Be warned: Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won

Be warned, the only thing worse for the United States in the short term than a Trump victory will be a resounding Trump defeat. After Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington was quoted as saying “Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won.”

So Trump has declared that negotiations for a second Covid-19 stimulus package are over until he “wins the election”.  This should not be confused for anything other than what it is; the beginning of the Scorched Earth policy that will be implemented to the fullest if/when Trump loses the election.

Defeat is looming, and he knows it. He feels the rejection of the people, who are supposed to love him and all he has done for them. He knows that he will face accusations in multiple courts if he loses, and that the Republican Party will turn on him when he no longer has adequate leverage over individual senators and congressmen. He fears jail, he fears impoverishment. But mostly he fears exposure. That is why he was happy to pay $130,000 to a porn star to keep a fleeting affair secret. That is why he has stopped every attempt at the exposure of his tax records. He fears exposure and the destruction of the myth of the all-wonderful and all-powerful Trump.

And most of all he fears rejection.

And losing the vote will be the ultimate rejection. And they will pay for that rejection. Since he proved that he was quite capable of imposing horrible retribution on his closest family (his brother), no one should be in any doubt that he will impose even greater retribution on the entire country that rejects him.  On the morning of April 22, 1945, Hitler is supposed to have said "Everyone has lied to me, everyone has deceived me… the SS has left me in the lurch. The German people have not fought heroically. It deserves to perish… it is not I who have lost the war, but the German people."

I expect that exactly the same delusional thinking is going through Trump’s head right now, and that he will take as much of the United States with him when he goes. 

Halting the negotiations on a stimulus package may seem like just another negotiating tactic; it is not. This is his announcement that there are two choices; Trump, or destruction of Amerika. And he will carry through on that threat.

First, he will attempt to invalidate the election process (ongoing), then he will attempt to invalidate the election results (see the Atlantic and others), and finally, he will take down the country and leave a smouldering ruin for his successor.

So what does Scorched Earth look like between November and January?

The following is speculation of course, but I would not be surprised to see some or all of the following, but not in this or in any particular order.

1. Complete withdrawal from all negotiations with Democrats on any topics.
2. Refusal to allow any administration officials to participate in any transition meetings or planning.
3. All bills will be vetoed, regardless of content, either by a direct and explicit veto or by letting them sit on his desk long enough to the automatic veto to occur.
4. He will fire the head of the CDC and the FDA, for failing to bring a vaccine to market early enough to save him.
5. Ordering the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from any foreign bases and a “Home by Christmas” order.
6. Firing any and all generals who refuse, or who are seen as dragging their feet. Quite possibly firing hundreds of generals and senior officers as it becomes clear that the orders will not be fully implemented.
7. Notice to withdraw from NATO.
8. Executive Orders banning all Asians, Muslims and others from entering the United States (even though these will fail in the courts, the objective will be punishment, not implementation).
9. Cutting off all federal funds for all “Blue” cities immediately.
10. Closing all federal offices in “Blue” cities, except for “police” who will be tasked with…
11. …imposing close to martial law on “Blue” cities, including federalising the National Guard and putting them on the streets.
12. Fire much of the cabinet, with the objective of further slowing and collapsing the economy, and in retribution for a lack of adequate outward adulation.
13. Imposing immediate 100% tariffs on all imports, regardless of source (why? To destroy the stock market and economy, leaving a ruin for the new administration).
14. Firing hundreds if not thousands of federal civil servants who are identified as disloyal, either by having been accused of not being adequately compliant, or who are actively attempting to enact a peaceful transfer.
15. A war somewhere? A unilateral strike on China in the South China Sea? The only thing we can be certain of is that there will be no war with any country in which Trump has business interests, because
16. The flow of Presidential Pardons will be fast and furious, focusing first on his family, then on those who directly support his businesses. He will assert an ability to pardon for state crimes, though these pardons will fail in lower courts in 2021.
17. The only pardon he will hold back until the 20th of January will be Melania’s pardon, to make sure that she does not abandon him (which will happen in early February).

The list goes on. If it is possible, it will be on his list. He will not care about the economy, after all, the country rejected him, and especially New York and the markets will have rejected him, and that will make it personal. 

He has been compared with Hitler too often, and in most ways the comparison is completely wrong. He never served, and never held his Volk, his People, or his Nation to be anything greater than himself. He has never had a higher cause, and while Hitler may well be the very image of evil, Hitler did have a cause, however much the cause and the man were conjoined.

Trump is Trump, alone and only. And those that have sold their soul to Trump will find the bill coming due. Will they revert and put “Country first”, or will they believe that by staying loyal they will be able to seize the reins of the Trumpist “movement” and somehow command the loyalty of the Trumpist cult? Some certainly will take that route, and they will, perhaps, survive the culling that he will make even of those closest to him. 

Will those still around him be willing to stand up to him in those last days? I very much doubt it.

There will be senators who will have lost their seats and will be looking for some redemption in the history books. They might, but only might stand up to him. That of course will make things even worse, as they will only have proven themselves to be treasonous and disloyal. 

However this ends, it does not look good from here. There will be years of rebuilding ahead. The economy will be a shambles, and the incoming government will spend its first two years getting that back on course, all the while fighting against the Trumpist "Dead-enders".

The myth of the "Stab in the Back" will persist for years, and will be stoked by those who want to claim his mantle.