Jenna Ellis
You might expect a story about the 2020 presidential election to break out of Washington, D.C., or New York City. But a story about Donald Trump's post-election plans in 2020 originated in, of all places, Alabama. For that, we can thank Donald Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney who has become a leading voice in online investigative journalism. For good measure, Watkins' story about Trump's plans after his defeat at the ballot box in 2020 dovetails with perhaps the biggest political story in today's news cycle.
Watkins explains in a post under the headline "Jenna Ellis Confirms Our Sept. 2020 Report: Trump Planned to Stay in White House if He Lost Election":
On September 27, 2020, we were the only news organization to report that Donald Trump did not plan to leave office if he lost the November 3, 2020, presidential election. In my article, “The Plan is Set: Trump’s Not Leaving Office,” we explained why.
This week, it was revealed that Jenna Ellis, a former Trump lawyer and co-defendant in the Georgia election RICO case, told state prosecutors that Trump was not going to leave the White House, despite the fact that he had lost the election and nearly all of his subsequent election challenges had failed. Trump had decided to stay in power by any and all means necessary.
Watkins has a history of making accurate predictions about Trump. He writes:
On August 2, 2015, I became the first American journalist to publicly predict Trump's 2016 election victory. My prediction was made a mere three weeks after Trump announced his candidacy. This prediction became true in November 2016.
On March 20, 2020, I predicted Trump's defeat in 2020, which was caused by Trump's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This prediction became true in November 2020. There was never any "outcome-determinative" election fraud, as claimed by Trump.
On July 11, 2023, I predicted that Donald Trump would become the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, and that he will win the presidency. This prediction is on track to becoming true, despite Trump’s four indictments and 91 criminal charges.
Trump's election victory in 2024, coupled with the power of the U.S. presidency, will keep him from going to prison
I am a friend and admirer of Donald Watkins -- and I think he's one of the smartest people I have ever come across, especially on the subjects of law and history. But I pray to God he is wrong about Trump winning the presidency and managing to stay out of prison. We have four painful years of evidence that Trump is a horrible president -- and a second term is likely to be far worse than the first. Trump has neither the intellect nor the temperament to be president; in fact, I think he has zero interest in doing the work required of a president. I agree with Watkins that Trump only wants a return to the White House as a means of helping him stay out of prison. I see no sign that he has any interest in serving the public; he only wants what is good for him, which is standard behavior for a malignant narcissist and a sociopath -- and Trump probably is both, a combination of psychological disturbances that can be very dangerous to others, not to mention an entire country.
To be clear, I believe evidence is overwhelming that Trump has committed crimes that merit prison time. Holding him criminally accountable would be best for our country -- and it might even do Trump some good. But if he somehow manages to avoid prison -- perhaps by dropping out of the race or becoming somehow disqualified or unable to serve-- I'm fine with that. The main goal, in my view, is that he never again comes close to the Oval Office. We were lucky to survive the first four years of a Trump White House. I'm not at all sure our country and our democracy (as we know it) can survive a second Trump term.
For one thing, Trump has made it clear that a second term would be all about revenge -- against those he believes have wronged him and somehow offend his sensibilities, even if he has to go outside the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law to achieve it. Focusing full-time on retribution suggests Trump has no intention of providing any kind of presidential leadership -- and it's not clear that he even is capable of providing any. But our country might not be able to handle four more years of having an oversized donut hole in the White House.
What does Donald Watkins see in the future for Trump? Watkins foresees a relatively rosy future for Trump, which means a likely train wreck for our country. Writes Watkins:
So that we are clear, I do not support Donald Trump or Joe Biden for president in 2024. Both men are deeply flawed.
Trump’s flaws are described for 73 pages (59 to 132) in a Form S-4 that was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 13, 2023, by a publicly traded company that seeks to acquire Trump’s financially distressed Truth Social digital media company. The flaws documented on Donald Trump in the Form S-4 are precisely defined, factual in nature, and plain awful.
National polls by credible media organizations confirm that the American public has lost confidence in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I have, too. In my view, Joe Biden is the weakest American president since Herbert Hoover. Plus, Biden is old, feeble, and senile. That's the cold, hard, truth.
Barring divine intervention from God, Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States. Trump will go down in history as the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
I admire Watkins' history of making accurate predictions about Trump, but I pray he is off target on the key points raised here.
Watkins' own words sum up the difference between the two likely candidates for the American presidency in 2024. Trump, Watkins states, accurately, is "plain awful."
I agree that Biden, at 80 (the same age he will be on election day), is old. But Trump, at 77, is not far behind him, and he will be 78 on election day. Ronald Reagan was 77 at the end of his second term, and conservatives did not seem to have a problem with that.
I disagree that Biden has been a weak president. He inherited a country that was weakened by the coronavirus pandemic, which Watkins acknowledges Trump mishandled. Biden also inherited an economy that was cratering, again, a "gift" from Trump, and he has it back on solid footing -- with low unemployment, high wages and job growth, consumer spending on an upswing, with signs that inflation if coming down.
As for Biden being feeble and senile, I've yet to read about any medical document or diagnosis that confirms that. And Biden certainly appears to be more physically fit than Trump.
Trump has made no secret that he is marching the United States toward authoritarian rule -- quaint notions like due process, equal protection, the rule of law, and civil rights be damned. Watkins spells out the stark reality:
After he assumes office in January of 2025, Trump is will likely mete out severe political punishment to: (a) participants in the January 6th Congressional Committee hearings, (b) DOJ criminal prosecution team members, (c) New York state criminal prosecution team members, and (d) Georgia criminal prosecution team members. Trump's ruthlessness in this regard will match that of his presidential role models -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, China President Xi Pinping, and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Trump will likely pardon all of the defendants who were convicted of crimes arising from their organization of and participation in the January 6th insurrection.
Finally, Donald Trump’s margin of victory over Biden will be the greatest landslide since Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale in 1984.
I agree with Watkins that the 2024 presidential election should end in an landslide. But the winner should be Joe Biden, with Trump, again, the loser. If Americans want to find out what life is like under a dictatorship, Donald Trump is hell-bent on helping them find out. If Americans cherish the country we've had for most of our lifetimes, Joe Biden will be the runaway winner. It's really as simple as that.
