OPINION:
Everything is at stake now. That may seem apocalyptic, but it isn’t, really. At least it isn’t if you think becoming a one-party state like, say, Venezuela would be a disaster — and about as un-American as it gets.
We’ve been part way down the one-party state road for a long time: The administrative state is a permanent body, nowhere sanctioned in the U.S. Constitution, that wields awesome power over the citizens, partly because Congress is often too irresponsible (or just lazy) to exercise the authority the Constitution vests in it.
And we’re part way down that road now because the Democrats have turned sharp left in the last few years. Joe Biden (egged on no doubt by Kamala Harris) will be anti-oil and anti-coal. And both seem determined to take away the citizens’ guns.
Side note: They are only going to outlaw — it’s called “buy-back,” but it’s mandatory — “assault weapons.” But an assault weapon is not only a bazooka or an RPG (a shoulder-fired rocket propelled grenade). It’s any gun that is semi-automatic, which is to say, most of them. The vast majority of guns in private hands (the number is estimated to be about 393 million) are semi-automatic weapons (think James Bond’s Walther PPK).
About 40% of Americans own guns or live with someone who does. In the progressive woke state, citizens will be allowed to have only single-shot weapons: after you fire one shot, you have to reload. For a while, it is likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will block the Biden–Harris anti-gun plan. But for how long?
Public education will deteriorate, especially for Blacks, whom the Democrats will not allow to go to charter schools and similar alternatives. Why would they do that? Because the less educated Blacks are, the harder it is for them to get jobs; the harder it is for them to get jobs, the more the Democrats can blame the rest of America (yes, those deplorables) for racial discrimination.
Voting will increasingly be by mail because mailed-in ballots are easier to manipulate. About 40% of all Americans think the 2020 election was stolen. How do you manage a country with that kind of mistrust? The answer is by force — after you have disarmed the populace.
Donald Trump was an unlikely winner of the 2016 election. And his administration obviously shook the formerly liberal but now woke-progressive establishment to its core. They had to win in 2020 — at all costs. And they did. And now almost half the country distrusts them.
The question for Mr. Trump is, what to do next? Overturning the results of the election via the courts seems increasingly unlikely. Mr. Trump has to “move on.” But what does that mean?
He should position himself for a rerun in 2024. But that means playing, also, to the people who didn’t vote for him this time because of his often over-the-top tweets and comments. He can’t, and shouldn’t, stop being Donald Trump. But he has to be a more calculating Donald Trump.
He is still the president, and he should take bold steps to make the country as much a constitutional democracy as he can. One way would be by firing a thousand civil “servants” who manage the undemocratic administrative state. Every small business in the country will rejoice.
He should stonewall on all transition activity, reversing his recent decision. The Democrats were relentless in sabotaging his administration, before he was inaugurated and all during his four years. He owes them nothing. But he does owe the country every effort he can make to minimize the damage Biden et al will do to the country. Anyone who crosses him during the transition period should be fired immediately.
When the Electoral College declares Mr. Biden the winner, Mr. Trump should tell the American people that it was a stolen election, but that he has no choice but to leave office. And he should announce that he will be a candidate in 2024. That will give his supporters hope.
Should he go to the inauguration with Mr. Biden in the same car, as is traditional? What would they talk about? Mr. Trump could grill Mr. Biden on his Chinese connections. He should make it the single most unpleasant ride Mr. Biden has ever taken.
And he should campaign vigorously for the Republican candidates in Georgia. Hold huge rallies. Bury the Democrats.
Because it’s really not about Donald Trump. It’s about America: What kind of a country we want to be.
After four years of Biden–Harris, a lot of people are going to be ready for Mr. Trump again, and for the same reasons they were in 2016. In 2024, they’ll want to make America great again.
Mr. Trump should start courting them now, with a special eye on those who, perhaps reluctantly, didn’t vote for him this time.
There’s a lot at stake. Everything.
• Daniel Oliver is chairman of the board of the Education and Research Institute and a director of Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in San Francisco. Email Daniel Oliver at Daniel.Oliver@TheCandidAmerican.com.
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