Back on October 13, 2019 I speculated how Donald Trump might respond if he lost the 2020 election, and I updated it after the April 7, 2020 Wisconsin primary election and the effect of Covid-19.
Now, with the nation wide demonstrations (and attendant unrest) following the murder of George Floyd so close on the heals of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Donald Trump is threatening to send in US Military to quell the rioting and looting. This doesn't seem to distinguish that from the legitimate peaceful protests of the seemingly endless string of harassment, brutalizing, and murdering of Black folk, either by police or with law enforcement turning a blind eye, of which these two recent murders have become symbols.
My speculation turns from what I wrote back in October to speculate again whether this might lead to cancelling or postponing the election and some sort of emergency order to impose military rule across the country. After Donald Trump's speeches this week, I have asked myself if he really doesn't understand how inflammatory they were or if he is intentionally seeking to provoke unrest to justify some sort of emergency order to bypass the election. I am not sure which is more dangerous.
Again, as I wrote in October, I claim no prophetic gift, nor do I want to see any of this take place, but I am posting it to my writing workshop blog as a kind of reality check for the future. I will refrain from posting it in other social media. In fact, as much as I have tried to restrain myself in social media, yesterday I took a whole day off and returned this morning resolved not to engage in these meme battles that do not change people's minds but only deepen the divisions. As my contemplative encounters with the Bible suggest something that might help others on this path, I may share some of that. I need this peace to give priority to caring for my wife Candy with her Alzheimer's and her Dad who in still on lock down in his senior living residence and at 93 seems to be weakening by the day.
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