Current and former Trump administration officials reportedly fear what might happen on Nov. 4 — the day after the presidential election.
Investigative journalist Ron Suskind, in an opinion piece posted by The New York Times on Friday, raised the possibility of President Donald Trump touching off chaos after the election if he loses. Suskind said his column was based on interviews with two dozen officials and aides, "several of whom are still serving in the Trump administration."
The officials are concerned about scenarios ranging from Trump "welcoming, then leveraging, foreign interference in the election, to encouraging havoc that grows into conflagrations that would merit his calling upon U.S. forces," Suskind said.
"Because he is now surrounded by loyalists, they say, there is no one to try to tell an impulsive man what he should or shouldn't do," he noted.
"Key officials in several parts of the government told me how they thought the progression from [Nov.] 3rd to the 4th might go down.
"They are loath to give up too many precise details, but it's not hard to speculate from what we already know."
He maintained "disruption would most likely begin on Election Day."
"It could be anything, maybe violent, maybe not, started by anyone, or something planned and executed by any number of organizations, almost all of them on the right fringe, many adoring of Mr. Trump," Suskind said.
"Conservative media could then say the election was being stolen, summoning others to activate, maybe violently."
He said Trump could then claim in-person voting had been corrupted and say his victory was hijacked.
"If the streets then fill with outraged people, he can easily summon, or prompt, or encourage troublemakers among his loyalists to turn a peaceful crowd into a sea of mayhem," he said. "They might improvise on their own in sparking violence, presuming it pleases their leader."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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