Michael Snyder | Economics Collapse Blog
Donald Trump is not the president yet, and Barack Obama could still do an extraordinary amount of damage during his last two months in the White House. Prior to the election, I described the period of time ending on January 20th as “the danger zone”, and my outlook has not changed just because Donald Trump was victorious on election night.
As you will see, the next two months are an absolutely critical time, and if we can get through January 20th without something major happening perhaps we can breathe a little bit easier (at least for a while). On the other hand, the events of the next two months could easily plunge this country into a period of unprecedented chaos. A lot of people are feeling really good about things right now because of Trump’s victory, but now is definitely not a time to relax and let down our guard.
And the truth is that Donald Trump has not even won the presidency yet. As I detailed shortly before election night, the next president will not be determined until December 19th when the Electoral College meets.
On Monday, December 19th the members of the Electoral College will gather in all 50 state capitals to cast their votes for president. It is then, and only then, that the next president of the United States will be elected.
Throughout our history, electors have followed the will of the people more than 99 perfect of the time, but there have been “faithless electors” before, and if Democrats can get enough of them to switch sides in December it is still possible (though not probable) that Hillary Clinton could win the election.
One petition that is asking electors to switch their votes has already been signed by more than 4 million people. The petition claims that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve” as president, and that since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a wide margin she should be elected president instead. The following comes from a USA Today article entitled “Could the Electoral College elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump?“…
A Change.org petition, now signed by more than 4.3 million people, encourages members of the Electoral College to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton when the college meets on Dec. 19. The petition argues that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve” and that “Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.”
“If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win,” the petition states. “However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay! We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton.”
Personally, I don’t believe that this is going to happen. They may be able to flip a few electors, but the gap in electoral votes is almost certainly too wide for the Democrats to overcome.
However, that is not the only concern we are facing. Ever since his victory on November 8th, there have been a multitude of violent threats against Donald Trump and his family. And without a doubt, there are a lot of very powerful people that would be very interested in finding a way to keep Donald Trump from getting to Inauguration Day. So let us pray for his safety and for the safety of his family.
If Donald Trump were to be incapacitated after he wins the Electoral College vote on December 19th, Mike Pence would take his place.
But if something were to happen to him before December 19th, his electors would be free to vote for another candidate – including Hillary Clinton.
If everything goes smoothly and Donald Trump successfully makes it to Inauguration Day, he could be facing one of the biggest political protests in United States history.
In an article for The Most Important News, I showed that the far left is calling for thousands upon thousands of protesters to descend upon Washington D.C. on January 20th in order to disrupt the Inauguration festivities as much as possible.
This giant protest is being organized by the usual suspects, and they have already put up Facebook pages, websites, and the hashtag “#DisruptJ20″ is being widely used all over social media.
Traditionally Inauguration Day is a day of joy and celebration, but the far left seems intent on transforming it into a massive riot.
Let us hope that they are not successful.
Another reason why we will be in “the danger zone” over the next two months is because of what Barack Obama may choose to do at the United Nations.
Now that it looks like Donald Trump is going to be our next president, the international pressure on Barack Obama to do something at the United Nations regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the end of his term has become even more intense.
And this is something that Trump and his advisers are actively concerned about. In fact, I came across an article earlier today that discussed the fact that the Trump team is warning Obama “against making moves on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his last months in office”…
Saying that pushing agendas “contrary to the president-elect’s position” would not be in the “spirit of the transition”, Trump national security advisor for Donald Trump last week warned the Obama administration against making moves on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his last months in office.
“On big, transformative issues where President Obama and President-elect Trump are not in alignment, I don’t think it’s in keeping with the spirit of the transition…to try to push through agenda items that are contrary to the president-elect’s positions,” the advisor told Politico.
Specifically, the concern is that Obama may decide to support a UN Security Council resolution that would officially recognize a Palestinian state, set the parameters for a “two state solution”, and establish East Jerusalem as the capital for the new Palestinian state.
Just a few weeks ago, an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Obama’s Israel Surprise?” reported that this is one of the options that the Obama administration is strongly considering right now. A UN Security Council resolution would be legally binding on both Israel and the Palestinians, and it would be something that President Trump would not be able to undo.
The rest of the UN Security Council is eager to support such a resolution, and so the decision about whether this resolution is going to happen or not sits in the hands of Barack Obama, and at this moment we do not know what he is going to do. The following comes from an article by Leo Hohmann…
The Wall Street Journal reported one week before Tuesday’s election that Obama had requested his aides provide him with a list of options to deal with the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli diplomats, according to the WSJ story, are preparing for the possibility that a lame-duck President Obama “may try to force a diplomatic resolution for Israel and the Palestinians at the United Nations.”
The president is presumably now reviewing those options, which number about half a dozen.
He may be preparing to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. before he leaves office, WSJ reported.
If Barack Obama decides to divide the land of Israel at the United Nations, it will be the worst decision of his entire presidency. I have warned repeatedly that all hell will break loose in America if it happens, and it will also mean that many of the events that I warn about in my latest book are much closer than many had been anticipating.
But if we can get to January 20th and the land of Israel has not been divided yet, we may be able to rest easy for at least a little while, because Trump has already said that he would not support a UN Security Council resolution that forces a solution on the Israelis and Palestinians.
When politicians are going to do something that they know people won’t like, they tend to try to sneak it through around the holidays when a lot of people aren’t paying attention. For example, yesterday I discussed how the legislation that created the Federal Reserve was rushed through Congress right before Christmas in 1913.
So keep an eye on the period around Thanksgiving and the period around Christmas. If Barack Obama is going to stab Israel in the back, it may happen during one of those times.
My hope is that we can get through January 20th without anything going seriously wrong. If that happens, I know that I will be very thankful.
And as I detailed in a previous article, Donald Trump will be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old on his first full day in office on January 21st, and that will happen in year 5777 on the Hebrew calendar.
Could that be a sign of better things ahead as many believe?
Or will the next two months set off a chain of events that will be absolutely disastrous for this nation?
I believe that this is an absolutely critical moment in our history, and let us hope that our leaders make the right decisions.