All the telltale signs were unmistakably there and democracy watchers should not have been surprised by the current turn of events in the US. President Donald J. Trump’s political machinations are unequaled, resulting in irregularities and scandals. His indiscriminate and unceremonious firing of cabinet and other top government officials because of alleged disloyalty or failure to do his biddings reflect his devious leadership.
The improper use of the powers of his office and of government resources under his command manifest his obscene respect for his Office. He treats his cabinet members as his vassals, particularly the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, to justify and defend his questionable acts and to prosecute his political enemies. He has egregiously pardoned his friends and supporters since he lost the election and the big names, including his own family members and probably himself, will follow until his last day in office. He has been judged as the most unpresidential person to occupy the highest governmental position in the US. Trump was in fact impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power, but the Senate, which was dominated by his partymates, absolved him.
It is most unfortunate how a country so admired globally for establishing a model democratic state has degenerated into a basket case. The abhorrent conduct of its top officials relative to the recently concluded US elections, has earned the scorn even of the citizens of third world countries. It is laudable that the US Courts and some courageous officials have the spine to buckle under severe pressure. In international meetings, Trump is shunned and mocked by world leaders. The US no longer enjoys the respect and prestige accorded to it by people around the world.
At the start of the 2020 campaign, Trump claimed that any election, which he would lose, would be fraught with cheating and fraud, and therefore invalid and illegal. He even suggested that the election be postponed, questioning early voting and mailed-in ballots that are duly allowed under the US laws. During the entire campaign, he refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power in the event that he loses the election. Even now, less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, it is still unclear how he will vacate his office. He has not even indicated if he would attend Biden’s inauguration or whether he would take a joint ride with Biden from the White House to the Capitol on January 20 for the event. His overall conduct during his entire four years as the President of the United States left much to be desired. Presidential watchers have likened him to current autocratic leaders who have ruled their countries with iron hands. Trump himself has not disguised his admiration for strongmen like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Xi Jinping of China. He has styled himself as a forceful and decisive leader whose authority is unchallenged and unchecked by the co-equal branches of government. His adherence to democratic ideals and respect for the rule of law has long been suspected while he was still running for office for the first time. A suspicion that has lingered, and confirmed, when he assumed office. His indiscriminate firing of his officials, disregard for simple and basic rules, issuance of executive orders which were overruled by the courts, etc. are conduct unbecoming of a head of state. They only reinforced people’s concern that he would stifle democracy and disregard the people’s sovereign will.
Trump has done everything to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost decisively, whether by electoral counts or popular votes. Trump’s action is an utter repudiation of the time-honored tradition of peaceful transfer of power by the defeated incumbent president to his duly elected successor. His adamant refusal to vacate power is totally unimaginable and all the dubious acts he and his cabal have done to perpetuate Trump in office are the most execrable and odious political machinations we have seen since the US was founded more than 240 years ago. None of his predecessors had done any of the irregularities similar to what Trump has committed. He summoned Michigan’ state legislative leaders to alter their election results in his favor; he called several Attorney Generals of the swing states to reverse the election outcomes; he asked the Republican governors of Georgia and Arizona to help him win in their states; he filed several lawsuits to invalidate the election results giving mandates to his opponent and he has repeatedly made unfounded claims of massive cheating in the election without presenting an iota of evidence to prove his point. His recent telephone call, which lasted for almost an hour, with Georgia’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, urging him to find 11,000, more or less, votes for him to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia smacks of the devious mind of the President to corrupt the electoral process.
Trump’s acts have seriously and irreparably undermined the Americans’ faith in democracy. As of this writing, it’s not yet known what has happened to the Congressional challenge to the States’ certification of the electoral votes. This constitutes Trump’s last-ditch effort to block the final declaration of Biden’s triumph during the last presidential election. Trump’s legislative allies have vowed to turn this purely perfunctory function of the US Congress into a major showdown designed to further inflame Trump’s partisans into action. This last push to change the election results is unlikely to succeed but it is political survival for Trump’s die-hard loyalists. Regardless, the damage has been done and the US Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves, wondering what has happened to their nation “conceived in liberty” and whether their democratic “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”