How close did we come to a military dictatorship?

The question is, how close did we come to a military take-over last week? It is something that historians are going to debate for years to come.

What we know for certain is that Trump wanted very badly to use active service military personnel to sweep the streets of “rioters” (and peaceful protestors) when the demonstrations against alleged police brutality got heated in late May and early June.

But there’s the rub.  What else did he want? There is a possibility that he wanted a great many more things to happen...like, the military occupation of American cities and potentially the end of democracy in the country. It is a stretch, of course, but not out of the question. You could see it happening. Trump, Barr, and their enablers ...like Tom Cotton, whose infamous oped more or less openly called for shooting people in the streets...decided that hope of a GOP victory in 2020 was visibly diminishing with every passing hour.

So why not just do away elections entirely?

And everything was primed and ready to go when, alas, the military (using its retired commanders as spokespeople) quietly declined to be part of the project...and thus saved American democracy for a little while longer, anyway.

Is this real? Well, obviously, there’s no way to know. At the moment, this is nothing but fiction. But, given the people involved, you have to think...well...you know...it could have happened like that. And, as I say, I’m guessing historians will be debating it for years to come.

But one thing is certain. If we want to make certain this story stays completely fiction, we need to vote Trump out of office. And keep him out.

Go Blue in 2020. The nation you save will be your own.

About me: I’m a writer and former journalist who has published material on everything from computers to the Jazz Age. (Among my small claims to fame is that I interviewed Steve Jobs just after that talented if complicated man got kicked out of Apple, and just before the company’s Board came begging him to come back.)

Please check out my new book, Padre: To The Island, a meditation on mortality, grief, and joy, based on the lives and deaths of two of the most amazing and unconventional people I ever met, my mother and father.

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