expect AR-15-toting “community activists” to be doing in the meantime? Or, how will they react if President Trump wins again in November, or whenever the results are finally tallied? The violence is only going to escalate... So, to quote a revolutionary, if we are facing a nascent insurgency for the first time since the Civil War, “What is to be done?” All insurgencies fall or rise based on a handful of factors. For a full analysis of what we have learned from the 20th century’s violent history of irregular warfare, read the standard work we authored at the National Defense University for the officers we trained there after 9/11. But for the purposes of this piece, here’s the key... Insurgents win when a majority of the population sides with them (out of fear or admiration), the government is incapable of fighting them, or simply lacks the will to win. For decades in Colombia, the rural population feared the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces (“FARC”) more than the central government and was incapable of fighting back effectively (until U.S. troops helped train them). In Vietnam, we were winning on multiple fronts until Walter Cronkite helped convince Americans back home that we weren’t. What will happen in America in two months’ time? There are only two likely scenarios... In the first, the silent majority has grown so large (to include a sizable portion of Black America) that President Trump wins by a landslide... which cannot be challenged since the votes left to be tallied would make no meaningful difference to his Electoral College success.
The other likely scenario, especially after President Trump is narrowing the gap, is a neck-and-neck finale that will lead to weeks (if not months) of uncertainty, legal challenges, and increased violence. At that point, we are in unchartered territory... As Professor Victor David Hanson recently talked about on my radio show, given the recent statements by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and prominent retired generals, the Commander in Chief may not be able to trust his own military leaders. The most important thing all Americans can do now is to insist on voting in person, COVID-19 or no COVID-19. (If you can go to the grocery store, you can vote in person.) And be vigilant with encouraging everyone you know to go vote... For one of the most precious things we have as a nation is the tradition of a peaceful transition of power which is respected by the losing side. Antifa and BLM will predictably be in opposition to that sacred tradition. Let’s make sure the perpetrators of the last three months of violence are not given further “reason” to kill, maim, and loot in the name of “justice.” Sebastian Gorka PhD was strategist to the president of the United States, is host of America First on the Salem Radio network, and is a presidential appointee to the Department of Defense’s National Security Education Board. His latest book is The War for America’s Soul . Follow him at @SebGorka.
American Consequences
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