I know the election results aren’t official yet, but Vice President Joe Biden will unseat President Donald Trump without an historic miracle. There will be recounts and court challenges, but I don’t think either will matter. Recounts have never changed elections with margins in the tens of thousands– and they would have to do that in multiple states. I also don’t think the courts would be willing to make such an impactful decision– the appearance that they decided the election, not the voters, will be enough to dissuade them. Biden won. The Trump administration is almost over. Here are my reflections on Trump.
That was an embarrassment of American democracy. Not just the last four years. Not just the last four months. Not even just the last four weeks. The last four days. Trump’s shameful attempt to exercise whatever raw power he can muster in the matter will be remembered next to Watergate, but what won’t be remembered is what it’s a microcosm of. Yes, the last four days have been shameful, but so have the last four years.
The Last Four Days
I would say Trump is acting like a sore loser, but I’m not sure that’s fair to the sore loser. He claims he won and the only way he could have lost is because he was cheated. He did it in a statement early Wednesday morning, again Thursday evening, and all through his twitter feed.
And we were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything and all of a sudden it was just called off… This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud in our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop… To me this is a very sad moment and we will win this. And as far as I’m concerned, we already have won it.
If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us… Democrat officials never believed they could win this election honestly. I really believe that. That’s why they did the mail-in ballots, where there’s tremendous corruption and fraud going on… But we think there’ll be a lot of litigation because we can’t have an election stolen by — like this.
Claim he won. Claim voter fraud. Spread lies and conspiracy theories to support the former two claims. Whatever it takes to elevate himself. His actions are the same as an eight-year-old who just lost a board game. Except he isn’t an eight-year-old, he’s the President of the United States. And he’s not undermining a board game, he’s undermining an election for President of the United States.
The Last Four Years
And while the last four days have been an embarrassment, they are just a microcosm of the last four years. Trump has spent the last four years using his office to elevate himself, whether that be to enrich himself, elevate his stature, or diminish his opponents. He’s spread lies about almost everything and engaged with conspiracy theories like Qanon or that Joe Scarborough is a murderer. He’s tacitly approved of political violence from his supporters. His repeated and vicious attacks on anyone who isn’t absolutely loyal to him.
He’s used the power of the federal government to enrich himself through his many properties and advance his reelection odds by strongarming a foreign leader to attack Joe Biden. He’s actively avoided the Senate confirmation process to install yes-men around him. He’s downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic, used it as an opportunity to divide the country, and used it as an opportunity to rift on political opponents.
The last four days were an embarrassment. American democracy looked like it imported a candidate from Syria. But so were the last four years.
The Accomplices
American democracy was never at-risk. Yes, Trump made it look bad, but that’s it. The corollary to my argument here is that progressive “doom porn” was and is nonsense. What Trump did was never anything more than petty corruption. He didn’t want to get rid of rules or constraints. He just wanted as much attention as possible. Now he’s gone. But those who uncritically spread lies, half truths, and propaganda to support him aren’t. They did it for four years. They did it for four days. They were given a platform and they abused it. They should be cast to the side of the conservative movement.
Exit quote: “This is not American democracy”
Addendum: He’s not handling it well.
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