A Call to Arms?

Elijah Cummings final remarks were blood-stirring patriotic.

Michael Cohen's final remarks could be blood-freezing if you take seriously his prediction that Trump will not relinquish the presidency if he loses the 2020 election. Or, one assumes, if he is successfully impeached and even if he is criminally indicted (the dictum that a sitting president cannot be indicted rests on two flimsy Justice Department memos that were never meant to be precedents).

A counterbalance to this scenario is one that has Trump voluntarily resigning his office to protect himself and his family from prosecution. It is a Nixon deal that few think he would make, though. He doesn't even possess the flickering vestige of respect for the rule of law that Nixon showed in his ultimate surrender to the forces of justice.

So what could happen if Trump won't leave? Would he declare martial law and try to orchestrate a military coup as commander in chief? Possibly, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff and its commander, Marine General Joe Dunford, would hopefully either legally or by other means stall until noon on January

20, 2021, when military allegiance to Trump would cease. 

Too, you just don't up and stage a military coup. It takes discipline, planning, security, and vision, all of which are totally absent in the current White House. You can't stage a coup when leaking has become an art form.  

Again, if Trump is found guilty by the Senate in an impeachment trial, he is no longer president, and could legally be removed from the White House by whatever means necessary, including force.

And if a defeated or impeached Trump calls for his followers to rally on Washington to support him by use of arms if necessary, what would happen in such a worst case scenario?

Realistically, even the most militant Trump supporters couldn't organize an attack on the nation's capital , yet alone an armed revolution. While they might not have the means to do that, they could well become a guerrilla force until they are tracked down, neutralized, and imprisoned. 

Also, most local police departments are now basically paramilitary forces, equipped with heavy duty surplus military equipment and the training to use it. Any rogue forces wouldn't have the firepower and tactics needed to win any confrontations.

Which brings us to armed militias, which are have grown alarmingly in the past decade. Would these groups rally to a call from Trump? Probably not, for a few reasons. First, these militias are primarily defensive in nature, formed to protect their members from what they see as the invasion of their 

land and ideals by a hostile government, including Trump. To them, one government is as bad as the next. 

Individually, even the largest of the armed militias would be no match for government forces. The fiery specter of Waco and the incineration of the  Symbionese Liberation Army should be grim reminders to any potential aggression by militia units.

So when Trump's time is up, one way or another, he's gone.

Let's hope it's sooner than later.