The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash

No one in law enforcement should be caught off guard if trouble breaks out before, during, or after the November presidential election, because Donald Trump keeps talking as if addressing differences through violence is a normal part of the American political process. The presumptive Republican nominee recently promised forgiveness for the January 6 insurrectionists, posted a video involving a fake image of President Joe Biden hog-tied in the back of a truck, and riled up his supporters by claiming that “if we don’t win this election, I don’t think you’re going to have another election in this country.”

[Tom Nichols: Supporting Trump means supporting a culture of violence]

Trump could well prevail, polls suggest, but the former president is already making plans to undermine the result should he lose. In 2021, his refusal to admit defeat led to a bloody riot at the Capitol. As a candidate for reelection, Biden has every reason to warn voters about his Republican opponent’s dangerous assault on democratic norms. But as the president of the United States, Biden should also be pushing executive-branch agencies to protect the casting and counting of votes against violent interference and to ward off attempts to interfere with the certification of November’s outcome. He is obliged, in other words, to make sure that, regardless of whether he or Trump wins, the victor will be able to take office peacefully.

The January 6th Committee is best remembered for its damning account of what happened that day, and of the forces that led up to those events. But the committee’s report points to some of the preparations that urgently need to be made. The panel highlighted gaps among federal agencies in their protocols for sharing intelligence about extremism and other domestic threats to our democracy. The report recommended prioritizing election-related intelligence-sharing efforts so that public-safety officials are ready. It also recommended paying greater attention to getting the District of Columbia ready for the certification of electoral votes, and urged the president to designate the joint session of Congress during which the election will be certified as a “National Special Security Event.” This designation, which is also applied to the inauguration and the State of the Union address, requires elaborate planning and expanded security measures to protect an event of national significance. Biden should take the committee’s advice.

The executive branch alone can’t enact every proposal recommended by the January 6 committee. The panel called for enhanced penalties in criminal statutes prohibiting threats to election workers and attempts to overthrow elections. This would require congressional approval, which the Department of Justice can still seek.

[Read: I asked 13 tech companies about their plans for election violence]

At least until the next inauguration, the federal apparatus will be governed by Biden. It needs to be unified and focused on a singular threat to a peaceful election and transition to a new presidential term: The FBI is responsible for sharing intelligence with state and local authorities; the U.S. Marshals Service, part of the Department of Justice, protects judges; the Department of Homeland Security secures federal buildings and supports local and state public-safety agencies. In the report’s extensive appendixes, the January 6 Committee described how confusion resulting from D.C.’s unique political status hampered deployment of the National Guard on the day of the riot; the report also chronicled disarray among federal agencies about which one would lead the response to any turmoil. Those issues need to be addressed now.

Earlier this year, as the third anniversary of the Capitol riot approached, Biden described January 6 as “the day we almost lost America.” Biden should take his own rhetoric seriously by establishing task forces to get the government ready for what lies ahead. Little has been disclosed about how the White House is preparing. Perhaps he could draw upon the expertise of Trump-administration officials such as former White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, who has been vocal about Trump’s threat to democracy. Beyond implementing the committee’s recommendations, identifying and preparing for threats to vote-counting in swing states should be of particular focus. A show of readiness can also deter people who might have learned the wrong lesson from the Capitol riot: that just a bit more violence might have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.

[Read: The right response to threats of political violence]

Any attempts to shore up the nation’s defenses against political violence might be misinterpreted—or intentionally misconstrued—by some of Trump’s supporters as an attempt by a Democratic administration to use federal power to interfere in the 2024 election. But the fact that everything Biden does at this stage will be seen through a politicized lens shouldn’t scare him into inaction.

If Trump and his supporters want to quibble with plans to protect election officials from external pressure during vote counts in Georgia and Wisconsin, or to protect members of Congress from rioters during the certification process, then they should do so out loud, before the election. But preparing for election turmoil shouldn’t be a partisan issue. The right keeps warning us of the potential for left-wing antifa violence; surely conservatives would want the executive branch to prevent it from affecting the vote certification if Trump wins. The best course is to lay out transparent plans to safeguard the electoral process no matter who is ultimately sworn in.