As President Donald Trump continues signaling that he plans to try to steal the 2020 election, labor unions are preparing to go on a massive general strike across the country should he do so.

In the middle of the night well after midnight on Friday morning, Trump all but demanded that the conservative Justices on the Supreme Court hand him an election victory if/when he challenges the final result.

This is an assault on democracy as it certainly appears that Trump expects the Supreme Court to install him in the White House for a second term regardless of the final vote tally, including if he loses by a landslide.

Of course, such a scheme would destroy whatever credibility and legitimacy the high court has left if any at all.

But Trump seems to believe he can steal this election and stay in power, thus avoiding prosecution for his crimes.

And that’s why labor unions are preparing to call for and execute a nationwide general strike that would shut the country down in the name of protecting democracy.

Regional AFL-CIO labor group MLK Labor recently adopted a resolution vowing to strike if Trump moves to undermine the will of the voters.

“MLK Labor will call on to City and County governments to pledge to protect the protesters defending democracy and commit to not using police action or curfews to curtail these activities and to use all available resources to stand up against any effort by the Trump administration to steal the election,” the resolution said. “MLK Labor, in collaboration with other labor and progressive forces, will take whatever nonviolent actions are necessary up to and including a general strike to protect our democracy, the Constitution, the law and our nation’s democratic traditions.”

“It’s not, we’re going to do a general strike; it’s, if our democracy is threatened then we’ll move toward that,” American Federation of Teachers Washington president Karen Strickland told Truthout. “And if our democracy is threatened, and we’re not willing to do it then, you have to ask what circumstances would make us do a general strike?”

The Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation, along with many other labor groups, is also on board, warning that “if Donald Trump and his GOP enablers attempt to obstruct, subvert, sabotage, overturn or reject a fair and complete count of presidential ballots” there will be hell to pay.

“The labor movement must be ready to defend our democracy and use our collective power to ensure that every vote is counted,” Area Labor Federation President Jeff Jones said. “A national general strike is a nuclear option for us. You can’t pull that card every time, but this is great enough where our American democracy itself is at risk. We need to put [plans] in place and be ready to pull the plug and get everybody out in an effort to have our Congress grow a backbone, find their spine and take on this imperial president and aspiring despot.”

It’s truly sad that a general strike or worse may be necessary to defend democracy, but Trump is desperate to be a dictator and he’s moving to become one in violation of our laws and values. He is such a threat that even flight attendants are preparing to strike as well.

“If we can control when and where [we strike], and we think about how we can strategically place pressure in places that are going to have a major impact, we actually don’t have to have a general strike across the entire country,” Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson said. “We can have a major impact if we know that we can shut down one specific place, and it doesn’t even have to be for a very long period of time. If we take control of the schedule of the country, we can have a tremendous effect.”

A massive strike would absolutely put pressure on corporations to pressure the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s scheme. Ultimately, however, Trump is such a threat that it may take more than a general strike to save the nation from his tyranny. Americans should be prepared to do what is necessary.

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