i won the election!
You ‘d be forgiven for thinking that losing both the popular vote and the electoral college would’ve ended The Don’s assault on truth and democracy, but not so cotton-picking fast y’hear! And don’t think today’s grudging half-hearted instruction to the General Services Administration to facilitate the transfer of power fundamentally changes his opposition to the election result, as it doesn’t. If anything, the guy’s just hitting his stride.
Perhaps to us, on this side of the pond, the fact that the incumbent remains in situ with no limit on their power or action, for ten whole weeks after the election result, appears strange and somewhat at odds with democracy. However, I get that a country of such size and one in which every position within the whole administration changes (unlike ours, where the civil service largely remains unchanged irrespective of the colour of government) then it’s going to take time. Sadly, Trump is using the time to ratchet-up his rhetoric to fever pitch.
Back in 1946 George Orwell warned us that “A society becomes totalitarian, when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial” and it’s the ‘flagrancy’ that’s key here. Democracy collapses when a society knowingly lies to itself and intentionally hides the truth. The Republican party largely refuses to accept the result of a transparently fair election and is knowingly, intentionally lying to the country’s population. Without a shred of evidence or shame, Mr Trump is willing to challenge the outcome in a blatant attempt to invalidate it and provide his supporters a rationale for their continued anger. The result is that upwards of 70% of Good ol’ Party voters currently believe that Sleepy Joe’s win was rigged. We are witnessing the Republican party flagrantly create a make-believe artificial history in real time. They are systematically lying on an industrial scale and on a level that threatens the existential nature of democracy.
The Don’s end-game was to ensure the dispute remained unresolved and contested until Wednesday 20th January 2021, the date for the inauguration of the new incoming POTUS. In this scenario, and cutting to the quick, the military would be unable to hand-over the nuclear codes and the incumbent subsequently announced by the attorney general as re-elected for a second term. Needless to say this could result in something akin to a civil war, is best avoided and mercifully seems now unlikely.
If it wasn’t so serious, the constant use of tweeting capital letters and exclamation marks by a ‘loser’ attempting to rewrite history through font, typography and punctuation, would be quite funny. Sadly, it isn’t. When he eventually gets the keys to the White House, it’s essential Joe Biden rebuilds the country’s trust and belief in democracy.
