Thread by @blankslate2017

Per @IgnatiusPost, Trump may be planning to use MAGA groups to instigate violence on 1/6 as a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act to mobilize the military. washingtonpost.com/opinions/until…

Trump would then use this form of 'martial law' to implement the idea suggested by Michael Flynn where Trump “could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election.”

The implication here is that Trump would look for a thinly veiled pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act (think Gulf of Tonkin resolution which paved the way for the US to enter Vietnam), and rely on executive power to withstand SCOTUS scrutiny.

As we know from the Travel Ban decision, the SCOTUS majority will bend over backwards to defer to the POTUS on 'nat'l security' matters (ok...for GOP POTUSes only) no matter how flimsy the basis.

What's also implied here is that the military would not disobey a direct order from Trump if it's couched in some facially acceptable legal authority (no matter the bad faith and flimsiness involved).

Ignatius' piece implies that Trump replacing FBI Director Wray with hack Kash Patel may be a piece of the operational coup puzzle. There's also the prospect of foreign threats (e.g., Iran) being manipulated by Trump to avoid exiting office.

The fact remains that @realDonaldTrump remains hard at work plotting a coup to stay in power. He is looking at multiple paths and will keep trying until he finds something that works or until he is definitively stopped.

If @FBI Dir. Wray wants to save the country & his job, the simplest thing is to announce that the FBI is looking into threats to subvert the election results to plot a 'coup' to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to Biden. Flynn can be an initial person of interest.

The FBI acting now to investigate the attempts to subvert the election would stop in its track any Trump attempt to instigate violence or other disruptions that could be used as a pretext to seize power by way of military force.

If Wray continues to ignore the very real threat that Trump represents to the nation, he will likely be fired, Kash Patel or some other crony will step in, and we will have yet another escalation point in this 4 year long constitutional crisis.