[drmeow]

11. I was a kid so my

experience was distorted but the first act of violence in Beirut proper was a bomb that went off across the street from our apartment (when my parents weren't home)!

I think Roberts in particular will be paying attention. Kavanaugh is to egotistical, ambitious, and self absorbed to be thinking that far ahead and Thomas has already demonstrated a willingness to betray his own people, why not the rest of the country. Gorsuch has some Kavanaugh elements but doesn't seem to be a drunken frat boy at heart so who knows. Alito's the only other conservative I (sort of) trust.