On the evening of Nov. 3, 2020, America went to bed thinking that Donald Trump had been re-elected to a second term.  They woke up to the news that Joe Biden had taken the lead in key swing states, a lead which widened as the ballot counting continued for weeks afterwards in places like Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Maricopa County, Arizona. 

So how will election night 2024 unfold?

This time around, the swing states have already announced that it will take four or five days, at least, to count all the ballots.  Maricopa county, where Phoenix is located, claims that its 1.2 million or so ballots will take between 10-13 days to count. (!) 

Trump’s lead in early voting continues to widen, and he is looking more and more like the odds-on favorite to win the election.  But what happens if — as in 2020 — Trump’s lead is gradually eaten away as the days go by and ballots continue to trickle in?

Given the problems in 2020, Trump voters are already on high alert for any signs of voter fraud or ballot manipulation.  Even the appearance of irregularities will be enough to send some of them to the counting centers in protest.  And given the predictable problems with illegal voters, questionable ballots, and voting machine malfunctions, irregularities there will be aplenty.

The right to peacefully protest is guaranteed by the Constitution, but any kind of public demonstration outside of the counting centers is fraught with risk, since it could easily be seized upon by the Biden-Harris administration for their own purposes.  I think here of a possible reprise of Jan. 6, 2021, when President Trump advised his supporters thronging the Mall to go “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol to protest the election.  

We may expect that agents will be present in any crowds that gather outside of counting centers as well, whether these are in Maricopa County, Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Detroit.  Will rumors will be spread about fraudulent ballots?  Will the protesters be urged to go into the counting centers, just as the Ray Epps on Jan. 6 urged the demonstrators to go into the Capitol?

Will local police be instructed by Democrat mayors to respond aggressively to any demonstration, perhaps even launching flash bangs or firing rubber bullets into a crowd, unruly or not.  Will protesters be injured, or even killed, as Ashli Babbitt was killed? If so, the crowd would be further angered. 

Bear in mind that, if such a scenario unfolds, that the point would not to control the crowd, but to incite it.  The goal would be — as it perhaps was on January 6 -- to create an incident or, better yet, several incidents in different cities.

We’ve seen this playbook unfold before.  Any sign of aggression by those demonstrating, however mild, will immediately be exaggerated by the regime media into an “assault on Democracy.”  Kamala Harris will denounce the demonstrations as “a day that will live in infamy” just like Pearl Harbor, 9-11, and Jan. 6.

And, once again, Donald Trump would be the fall guy.  “Trump is Hitler,” Kamala would shriek, claiming that he was leading yet another “insurrection.”  The Atlantic would publish yet another hit piece quoting disgruntled former employees claiming he is a wannabe dictator.  The ladies of “The View” would be beside themselves with rage.  Jack Smith would immediately file new charges against him.

The only trouble with that explanation is that everyone knows by now that locking Trump up has been the plan all along.

As Mike Huckabee noted, “When you file multiple indictments on bogus felony charges in four heavily-Democratic districts where you’ve already sent grandmothers to prison for praying at abortion clinics, I think you just mean 'Lock him up'.”

Trump voters have to be aware of the dangers of another disturbance on or after election day. The Biden-Harris administration has kept prosecuting those who trespassed on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, for almost four years for a reason.  They are doing this not so much because they want to remind voters of Trump’s earlier “insurrection,” but because they want to prepare them for a future in which Trump “masterminds” another.

A future that, in a little over a week, may be upon us.  

At this point in American history, it should be clear to everyone that the Democrats have betrayed their very name, abandoning the rule of law and all but the pretense of democracy. 

Everyone agrees that Trump not only has to win, but he has to win by more than the margin of cheating.  But in my view even that may not enough to forestall another fedsurrection. 

Trump has to win in such a landslide that the entire progressive machine -- from Kamala Harris to Barack Obama, from embedded activist bureaucrats to Antifa and BLM -- is forced to stand down and accept the inevitable.  What will it take to cement the deal:  A win in a state like Virginia where they do not control the state government, or one like New Mexico where they do not expect to be challenged.

On Nov. 5 and the days following, those who would Make America Great Again need to keep their wits about them.  

Above all, gentle, kind, peaceful members of the greatest popular movement in American history, please do not attempt another “insurrection.”

Image: Tyler Merber, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0