No, it’s not a resurrection of the Journolist. It’s not even an offshoot of the so-called Decency Collective. This is something different, with less official MSM membership and more groups of liberal activists preparing for the coming “political apocalypse” if November 3rd results in anything other than a massive landslide win for Joe Biden. Over at the Daily Beast, Sam Stein (I know…) looks at a recent virtual meeting of a secretive group of liberal activist leaders going by the moniker of the Fight Back Table. (But this particular assembly also adopted the lofty name of the “Democracy Defense Nerve Center.”

The meeting was described as “serious with a modestly panicked undertone,” and the participants were working out plans for what to do in the aftermath of the election. Most of you with a more normal grasp of reality are probably wondering what the big deal is. After all, even if it takes a few weeks to count all of the mail-in ballots, we’ll eventually come up with a winner. Either Trump will win a second term or Biden will be sworn in next January. One side will go away depressed and disappointed while the other takes a victory lap, right?

Not so in the world of the Fight Back Table. They’re convinced that Trump will refuse to leave office if the vote is even remotely close and his rabid, right-wing supporters will take to the streets with their “assault weapons” to tear down what little remains of the fabric of civil society.

“I don’t know what the strategy is when armed right-wing militia dudes show up in polling places,” the same source said. “This [Kyle] Rittenhouse guy is being lionized on the right, right now. If it is being unleashed that you can shoot people and be a hero, I don’t know what preparation we can possibly do for that.”

Those involved in the conversation say this wide an array of groups has never coordinated so closely on these matters before. And the fact that they were sitting down some two months in advance of the election, was a testament to how seriously they take the complications and threats Election Day poses.

“It is very obvious that Trump is laying the groundwork for claiming victory no matter what,” said Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn, and a participant in the FBT call. “Progressive groups at the end of the day believe in our democracy and, while it is not perfect, believe in building upon it and strengthening it. And we will fight to protect it from what we truly see as a president who has gone off the rails and taking this country down an authoritarian fascist path.”

This would almost be humorous if they clearly weren’t taking all of this so seriously. But the questions raised during the call regarding what they should specifically do on election day and in the weeks to follow give us a bit of a glimpse into their thinking. “How you “occupy s**t, hold space, and shut things down, not just on Election Day but for weeks?” They picture Trump doing everything from invoking the Insurrection Act to shutting down the vote-counting process and summoning his armed legions of conservative militant groups to clear the streets of righteously outraged liberals.

Actual evidence supporting this hypothetical scenario of massive conservative violence in the streets is slim at best, though the liberal activists have sadly been given a couple of tidbits to work with. The shooting involving Kyle Rittenhouse is the one ace in the hole they’re desperately clinging to now, despite mounting evidence that Rittenhouse only fired when his own life was in danger. There are also some incidents of the Proud Boys showing up and mixing things up with Antifa, but even that is some seriously weak tea.

At the same time, these liberal thought-leaders seem oblivious to the real destruction and mayhem that follows nearly everywhere the Black Lives Matter movement spurs their followers into the streets by the thousands and “occupies” blocks of real estate in major cities. The looting, the arson, the assaults… it’s the same violent script playing out over and over again. And yet, the elite of the socialist movement are sitting around during this conference call fretting over an armed conservative overthrow of the government?

For what it’s worth, if Democrats manage to convince as many people to vote by mail as is currently anticipated, I see no way that we have a projected winner on the night of November 3rd. And as the days drag by, I fully expect President Trump to do what he always does… mix it up on social media and demand a fair count with investigations into possible incidents of voter fraud. And if he manages to come out on the losing end, he’ll probably be issuing a sigh of relief on the inside as he peacefully relinquishes the office. With the army of liberal media elites and deranged Democrats attacking him on a daily basis while fighting tooth and claw to thwart every element of his agenda, would anyone really want to keep doing that for another four years? Oh, he’ll do it if he wins. I have no doubt about that. But it doesn’t mean he’s always going to enjoy it.