This is a summary of a column by Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times in late September 2020 posted in The Week magazine. While Michael Caputo has brain and neck cancer his warnings should be taken seriously. Bouie’s conclusion are frightening and are similar to those written by Thomas Friedman in the NYT.
Nick Mott/Montana Public Radio
If President Trump loses the election it will be because it was “stolen,” and his supporters should respond to the “coup” with violence. This, said Jamelle Bouie, is what Trump’s most ardent supporters and the president himself are saying as polls show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden. This week, Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human services, claimed that Biden and the Democrats will try to seize power through election fraud.
“When Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration,” Caputo warned on a video posted on Facebook, “the shooting will begin.” He recommended buying-ammunition now “because it’s going to be hard.to get.” Trump confidant and convicted felon Roger Stone is urging the-president to declare martial law and seize ballots, while Trump himself recently said “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” He said that if there is insurrection by his opponents after the election, he’ll “put it down.” Trump has made it very clear he knows he may lose, so he is openly campaigning “to hold on to power by any means necessary.” If you think this is all ranting and raving,” you haven’t been paying attention the last four years.
Jamelle Bouie
The New York Times
Coast Contact 