from TREVOR
I expect whatever the outcome of the November election, it'll make 2016 look trivial by comparison. Democrats have already declared the 2020 election to be illegitimate, writing countless articles on Republican voter suppression. They still haven't accepted 2016 and certainly won't accept a loss in 2020.
While it currently looks like Trump doesn't stand a chance, I am sure that he will do everything possible to swing things his way.
As has just recently been mentioned, the BLM demonstrations quickly morphed from something that was understandable (we do have quite a few overly aggressive police in this country, and they often engage in racial profiling), to something that was not; looting and anarchy.
Currently, I would estimate that maybe 1% of the country was involved in the actual demonstrations. That means it was still rather a fringe element. Had it been kept to peaceful demonstrations, that may have resulted in the effect that most everyone wants: better policing tactics, getting bad cops off of the police forces, etc.
But with the current extreme left lunacy (going after statues of Lincoln and Grant, without whom slavery would have continued for quite some time), the "autonomous zones" and "defunding" or slashing police budgets and presence, it is going to backfire big time on the left.
Getting back to Trump, I, personally, find him repugnant. He will put out another round of "tax rebates", which will be his next attempt to buy votes.
But even more dangerously, I believe that he knows that both Bush presidencies got a huge poll boost when shooting started. I am convinced that he will go after the Iranians in mid October to get the patriotic bounce that Bush 1 got with the Gulf War, and that Bush 2 got with 9/11.
All of these things combined could get him close or over the top in November. Worst case would be a contested election that goes to the House of Representatives or something like that.
I believe that real rioting and anarchy would then break out, and it would look like the US is killing itself internally. That is when I think China (or Russia) would make a BIG move. On top of that would be the economic storm that is coming due to the high levels of debt and speculation that the WuHu flu lockdowns have caused to start spinning out of control.
I agree wholeheartedly with John that at that point, the majority of the country would rally against an external attack. A lot would have to be done to deal with the internal dissension at that point, but most Americans would rally to save the country.