If anyone still has any doubts about where Trump’s loyalties lie, there should no longer be any question about the fact that Trump puts Trump first and his ‘America first’ statement is nothing more than a cheap slogan. Yesterday, Trump fired the Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, in what is likely to be the first of many in his slash and burn strategy going out the door. Both CIA director, Gina Haspel, and FBI director, Christopher Wray, are also rumored to be on the chopping block. Think about that – the Secretary of Defense, the CIA Director and the Director of the FBI all fired within a short span of time by a lame duck president. Is that really putting ‘America first’? Putin and Xi are laughing their asses off and planning to do who knows what.
These positions are at the heart of our national security. And even though temporary personnel (not Senate confirmed) will fill these positions, it is still making this country extremely vulnerable. If Trump gave one whit about America, he would not be doing these things. But it just goes to show that his pettiness and penchant for settling personal scores against people who have not shown the requisite amount of loyalty (read that as the ability to say ‘yes, Mr. Trump’) is more important than protecting the United States of America.
I know that many of us breathed a sigh of relief when the national election was called for Joe Biden. However, the next two months are going to be extremely turbulent given that this transition is starting off with Trump refusing to concede, his team filing a flurry of lawsuits, a number of personnel firings in the offing, and who knows what else. No one should relax and think its all over and it will magically turn to sunshine and lollipops. This is going to get really, really ugly and could potentially turn into the largest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. I don’t believe that’s hyperbole.
I have no doubt that Trump and his team understand the math and know that Trump does not have enough votes to legitimately win the Electoral College. That said, I believe that they will do everything they can to try to ‘win’ this election via rogue electors in the Electoral College, throwing this election into the House of Representatives via enacting legal delays, and taking whatever specious case they can muster to the Supreme Court. Is this America? Is this democracy? No! This is what is done in corrupt authoritarian regimes around the world.
When you do a review of Trump’s business ventures over the years, you see that he has left a trail of destruction behind him virtually his entire adult life. There is a long list of bankruptcies, unpaid contractors, lawsuits, scandals, lies and very little else. When Trump was a businessman and TV celebrity, his actions were somewhat contained to those who were unfortunate enough to have to deal with ‘Trump world.’ Now, Trump’s actions are directly impacting not only the national security of the United States but the very foundations of our democracy. Everyone, whether you voted for Trump or Biden, should be outraged that we have a president who is acting like a petulant child as opposed to the leader of the free world. Unfortunately, it seems like Trump’s supporters seem all to willing to believe baseless conspiracy theories and sacrifice our democracy on the altar of Donald Trump.
Voter turnout and participation in this country has often been a problem. Compared to many other democracies around the world, the percentage of registered voters who actually cast votes in the United States is way down the list. In this presidential election there was a record turnout of voters. Both candidates received more votes than any other president in the history of the United States. Trump received over 70 million votes. However, Biden received 4.6 million votes more than that. Everyone in this country should be happy that there was such a significant increase in voter participation. That is a sign of a robust democracy.
However, casting aspersions on the outcome of the election after a record voter turnout because you don’t like the outcome, just serves to undermine the democratic principles upon which this country was built. To date, in spite of all of the rhetoric, there has been no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud presented. Wishful thinking, baseless conspiracy theories, and propaganda do not qualify as evidence.
I suspect the next couple of months are going to be extremely rocky. Trump will do everything in his power to undermine and stall the transition to a new administration which is unprecedented in modern American history and completely contrary to our history of a peaceful transition of power from one administration to the other. The firing of Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, and the Trump administration’s refusal to release funding from the GSA to facilitate the transition are just the first of many more petty moves to come. This administration will continue to endanger this country, embolden our adversaries and embarrass us in the eyes of the world until the bitter end. It is a truly pathetic spectacle to watch. The most disturbing thing is that, even if Trump is finally dragged out of the White House, the polarization and distrust of our democratic institutions that he leaves in his wake, is likely irreparable.
This is the danger when people support an anarchist and a dictator. History sadly repeats itself and the majority of us thought this would never happen. Other countries have penalized depots far worse than this country will do. Everybody knows Pence will pardon Trump on all federal crimes and Trump’s experience with the state courts will delay justice for a long time and finally the result will be a hung jury because of political polarization.