Back to 1954 is the desperate place that Trump is going to spread disinformation. The GOP has tried to make Democrats “godless”, because how else could you win an election. Trump even brought his brother’s funeral to the White House to counter the spiritual expressions at the DNC. Trump got his golf in today to let his early morning tweet simmer.
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. Such a pledge was first composed, with a text different from the one used at present, by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer during the Civil War and later a teacher of patriotism in New York City schools.[5][6] The form of the pledge used today was largely devised by Francis Bellamy in 1892, and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942.[7] The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day in 1954, when the words "under God" were added.[8]
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"History will record Mr. Trump’s presidency as a march of wanton, uninterrupted, tragic destruction,"
The Washington Post editorial board warned in no uncertain terms what could happen to the United States if President Donald Trump wins reelection.
“One is that the nation, his presidency and, above all, Mr. Trump himself are innocent victims of COVID-19. In fact, his own negligence, ignorance and malpractice turned what would have been a daunting challenge for any president into a national disaster,” wrote the board.
“The other is that there was anything to admire in his record before the virus struck,” it said. “It is true that the economic growth initiated under President Barack Obama had continued, at about the same modest rate. Mr. Trump achieved this growth by ratcheting up America’s deficit and long-term debt to record levels, with a tax cut that showered benefits on the wealthy.”
Ultimately, “history will record Mr. Trump’s presidency as a march of wanton, uninterrupted, tragic destruction,” the board wrote.
www.huffpost.com/...
There is an “ultimate deal” sitting in the shadows, where Trump uses his resistance to vacate to give himself a pardon, as if he could get his deplorables to follow his direction in the face of actual military force.
Donald Trump has a serious dilemma. If Joe Biden loses in November, he can go home and settle in as a party elder stateman, as defeated nominees have often done. But if Trump loses, he faces years of intensive investigations by Congress and, assuming he pardons himself, years of investigations by state prosecutors, likely criminal indictments, and possible conviction and imprisonment. The investigations also could expose some of his children to legal peril. And Trump assets—and those of the Trump Organization—will be vulnerable to government seizure if New York state prosecutors and courts find that his past actions were part of an organized enterprise engaged in criminal activity.
Trump is working hard to avoid this scenario at any cost. His challenge is to find a strategy that both makes losing less likely and, if he does lose, provides some leverage to lessen the personal costs to him and his family. His current campaign arguably meets those criteria: His winning strategy increasingly relies on efforts to stack the count in his favor by attacking and partly disabling the mail-in voting process. His attacks on a safe and open voting process also feed into his larger campaign message to his core followers that the election is rigged, and they should be prepared for Trump to reject the result if he loses.
If the strategy ends in victory, Trump’s problems are solved. But if he loses by a healthy margin, he could still try to avoid years of investigations and prosecutions by employing what game theorists call the “ultimatum game.” In this scenario, Trump’s representatives would privately tell Biden’s team that the sitting president may reject the outcome publicly and send his followers into the streets, unless the president-elect gives him a get-out-of-jail-free card. We don’t know if Biden would play that game. He could well ignore any such proffered quid pro quo and call on Republicans to support a calm transition of power. But the scenario is highly consistent with Trump’s current message and strategy.
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