The people have spoken, but Trump isn’t listening

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2020 (1411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was, in a single set of parallel live-TV images, as perfect an encapsulation of the Trumpian mindset as could ever be conjured.

Last Wednesday night, outside a ballot-counting centre in Michigan, a mob of angry, MAGA-hat-clad protesters demanded a stop to the outrageous actions they believed were cheating the U.S. president of a potential second term in office. The chant, though unimaginative, was direct:

“STOP! THE! COUNT! STOP! THE! COUNT!”

Meanwhile, outside another vote-counting location, in Maricopa County, Arizona, another similarly clad, equally agitated throng shouted just as loudly at the ballot-tabulators inside that facility:

“COUNT! THE! VOTES! COUNT! THE! VOTES!”

And there, in a nutshell, resides the nakedly transactional nature of the manner in which current U.S. President Donald Trump — and, by Twitter-directed exhortation and tacit presidential direction, his followers — views the process of American electoral democracy: that which benefits Mr. Trump is right and fair and should be endorsed, and that which does not is evil and corrupt and cannot be countenanced.

The inspiration for the contraditory shouted slogans, of course, was the manner in which the counting of votes in closely contested states progressed on Wednesday and Thursday. In Arizona, the math favoured the incumbent president, with each new ballot total narrowing the margin Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden held late on election day.

In Pennsylvania — and, surprisingly, Georgia, which had previously been considered a safe red state — the continuing tabulation of ballots through Wednesday and Thursday eroded large margins posted in favour of Mr. Trump on Tuesday during earlier counting of in-person votes. By Friday morning, both states had flipped to blue on TV-news outlets’ interactive maps.

With the remaining count in Pennsylvania — whose 20 electoral-college votes alone were enough to elevate Mr. Biden beyond the 270 required for victory — coming in more than 80 per cent in Mr. Biden’s favour, the die was cast. At 10:31 a.m. on Saturday, the New York Times posted an all-caps headline on its website: BIDEN BEATS TRUMP.

The waiting was over. The drama, however, was anything but complete. In keeping with the reality-averse ethos embodied by those contrary counting-centre chants — what’s good for Mr. Trump is good, and what’s bad for him is bad — the current president remained predictably defiant, continuing to tweet baseless accusations of fraud — which were quickly labelled by Twitter as misinformation — while spurning such conventional post-election niceties as delivering a concession speech or making a phone call to congratulate the successful candidate.

To much of America, Mr. Trump’s intransigence was of no consequence. In every major city across the nation, jubilant but mostly masked crowds took to the streets, shouting, dancing, high-fiving and hugging. By the time president-elect Biden and running mate Kamala Harris delivered their victory addresses on Saturday evening, it was as if the nation, while still bitterly divided, had somehow managed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Mr. Trump’s legal challenges will continue, almost certainly in every battleground state in which he was defeated. And they will be shown to be overwhelming without merit. He has lost.

The right thing for Mr. Trump to do would be to accept the fairly determined outcome and, even if vanity will not allow a magnanimous gesture, step aside. Of course, if four years’ experience has taught the American public anything, it’s that this president’s inclinations do not hew toward that which is right. The election is over, but his antics and protracted antagonisms are destined to continue. Inauguration day can’t come soon enough.