It’s been 4,154 days since Donald Trump came down that golden escalator in 2015 to announce he was running to be president of the United States of America. Looking back, I think it’s safe to say that none of us fully understood then all that was coming our way.  After the 2016 election, we k new that the world as we knew it then was going to change, but I don’t think any of us knew how much. None of us grasped at the time how much of ourselves and our society we would lose over the next decade; if we had, I gotta believe we would have done more to avoid ending up where we’ve ended up now, but I could be wrong.  More than anything—as a journalist and media pundit, as TRNN’s editor-in-chief, but also just as a person in the world—these last 10 years have taught me the hard way to be extremely humble when it comes to making predictions about our political future.  From Trump 1.0 to Trump 2.0; from Covid-19 to January 6; from the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza to the invasion of Venezuela; from the techno-fascists and (wannabe) trillionaire oligarchs taking everything over and shoving AI down our throats to the total, gangsterish dismantling of the administrative state and the rule of law in the USA; from ICE’s war of terror on the public to the US-Israeli war on Iran; anyone who tells you they saw all this coming is lying (to you and to themselves). And so is anyone who tells you they know exactly how things are going to shake out with this week’s midterm elections.  Making predictions about anything in such an unpredictable era, let alone trying to predict what will pop into Trump’s brain or spurt out of his mouth, is the currency of fools and gamblers. I am neither. But if I was, the one thing I’d bet all my money on this week is that Trump and all his emulators and diehard supporters are not just going to lie down and graciously accept any defeat the voting public and the Democrats may have in store for them. I don’t know and it’s not my job to predict exactly what the sum result of all these vital elections across the country will be when all is said and done. It is my job to observe and process and remember and report on the reality before us, as I have dutifully done for over a decade, as The Real News has done since its founding, and will continue to do. Having incorporated all that processed observation and all those stored memories into my understanding and assessment of the reality that we’re in now, it is my job and my civic duty to assure you that all will not be said and done when this week’s votes are tallied and verified and revealed (if they are all tallied and verified and revealed).  None of us know what Trump and his cabinet and Republicans across the country will do in response to the election results, but we do know to a certainty that the one thing Trump won’t do is willingly accept defeat or blame. Ever.  Because of everything we know about who he is and how he handles things, it seems pretty safe to say that, barring a clean sweep for Republicans in every single race everywhere, Trump, his cabinet, his political imitators, his most devoted followers, and his oligarch supporters pouring GDP-level money into races around the country are not just going to roll over and accept any results that are unfavorable to them. To be perfectly honest, I think it would be absurd and disastrously irresponsible for any of us to proceed under the illusion that any scenario other than this is likely to unfold. But that is ultimately my opinion, and that is why this is labeled an “opinion” article.  From the pulpit and from the toilet, Trump will say a lot of things this week. But everything this man has ever done and said, everything he has proven himself to be with his deeds, time and again, makes me certain that the one thing we won’t hear from Trump’s mouth this week (or any week) is, “I concede!”   “You got me. You beat The Donald. They got us, folks! The radical left Dumocrats beat us fair and square. The people have spoken. My unchecked reign of destruction and corruption and terror must come to an end. All good things come to an end. Lotta people say that, lotta people say it. I guess it’s true. But it’s time for democracy and fairness to be restored. And it’s time for all these beautiful, duly elected legislators to do their jobs and enforce the will of the people. We must respect the vote, folks. Oh, we must respect it. So beautiful.”  These are the kind of things you will obviously never hear Donald Trump say. Ever. And it’s very important that you and I and all of us understand that. Now, more than ever, and to prepare us for whatever comes next, it’s vital to know this about him—and to never forget it. Why is the thought of hearing these words coming from Trump’s mouth, or anything in this vein, so manifestly and brain-breakingly ridiculous to you, me, or any sane, conscious person? Because it is antithetical to everything he is. It sums up the opposite of everything that has ever worked for him in his insatiable crusade to attain more power and more wealth and to outrun the truth, the law, and any justice or accountability that he has coming. We don’t know what he will do, but we know what he absolutely won’t do. And we know that he is capable of doing or saying anything he needs to—literally anything—to avoid a reckoning, even starting another war, invading another country and kidnapping another world leader, or using the might of the federal government to reject the will of the voters. All those things seem to be demonstrably possible and on the table with this man and with the people following and emulating him.  It’s terrifying to accept and understand this, but we must, and we can. Because there is a lot of power in understanding this about them, too. There is power in understanding that the democratic dreams our ancestors fought and died for, all those good lessons we learned in school about what good government should be and what dreams may come true when regular people stand up and fight for what’s good and right, everything we teach our kids to ensure they grow up to be good, kind, responsible adults—all of that is and represents the polar opposite of Trump and Trumpian politics. That is the not-so-secret source of the dark power and chaos that has led to so much success for him: desecrate the sacred, trample on it, exploit it for all it’s worth; violate the inviolable, do the unthinkable; and never, ever, ever accept defeat or blame or accountability. That dark power has served Trump well, and other local politicians and world leaders like him are drawing from it and finding violent success in unleashing it on other parts of the world, and on the world writ large. They have shown and are showing that they will consume the world if we let them. That much is clear. But so is the necessary response: Don’t let them.  I’m a journalist, we’re a nonprofit news organization: it is not my job or anyone’s job at TRNN to tell you how to vote. But it is my civic responsibility to urge you to vote, whoever and whatever you choose to vote for; exercise and defend your democratic rights, which our ancestors dreamed of and fought for and died for. Please, fulfill your civic duty to them, to our children, and to each other. And then be prepared, and help others be prepared, for whatever sound and fury comes next. It will be choppy, it will be scary at times, but we will get through it together. I believe in you and I believe in us. ...read more read less