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| What may happen the day after the election (USA Today) |
We are tearing each other apart! The country is so politically divided that I fear the consequences of the next election. The support for the President by his base is fierce. But so too is the hatred of him by his detractors.
I fear that disappointment at the result will generate violence. By either side depending upon who wins. I have never seen a political base so fired up. Neither have I seen opponents of a candidate so fired up in opposition.
I do not see a peaceful outcome. There will be no gracious concession speech by the loser accepting the outcome as has always been the case. Surely not from the President if he loses.
We have been given a preview of the possible violence by Trump supports. Just yesterday a convoy of vehicles supporting Trump surrounded a Biden campaign bus and traveled along the highway with them for a bit before trailing off.
While they may (and I emphasize may) not have done anything technically illegal, the image was nonetheless frightening. The Biden campaign workers must have felt pretty threatened to be surrounded that way. They had no way of knowing what would happen next as they were ‘accompanied’ by those Trump vehicles.
And yet the President defended them! I can only imagine what the more militant members of Trump’s base might do if he loses.
On the other hand, if Trump wins, the protests by the left that happened against him just after the 2016 election will surely seem mild by comparison. The emotions on either side are so high and so strong that the prospect of violent protest and confrontation is almost certain. And that should frighten us all.
It’s true that the country was divided long before Trump. But it is no less true that he has exacerbated that division to levels never thought possible in this - the land of the free and home of the brave.
Lest anyone think I am over blowing the post election ‘festivities’- storefronts along major streets in New York and other major cities are being boarded up in anticipation of that violence. The likes of which they have recently experienced during some of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests.
It’s true that we are divided by political differences. And that many of those differences are major. But that has never generated anything close to the violent expression thereof.
And yes - like him or hate him - the President can surely share some of the blame for this level of division. So too can the media for highlighting it day after day.
We need to go back to a time when we can all agree to disagree and use the power of the ballot to pursue our disparate goals. And then accept the consequences of a free and fair election until the next one. What is happening now is pure chaos! May God have mercy on us all.