Sherman's March to the Sea wiped out everything related to the Confederacy in its path. Copyright, ©, PBS.
As with almost everyone else on DailyKos, I am hoping that we can defeat the occupant of the White House and gain a majority in the US Senate. I will do everything that I can to make that happen.
But it's not enough just to defeat him. If the Presidential election is close, particularly if it takes days to confirm the results, we're likely to see:
1) loud and continuing claims of "massive voter fraud" with calls for a recount in many different states, and the usual assortment of Trumpian lawsuits;
2) efforts to pump up the MAGA base, encouraging civil unrest, which may come to pass;
3) a vast and continuing stream of posts on Twitter and Facebook, filled with personal insults, incitements to extreme actions, and assorted invective;
4) on January 20, a dishonorable departure from the White House, lacking any of the civil behavior that normally accompanies such a transition, and;
5) on January 21, filing for the 2024 campaign by the ex-Pres or a designated member of his family, presaging a four-year campaign against the Biden Administration.
In addition, the nine weeks between the election and the inauguration are extremely perilous, especially if Individual-1 loses. There's no doubt that pardons will be handed out like candy at Halloween. Many documents that are supposed to be preserved will probably disappear. I can't imagine any of the Henchmen providing any assistance to the incoming team as a way to provide continuity of operations, even where that is most needed, e.g., national defense.
So the defeat must be overwhelming, both in the popular vote and in the Electoral College, where I'd like to see 400 votes for Biden. It must be a total repudiation of the loser and the GOP, including defeats of 45's enablers and wannabes - basically an obliteration of the last four years. Call it "shock and awe": a defeat so thorough and humiliating that the losers will go quietly rather than claiming fraud. As a historical parallel, think about McGovern and Dukakis - they were barely heard from again after their losses, retained no leadership role in the Democratic Party, and rarely spoke to the press.
Biden must be prepared to call out the National Guard as one of his first actions, in the event of riots by the "MAGA red base" riots protesting the results. Inauguration Day could get messy.
My wish is not only to purge the misguided efforts of the current band of thugs, but to fully restore representative democracy, avoiding more years of what the Economist's Intelligence Unit calls a "flawed democracy". The idea is also to discredit the racism and divisiveness that have characterized the last four years, so that the true believers of those policies are seen as a fringe movement. While that's unlikely to happen given the strength of right wing media, what has been the Tweeter's main media outlet might well decide that a more centrist position and a change of faces will attract more advertising dollars. Even Twitter may, at long last, be willing to take stronger action against the ex-President when he is out of office.
In short, my goal is to leave no Republican standing for any office anywhere — total wipeout.
