Glenn Youngkin says we have nothing to worry about in a Trump 2nd term

Well, I'm convinced!

(Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin)

Five days after the riot at the U.S. Capitol, Missouri GOP Sen. Roy Blunt offered his assessment of how the insurrection would impact outgoing President Donald Trump.

“The President should be very careful over the next 10 days that his behavior is what you’d expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world,” said Blunt. “Now, my personal view is that the President touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again.”

Ahem.

It was that, er, prediction by Blunt that came immediately to my mind today when I was watching Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin talk about a possible Trump 2nd term on CNBC.

Youngkin said that all of the talk about Trump seeking “retribution” if he gets back into the White House was overblown. Here’s how he explained his lack of worry:

“We didn’t have kings, we didn’t have dictators, and God bless George Washington for recognizing that and stepping down after two terms and establishing the role of the presidency. This is what America was built on, and this is what I think America will do going forward.”

Uh….

So, let’s start with Youngkin’s choice to cite George Washington’s voluntary decision to step aside from the presidency after two terms.

There’s no doubt that was a remarkably admirable move — and set the precedent that our new country wouldn’t trade one king for another. Without Washington’s selfless act, the idea of people occupying the presidency for a bounded period of time might never have existed.

But, here’s the thing: Trump expressly tried to stay in office after he lost a free and fair election! He did the reverse Washington! Rather than voluntarily step aside, Trump tried to use the power of the presidency to stay in office even though he had been voted out by the American public.

And then there’s this: The system that Youngkin has so much faith in barely held amid the assault on democracy from Trump. Remember that 147 Republicans (139 in the House and 8 in the Senate) voted to overturn the election results in at least one swing state. Were it not for Mike Pence, we might have seen the election sent back to the states — and Trump declared the winner.

What 2020 should have proved to Youngkin — and everyone else — is that democracy is significantly more fragile than we had believed for decades. A small group of people — led by the president — very nearly brought it down.

What the last election also showed is that Trump is willing to do anything — and I mean anything — to hold onto power. He tried to appoint Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General to get the Department of Justice on board with his election fraud scheme! I mean….

Every bit of reporting about what Trump will do if he is elected again also reinforces the idea that he plans to root out those who aren’t fully loyal to him and use places like the DOJ to carry out his personal vendettas.

Hell, you don’t even have to trust the (very good) reporting on this. Just listen to Trump talk!

“I am your warrior. I am your justice,” Trump says on the campaign trail. “And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

There’s also Trump’s pledge — to Sean Hannity — to only be a dictator on the first day of his second term, an oath he now says was a joke. (If you believe that I have a terrific video rental company named Blockbuster to sell you. Up and coming!)

Youngkin knows all of this. Because of course he does. The idea that Trump won’t do what he says he will do is directly contradicted by a little something known as the last seven years.

Youngkin is simply choosing to ignore what he knows because it’s not politically advantageous for him to criticize Trump. I get it. But that doesn’t make it right.