Your friend texts you, “Did you see? Trump’s gonna try to stay in power!” You click the link to see what she’s talking about. You scan quickly. In Trump’s style, he says the quiet part out loud at a midterm rally, “You don’t want me going to jail. But the CROOKED COURTS are trying. If I have to, I’ll stay President until the courts drop all my cases!”
It goes on to cite unnamed sources inside the White House. One source said Trump was discussing running for a third term — despite the 22nd Amendment, which forbids a President from holding a third term. “Who’s gonna stop me?” Another source suggested that Eric Trump might run as a surrogate or perhaps Trump just orders a state of emergency to halt elections for as long as possible. Your heart clenches at any of these possibilities.
Before you get a chance to process, a longstanding volunteer calls you. Though they’ve been a steady volunteer, you know most of their work is with the Paperclip Movement. “We’ve got millions wearing paperclips to show we won’t obey. But it’s time to escalate and really flex our power. We’ve already used your values in the Convention, but we’re promoting a big action where we want you to come out and say you will act on that Convention and get all of your participants — city workers, police, and others — to refuse to obey any acts to prevent a fair and free election.” You nod quietly. You understand the logic. But this will be seen as a violation by many members of the Convention, who did not sign up for this. This is a huge ask and very risky. “Trump can’t stay in power if we show that we’re not going along with this. Help us?”
