‘I’m Declaring Martial Law’
Magical Thinking Rules Among the Trump Faithful. While Martial Law Is Unlikely, We Would Be Foolish To Ignore the Threat Posed By the True Believers.
Psychology defines magical thinking as the belief that you can alter reality using your thoughts or beliefs, that you can think your way to the reality you want. This seems nicely to sum up how many Trump supporters hank these days about the presidential election results.
In the immediate wake of the election, we witnessed what I’ll call the “fraud theme,” an argument that mixed together assertions of direct and broad based fraud in the counting of ballots, the assumption that there were “illegal votes” and votes cast by “illegal voters,” and that the only way Joe Biden could have won was by rigging the election. Trump, himself, created this mindset early, making claims of fraud in the spring and summer, which seeded the terrain for his more delusional supporters to bang the fraud drum.
They demanded recounts that, ultimately, reinforced the results rather than overturning them — even in Republican-controlled states like Georgia. That led to accusations that — to describe the. With a bit of hyperbole — the state’s Republican institutions were in the hands of dis,oral sleeper agents. In this case, an unprovable charge that plays to the deep paranoia engendered by Trump among many of his fans.
Once the recounts failed, the Trump and his believers moved the goalposts, heading to court, convinced that judges — many appointed by Trump — would make things right. Trump lost every single suit, with many judges castigating Trump’s unhinged legal team for even bringing suit. One went so far as to accuse Trump and his legal team of magical thinking.
Federal judge Stephanos Bibas pulled no punches when he issued a scathing opinion last Saturday rejecting the Trump campaign’s latest attempt to overturn the outcome of the November 3 presidential election.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,” federal judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote in one ruling. “Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
Despite there being no “there there,” the president and his supporters have kept pushing, with a new target date assumed for when the people would be heeded and the republic saved — i.e., the Dec. 14 vote by the Electoral College. This, the true believers said, was the constitutional requirement, and the EC would save Trump by demonstrating that the fraud had infected the recounts. They believed the Electoral College would support their arguments and save Trump, and that their belief (absent any verifiable facts) would magically create the result they desired.
When that did not happen, they took it as confirmation of the fraud they believe responsible for Trump’s loss. “There was fraud,” they will argue. “Trump won, and there is nothing you can say to make me think otherwise.” Arguing this is like arguing the existence of god with a true believer — you can’t disprove their arguments, which are based on faith and faith alone. This is fine in the religious realm, but dangerous in the political one.
We’re now being asked to wait again on another deadline, another goal post moved. Jan. 6 is the date. That is when Congress will intervene. That is when the righteous will overturn the corrupt and grant Trump the four years they know he earned. On Jan. 6, Congress will meet to certify the Electoral College results. There is no reason to think they will overturn Biden’s win, but that is what the Trump True Believers expect. Congress will reinstall Trump to his rightful place atop the American government, dashing the hopes of the deceitful and disreputable.
Congress is not going to do this, of course, and once Congress certifies the election, the magical thinkers will need a new point of attack. I would like to think they will finally accept the results, that Biden can be sworn in. This does not mean they should go away, or that they would not be right in protesting Biden’s appointments, his policies, and so on. That is their right and I would encourage that.
What worries me, however, is that we already are hearing from those close to Trump that other efforts should be pursued. Michael Flynn, the president’s former and disgraced National Security Adviser, has called on Trump to declare martial law, and while Trump has publicly distanced himself from the suggestion, it has been reported that he at least asked about it during a White House meeting.
I don’t think Trump would attempt to usurp power by declaring such an emergency, nor do I think that the military would buy in — though, I can’t be sure on either count. I don’t want to be alarmist, but 73 million people voted for Trump — more than any other presidential candidate in the history of the United States other than Joe Biden. Many are true believers. Some might be willing to engage in violence on Trump’s behalf. I don’t think we are there, but I am less confident that we could never get there than I have ever been.
Our common reality has been fractured. A large portion of the public has abandoned it, has yoked its wagon to magical thinking and the charlatan who has occupied the White House for the last four years.