Opinion: What’s to lose with a second Trump presidency? Here’s a list.

If Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold had run for president against George Washington, could Arnold have won?

Of course not.

And yet, former President Donald Trump — convicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actress — is in a statistical tie with President Joe Biden in polls in this year’s presidential race.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee hasn’t been charged with treason. But his $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels enabled him to temporarily cover up her allegation that they had an extramarital sexual relationship (which Trump denies) years earlier. If Daniels had told her explosive story before the 2016 election, she might have torpedoed Trump’s first presidential candidacy.

Trump, who could be sentenced to prison or given a lesser sentence in a New York state court on July 11 , also faces federal and Georgia felony charges of trying to illegally overturn his 2020 election defeat. In addition, he faces federal charges of illegally retaining classified government documents after leaving the presidency and obstructing a federal investigation of the retention. These cases likely won’t come to trial before Election Day.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all the criminal charges against him, while maintaining he did nothing wrong in civil cases he has lost. He is appealing hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties in the civil cases.

Benedict Arnold and Trump have some things in common.

Arnold unsuccessfully tried to prevent the creation of an independent United States and our democratic form of government. Trump unsuccessfully tried to prevent the continuation of our democracy by attempting to stay in office despite his defeat in a free and fair election.

More than 60 court rulings have rejected Trump’s false claim that the election he lost was rigged and riddled with fraud. Yet Trump still contends, with no credible evidence, that he was reelected in 2020. Millions of Americans believe him , undermining public faith in our democracy and in Biden’s legitimacy.

Alarmingly, Trump is now saying he might not accept the November election result if he loses to Biden again. Trump is even warning that his followers might resort to violence to put him back in the White House, as they did in the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Preserving our democracy and the freedoms democracy gives us is the central issue of the 2024 election. By refusing to accept his election defeat, Trump has shown his contempt for democracy and his desire to rule as an authoritarian.

This contempt is confirmed by plans Trump has announced to dramatically expand the powers of the presidency, take control of independent federal regulatory agencies, replace tens of thousands of career civil servants with political appointees loyal to him and weaken Congress while weaponizing the Justice Department and the military against his critics.

If Trump achieves these goals, he will be the most powerful and dangerous president in American history.

Which of our freedoms will be threatened by Trump if he becomes president again? More than I have room to list. They include our freedoms to:

• Elect our leaders in free and fair elections. Trump and his GOP allies support restricting voting rights and changing election laws to make it more likely Trump and other Republicans will win.

• Make our own decisions on reproductive rights involving contraception and abortion .

• Live in a nation of equal justice for all. Trump claims every election and court case he loses is rigged against him. He has asked the Supreme Court to rule that a president can’t be prosecuted for any crimes committed in office — including murder — that were deemed official acts unless the Senate convicts the president first in an impeachment trial. In contrast, Biden has said he accepts the recent federal jury verdict convicting his son Hunter of three felony gun charges and has called for respecting our justice system.

• Be safe from crime. Trump has called for defunding the Justice Department and FBI because they investigated his alleged crimes. He demonizes judges, prosecutors, witnesses and jurors in his criminal and civil cases, reducing public faith in our justice system. He praises the Jan. 6 rioters as “patriots” and “warriors.” He opposes gun safety legislation and has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association . Under Trump, crime rose, including the largest one-year increase in the murder rate since accurate statistics were collected in the early 1960s. Violent crime has fallen under Biden, including a 26 percent drop in murders and rapes in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year. Violent crime is now at a nearly 50-year low .

Trump also poses a threat to our economy and our wallets by calling for policies that would increase inflation, boost the national debt and cut funding for federal programs by giving big corporations and rich people (like him and his major campaign donors) huge tax cuts.

The 60 percent tariff Trump has proposed on imports from China and the 10 percent tariff he has proposed on merchandise imports from all other countries would be passed on to U.S. consumers and raise prices significantly — $1,700 annually for a typical middle-class household just for the tariffs on Chinese goods, according to an estimate by the Peterson Institute.

Inevitably, other nations would impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, hurting American businesses and farmers. This would force many to raise prices, and some to lay off workers and ultimately shut down. American manufacturers that import raw materials would also suffer.

In addition, America’s role as leader of the free world and our foreign allies would be endangered by Trump’s isolationist policies, including his likely cutoff of U.S. aid to embattled Ukraine, which could lead to a Russian victory in their war. Trump might also withdraw the U.S. from NATO , encouraging Russia to invade more European nations and encouraging China to invade Taiwan.

One thing you can bet your life savings on: A second Trump term in the White House would be even more chaotic, erratic, incompetent and dangerous to American and global democracy, national security and economies than the first.

Just as Benedict Arnold sought to keep the 13 colonies subservient to the rule of King George III, Trump wants to keep the United States subservient to his own rule — no matter what voters decide.

But here’s a history lesson for Trump: America didn’t need King George in 1776. We don’t need to crown King Donald in 2024 to be his successor.

Donna Brazile is a political strategist, a contributor to ABC News and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is the author of “Hacks: Inside the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.”

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