You’re fired!
This was Trump’s trademark phrase. It’s not a pretty one, and it encourages and encapsulates a lot of cruelty and power and promotes bitterness.
Eighty million people have now told the President, he’s fired. That has to hurt really badly.
He’s reacting by ignoring the pandemic and his responsibilities to lead the nation in any respect. He’s reacting by making transition as hard as it can be for his successor. He’s reacting by denying his defeat and by blaming it on African Americans living in our nation’s largest cities stealing his victory. In fact, the only places he actually won were in rural areas and small towns.
He is plotting his return to power and how to salt the earth so his successor cannot govern. He is wreaking whatever damage he can inflict on his perceived enemies in his time remaining in office.
The electoral recounts that he has requested in Georgia and Wisconsin have not saved him, but rather confirmed again and again that he lost. The lawsuits have not saved him, but rather rubbed salt in his open wounds by confirming how specious and unsupported his claims of electoral fraud really are. His loyal and trusted Attorney General just stated there was no widespread fraud that had altered the election results; et tu Barr!
Presidents live in a bubble, and this President particularly liked to surround himself with “yes” persons. His rallies of adoring supporters further distorted and blinded him to the simple fact that many Americans profoundly disliked him and disapproved of many of his cruel policies. Surely he was aware of the growing death toll, the spiraling case rates and the failures of his Administration to control Covid 19. Surely he was aware of the magnitude of public distress, the hungry families, the despairing small business owners, the huge and desperate ranks of the unemployed. Trump cannot have been unaware that he was lying to the American people, and that the gap between his lies and their reality was daily destroying his credibility. His loss and its magnitude cannot have been a complete and utter surprise to him; he had been forecasting it for months in his tweets and speeches. Yet one can still be in utter denial as you strain full force for the finish line of the campaign with all eyes focused only on the glorious victory ahead that you have portrayed so vividly for your rapt followers. Only to be suddenly replaced and dashed by the bitter ashes of defeat.
Power is now slowly seeping away as the magnitude of his defeat by over 6 million votes sinks in. The Republican Party did not lose this election; Donald Trump did, and it is this overwhelming personal rejection that really hurts. It’s a reason why the party has to dump him into the trash bin of history, but it has to do so quite carefully without alienating the many devoted Trumpists in their midst.
One might hope that he’d retreat even further onto his favorite golf links. One could hope that he’d spend time with children, wives and grandchildren who could give him solace. He could turn over the Presidency to Mike Pence who would handle the hand-over with more grace and skill than Trump. It is beyond our expectation, but we could hope that he’d spend some time in reflection and analysis, or that he’d devote himself to good works, like building affordable housing for the poor, feeding the hungry or helping with refugee resettlement — ventures so at odds with his image and nature. He could dictate a book telling the world all the most wonderful things he has done and go on book tours and on TV shows and hold rallies to promote it. He could try to resolve his personal debts, his tax liabilities, his lawsuits and to rebuild his business.
Sadly, the reality is he will be a loud, bitter, vengeful loser, plotting against our democracy and any who oppose his return to “glory”. It is up to all of us to ignore him as best we can.
We must instead help our new President-elect be successful in addressing our nation’s most urgent needs and leading our nation forward again on a better path. The nation cannot succeed unless we do so. This is not one man’s job; this is a job for everyone of us.
We must do all we can to help Jon Ossoff, Reverend Warnock and Stacey Abrams win in Georgia.
We must do all we can to see that a strong and well crafted stimulus bill is passed as soon as possible to revive the economy, feed the hungry, educate our kids, keep families in their homes and small businesses afloat.
And we have to wear those masks and socially isolate from friends and family during this most festive time of the year. We will have to give all of our love and hugs over Zoom this year. The vaccine is coming.
Stay safe and well and keep fighting like hell for our future. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving; we do have much to be thankful for and look forward to.
Lucien Wulsin
11/30/20