By squealing “Frankly, we did win this election,” at 2:24 a.m., Nov. 4 and trying to stop counting all ballots cast, serial adulterer Donald Trump, who cheated on his wives Ivana, Marla and Melania, and is now cheating on America. The “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Stormy Daniels case – who illegally paid hush money to muzzle the porn star so her revelations about their July 2006 liaison wouldn’t affect the outcome of 2016’s election – and similarly connived payoffs for a Playboy model he started an affair with in June 2006 shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron, is now trying to commit adultery on America by bamboozling his way into a second term.

And precisely why does Trump, one of our worst presidents ever, want to stay in the White House? Of course, he craves the craven adoration of Trump’s chumps and fawning flunkeys. But Trump seeks four more years so the deadbeat “dealmaker” Donald – who has been embroiled in six bankruptcies, 4,000 lawsuits, an IRS imbroglio, impeachment and 26 allegations of sexual misbehavior – can continue bilking the presidency with emolument enriching self-dealing (who do you think pays for all those golf jaunts?) and dodge paying up to $900 million-plus in debts coming due soon.

But more importantly, reelection enables the “law and order” president to avoid facing the music and going to prison, probably for the rest of his misbegotten life. As author Jane Mayer writes in the Nov. 1 The New Yorker: “if he loses… the presumption of immunity that attends the Presidency will vanish. Given that more than a dozen investigations and civil suits involving Trump are currently under way, he could be looking at an endgame even more perilous than the one confronted by Nixon” in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. One of America’s preeminent investigative reporters, Mayer details the court cases for tax fraud and more Trump could face from Southern District of New York federal prosecutors, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. and New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James, especially if he loses the Oval Office’s shield.

Mayer also quotes Trump’s The Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz, who “fears… between November and the Inauguration in 2021 is the most dangerous period.” People should expect a desperate, frenzied Trump to use all of the presidential powers at his disposal during the almost three months before inauguration day to stifle the vote count and remain a rent-free resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The notoriously litigious Trump has already threatened legal entanglement, all the way up to the Supreme Court, where the maestro of conflicts of interest recently rammed through his third appointment. Four of the justices now sitting on that bench participated on the GOP’s side in 2000’s Gore versus Bush brouhaha that delivered the Executive Mansion to the Republican popular vote loser.

The Electoral College is a creaky, complex mechanism devised largely by 18th century slaveholders and other members of the post-colonial 1% to enshrine and ensure elite privilege and thwart majority rule. With its deadlines, stipulations for selection, etc., from the Electors to the House of Representatives – where each state would have one vote determined by whether that state was Republican or Democratic – Trump the trickster could try to pull off the art of the steal to remain in office.

Even more ominously, the conman-in-chief could call out law enforcement, the National Guard, the U.S military and more “suckers” and “losers” in his so-called “Army for Trump” and other not-so-well-regulated militias (like 17-year-old gunman Kyle Rittenhouse, who Trump has defended and been charged with felony homicides and illegal possession of a dangerous weapon after shooting to death two men at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin) to crush opposition to his continued reign. Trump, of course, has viciously fomented violence. By early Nov. 4, according to the NY Times AG Bill Barr’s DOJ told prosecutors they were permitted to send armed federal officers to vote counting sites and that same day aggressive pro-Trump mobs harassed vote counters at the Maricopa County election center in hotly contested Arizona.

Also on Nov. 4, Atlantic Magazine writer Bart Gellman, who has been analyzing how the electoral theft of 2020 could transpire, called Trump a “wannabe dictator” on NPR’s Fresh Air. With some of our democratic institutions and ideals still extant, Trump is not a full-fledged fuehrer yet – historically, he’s more like Hitler shortly after the German elections in 1932, before the Nazis consolidated power with an iron fist in the Weimar Republic. So, if Trump tries to strangle the counting of legally cast, eligible ballots and/or undertakes Machiavellian maneuvers to undermine the popular will through legal – and extralegal – means, how can he be stopped?

Of course, during “normal” times mass direct action would be launched – protests, rallies, civil disobedience and the like. But right now, demonstrations are especially daunting – not just because a Great Wall (did Mexico pay for it?) has been constructed around the White House, protected by El Presidente’s visible killers, but because of the plague’s invisible killers. How can we storm the Bastille or the Winter Palace if we have to socially distance?

But there is another way the masses can be mobilized to take action from the safety of their homes via social media, phones and even good old-fashioned letter writing. Ever since his birth, Little Lord “Trump-leroy” has received special treatment enabling His Highness to evade accountability, and his election tampering is the latest attempt at this. So, if this “heir-head” is to be prevented from stealing the vote, Trump must be put on notice that if he subverts democracy, the Constitution and will of the people, he’ll pay an even steeper price than if he leaves office and is indicted by the SDNY, accusers of sexual misconduct, et al.

How? By agitating that Trump be charged with treason. Under the U.S. Code’s Chapter 115, Trump, who has long been suspected of collaborating with foreign powers, could be indicted for treason and if found guilty face fines, imprisonment up to 20 years and even the death penalty. According to §2381. Treason:

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

Trump could also be tried under the Code’s §2383. Rebellion or insurrection; §2384. Seditious conspiracy; and/or §2385. Advocating overthrow of Government, which states: “Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States… or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or

“Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; …Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years…” (Presumably, tweeting and bleating on Fox News would also be punishable.)

Ordinary people who want the democratic process to play out should send letters to the editor, op-ed pages, other news outlets, local, state and federal representatives, social media, etc., demands for Trump to pay the consequences for obstructing democracy by being charged with treason and face the penalty of decades behind bars – or even execution, if found guilty (as he himself advocated for the innocent Central Park Five minors). For good measure, let’s add indicting Trump for the negligent homicide of about 250,000 Covid victims – not to mention the reportedly 700 Kool Aid drinkers who died of Corona after attending one of his campaign super spreaders. Jane Mayer notes: “Twenty-nine individuals closely tied to [Nixon’s] Administration were subsequently indicted, and several of his top aides and advisers, including his Attorney General, John Mitchell, went to prison.” So let’s hold the psychopath’s sycophants and enablers accountable, too.

This may sound harsh, but remember: Trump has cheated on his SATs, taxes and wives. Do you really think a double-crosser like him won’t try to swindle you out of your vote – unless the price he’d pay deters him from doing so?