Are We Seeing the End of Democracy?

I have said since 2016...since the election results were confirmed...Trump will not leave power quietly! Many over the years have told me that my "hate" for our President comes from the media telling me what to think. I don't need the media to convince me that this man should have never been elected to the highest office in the nation. I've been here for a while, and I have a really good memory. Before social media...before the vast internet.

This is a man who "entered the public stage" when I was in my teens. I was curious about what was going on in the world even then. The Cold War was something many of us were very familiar with. We were taught to fear the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or just the Soviet Union, as we called it. A singer known as Sting penned a song saying, "I hope the Russians love their children, too" in response to the idea that both of our leaders sat with one finger the proverbial button wondering who would push it first. I was on the debate team in high school during the Bush vs. Dukakis elections in 1988. I remember debating the issues of the time in class. We were definitely one informed bunch of teenagers. The day the Berlin Wall came down, I cheered in my living room. When news of the fall of the Soviet Union came about a month later, even more cheers. I was barely 19 at the time, but I knew what was going on in the world!

It was during this period of time that Trump was bouncing around from talk show to talk show. He had started to become a household name, with everyone wondering exactly how rich this real estate developer was. It was this time that Trump says that he wouldn't rule out a run at the Presidency at some point in his future. "I really am tired of seeing what’s happening with this country, how we’re really making other people live like kings, and we’re not." These were his words on Oprah's talk show in 1988.

Since that time, Trump very publically filed for bankruptcy several times. The world watched as he cheated on Ivanka with Marla, which he eventually married. Every magazine at the grocery checkout had their faces on the cover! That didn't last long, and before the turn of the century, here was Melania.

The turn of the century saw Trump's first Presidential run, but not as a Republican...The Reform Party. This run failed miserably, and Trump dropped out of the race. But for those of us who paid attention, it gave us a very early look at what he was about, and let us know why he should never be allowed to hold that office.

Fast forward to 2016, and everything many of us had feared has come to a reality. This man, who has never held public office before becoming President, has harmed this nation in ways that we can only hope is fixable. Our relationships with countries with who we have had historically good relationships are now strained. It has been found that Russia did in fact tamper with our elections. To what extent and whether or not Trump was involved we still do not know. What we do know is that Trump has attacked our election process since day one! After losing the popular vote, Trump started to make unsupported claims of voter fraud, and this has continued to be a constant theme throughout his entire Presidency. After beating an impeachment over Russia's interference with the 2016 election, Trump has said in front of his supporters that he should get a "do-over" of the first four years, simply because of the abuse he has had to endure from Congress in his impeachment.

As we have gotten closer to the election, in rallies, Trump has repeated this statement about getting the chance to serve more than two terms. The whole while, he has ramped up his attacks on our election process and even went so far as to tell his supporters to cast mail-in ballots, then try to vote in person on election day to prove the system is broken. He told his followers to break the law by committing voter fraud! Even more recently, Trump "joked" at a rally that maybe he simply wouldn't allow Biden to be President...that maybe he would just sign an executive order to prevent it!

If none of these comments have been concerning up to this point, what Trump said yesterday should be enough to scare you! "You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster...(G)et rid of the ballots and you'll have a very ... there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation." These are the words said by Trump as reported by several news outlets.

There is a reason Trump is in such a hurry to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. He is already planning to fight to contest the election in the event he loses...which according to polls, is very likely. He will not go quietly! Mark my words! It would not surprise me if he has to be removed from the White House by the military come January 20th. We very well may have some real history in the making... a history that I hope will not destroy our democratic process forever!