After 3 more years Trump will have to remain president ...

[Mister Ed]

14. Why roll out the tanks and stage a military coup if a soft coup can be organized?

It may be entirely possible for the GOP to achieve a nominal, official victory through such ratfuckery and shenanigans as you mention. In that event, the military would be duty-bound to support the official winner. To do otherwise would be treason.

It's true that states run their own elections - but only until and unless they are overruled by a corrupt, partisan Supreme Court, as happened with Florida in 2000 or Colorado in 2024. In any event, it's unlikely that any state has the resources to cope with ratfuckery on the scope and scale that modern technology potentially presents to such bad actors as Putin or Musk, among many others.

I continue to agree that an orderly and lawful transition of power is the thing most likely to occur on January 20, 2029. I also doubt that Trump's health will allow him to serve until that date. That would certainly render moot any question of whether he could be elected to a third term.

However, the GOP has shown us clearly that there is nothing they won't do to gain and hold power. It would surprise me greatly if there is no one spitballing contingency plans for an election that doesn't seem to be going their way. Indeed, it's possible, plausible, and even probable that some in the present administration are entertaining such thoughts. Simply typing the word "nonsense" over and over again on the internet doesn't automatically render that scenario impossible, implausible or improbable.