President Donald Trump WAS a BIG surprise that a LOT of people voted to get rid of….
It’s six months out from the November election and President Biden neck and neck with the ex-President is a walking cloud of CHOAS….
And?
A guy who has treatened to change America to HIS liking and Reality……
We thought we were safe…
Washington and others of us ARE concerned…..
‘Be Afraid….VERY AFRAID’?….
It has become the topic of the season at Washington dinner parties and receptions. Where would you go if it really happens?
Portugal, says a former member of Congress. Australia, says a former agency director. Canada, says a Biden administration official. France, says a liberal columnist. Poland, says a former investigator.
They’re joking. Sort of. At least in most cases. It’s a gallows humor with a dark edge. Much of official Washington is bracing for the possibility that former President Donald J. Trump really could return — this time with “retribution” as his avowed mission, the discussion is where people might go into a sort of self-imposed exile.
Whether they mean it or not, the buzz is a telling indicator of the grim mood among many in the nation’s capital these days. The “what if” goes beyond the normal prospect of a side unhappy about a lost election. It speaks to the nervousness about a would-be president who talks of being a dictator for a day, who vows to “root out” enemies he called “vermin,” who threatens to prosecute adversaries, who suggests a general he deems disloyal deserves “DEATH,” whose lawyers say he may have immunity even if he orders the assassination of political rivals.
“I feel like in the past two weeks that conversation for whatever reason has just surged,” said Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who became a vocal critic of the former president. “People are feeling that it’s very obvious if a second Trump terms happens, it’s going to be slash and burn.”
That’s all fine with Mr. Trump and his allies. In their view, Washington’s fear is the point. He is the disrupter of the elite. He is coming to break up their corrupt “uniparty” hold on power. If establishment Washington is upset about the possibility that he returns, that is a selling point to his base around the country that is alienated from the people in power.
Washington, of course, has never been fertile Trump territory. He won just 5 percent of the vote in the nation’s capital in 2020, and it is hardly surprising that the governing class is unsettled by attacks on “the deep state.” Even many Republicans in the capital are nervous about Mr. Trump. The District of Columbia has so far been the only place other than Vermont to support Nikki R. Haley over Mr. Trump in this year’s Republican primaries.
But Mr. Trump’s flirtation with authoritarian figures and languagehas raised the specter of a Washington vastly different even than during his first term, when he was at times restrained by establishment Republicans, military officers and career civil service officials who are less likely to surround him in a second. His rhetoric this time around has centered more than before on power and how he would increase it and use it if he won again….
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One person high on Mr. Trump’s enemies list said that getaway planning is a regular matter of discussion among those targeted over the years on the former president’s social media accounts. Another favorite Trump target said it is raised “over and over again,” particularly among spouses of those seen at risk. A European ambassador said it comes up at least twice a week with Washington figures joking about needing asylum….
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A former government official who angered Mr. Trump said it is not a trivial conversation or purely humor. While this person expressed optimism that American institutions would prevent major injustices, anyone targeted by Mr. Trump could still be made “miserable” by investigations, grand juries, lawyer fees and career-killing publicity….