Whither America?

    Talk show hosts are increasingly worried about the future of the American way as evidence piles up that followers of the ex-president continue their insistence that the recent election was rigged.

   But that claim of a rigged election was being made more than five years ago by the candidate himself, months before election day.

   What a surprise it must have been to the said candidate when it turned out that he won.

   But he didn't win the vote itself. Rather, he collected more electoral votes, a procedure set up because writers of the Constitution did not fully trust voters in general.

  So who did the rigging?

  That was in 2016. In the 2020 election year, the same candidate again warned of rigging, but this time he lost both voting tallies, the popular vote and the electoral vote.

 However, rather than accept the reality that he lost his bid for re-election to a second term as president, Donald Trump continued his claim that the election was rigged, and that he really did win.

  The danger of that continuous chant became most evident on January 6, 2021, when thousands of his supporters raided the U.S. Capitol as Congress was going through the formal process of accepting the vote count and declaring the winner.

   Nevertheless, Trump insisted that his own vice president overrule the Congress and declare that Trump won election to a second term.

    Either he did not know or he ignored the Constitutional stipulation that a vice president's role is only to preside over Senate activities, with no other authority.

  That's all.

  He has no authority over what members of the House of Representatives say or do, and no vote in the Senate except in case of a tie. None of this mattered to the now ex-president.

  The continuing danger to American government is that the many devoted followers of Donald Trump are so dedicated to his wishes that they will do whatever he wants, regardless of its legality or whether it conforms to the Constitution.

  Scholars are busily gathering facts, events and history to warn that America faces a grim future, possibly even by autumn of this year, when Election Day comes and voters are set to choose one-third of the members of the Senate and all members of the House of Representatives.

  Meanwhile, several states are modifying their rules to minimize or prevent voting by anyone other than supporters of Donald Trump.

  In addition, threats of violence are being made against members of Congress, forcing many of them to resign or not seek re-election.

  The danger signs are clear.