The Most Chilling Thing Michael Cohen Said About Donald Trump

Today, President Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress about his decade or more of dealing with Trump.  Cohen's testimony indicated Trump may have suborned perjury, violated campaign finance laws, conspired with Russians to undermine the Presidential election of 2016 and even possibly violated the draft laws of the 1960s in order to avoid service in the Vietnam War (which would have been a crime).  All of these could be serious offenses, although the draft violation, if there were one, would no longer be prosecuted today. 

But the most chilling thing that Cohen said was, "Given my experience working for President Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power."  See https://www.thedailybeast.com/cohen-if-trump-loses-in-2020-i-fear-there-will-never-be-a-peaceful-transition-of-power?ref=home.  It's one thing to have a criminal in the White House.  That, although very, very bad, has by all accounts happened before and America survived the experience.  But a felonious dictator is far worse.  America established the tradition for modern democracies, with the key element that elected officials step down when their terms are over.  Indeed, this is what most distinguishes America from the monarchies that preceded it.  The first President, George Washington, could easily have been crowned monarch of the United States had he wanted it.  But he did America perhaps his greatest service by stepping down at the end of his second term and retiring quietly to Mount Vernon.  That, more than anything, is the bedrock of democracy that makes America great.

Would Trump attempt a coup d'etat if he lost the 2020 election?  Michael Cohen, as Trump's personal attorney for about a decade, knows Trump better than almost anyone.  Having already pled guilty to perjury before Congress in 2017, he has little reason now to lie, as he knows the cost of perjury.  And Trump's well-publicized affinity for despots (think Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, and the rulers of Saudi Arabia) ominously buttresses Cohen's assertion.  There is no procedure written into the Constitution for fending off a tyrant (who by definition would refuse to honor an impeachment proceeding).  Neither Congress nor the federal courts have the means to remove an autocrat who might flaunt the law in order to stay in power.  But Americans have dealt with tyrants before.  These were ordinary Americans, many of whom assembled quietly in the early hours of April 19, 1775 in Lexington and Concord to await the tyrant's redcoated soldiers.  And these farmers, tradesmen and other civilians were victorious.  In America, right makes might.  While we can hope that if Donald Trump tries unlawfully to seize power we don't need to take up musket, powder and shot, we must remember that the greatest defense against oppression and subjugation is the righteousness of a democratic citizenry.