No More Holding My Breath

 Over a week has gone by since I wrote about taking a breath after the election.  I was hoping that something approximating what I remember as “normal” would start to take hold and we would begin the ending of the Trump era in American politics. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be happening.  The opposite, in fact, as Trump continues to tweet lies and mistruths about what happened on November 3rd, and his supporters are becoming more vocal and strident about how the election was stolen from them.  The high point for me from last week’s trend was when Secretary of State Pompeo answered a question about the transition saying it would be a smooth transition to a second Trump term.  

He laughed when he said it.  The reporters in the room were silent.  They weren’t sure if he was trying to make a joke or not.  I’m sure, though.  He wasn’t joking.  

By the time the week ended, though, I was feeling…  I don’t know if “better” is the right word to choose, but I was handling it better.  It was because I had come to understand that what I was waiting for, the departure of Trump from the scene, was simply not going to happen.

Trump isn’t going anywhere.  

This is not to say that I think he’ll somehow find a way to invalidate the election results.  That, thank goodness, doesn’t seem to be going his way.  Very few of his lawsuits are gaining any traction for the obvious reason that there is no proof to back up his claims.  And at least one of the law firms hired to pursue his commands have quit their efforts and stopped working to further his claims.  Eventually, I think these efforts will reach their logical conclusion and come to an end.  At which point in time Trump will give his version of a “concession speech” where he’ll admit that the election was stolen from him due to a rigged conspiracy of forces and that he’s moving on to other things.  

But that won’t be the end of the era that he started.  

My clarity in this came from an interview I heard on Fresh Air last week.  Terry Gross interviewed a journalist named Garrett Graff, who writes for Politico, about an article he’d previously written days before the election about the mischief Trump could commit in the last days before he leaves office.  The link to the interview his here: 

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/12/934117807/journalist-details-potential-mischief-of-trumps-remaining-weeks-in-office

The gist of Mr. Graff’s article is that, previously, Presidents would wait to make their most outrageous actions for their final days in office.  After they were termed out or had lost and they had no expectation of facing the electorate again.  This is when they would sign executive actions or give pardons that might have gotten them skewered in public discourse had they done such things earlier in the their terms.  

But Graff points out that President Trump has made a point of creating mischief, and doing all sorts of “norm-busting” things.  So how would such a president conduct himself in the final days of his term?  

We’re seeing some of that already.  Not conceding the election.  Refusing to start the transition.  Preventing the Biden and his staff from receiving the money, office space, and security briefings they need in order to be ready to take control of the government in January.  But as bad as it’s been so far, it could get worse.  

We’ve already seen something of what Graff was referring to.  Not conceding the election.  Refusing to start the transition.  Preventing Biden and his staff from receiving the money, office space, and security briefings they are entitled to.  But as bad and unprecedented as this has been, it could get worse.  

I suggest that you listen to the program to get the complete picture, but here were two possibilities that I found particularly disturbing.  The both take place after the transition and Biden has taken office.  That moment I’ve been waiting for.  

One is that Trump could start plans to create his own presidential library.  Every modern president does this.  That wouldn’t be such a surprising thing.  But what would be surprising is how Trump might go about doing it.  The presidential libraries established so far have been non-profit organizations meant to be museum like places designed to memorialize the issues that faced the president and his achievements in dealing with them.  

Trump could build something very different.  First off, knowing how far in debt he’ll be when he leaves office, an amount measured in the billions of dollars, Trump could make his “library” a money making venture.  Charging for admission from his loyal followers more than willing to pay to see exhibits “proving” his conspiracy theories on how he was illegally ousted from power.  He could create something like a theme park, even put it near Disney World in Florida, his adopted state, making money off of the thousand of fans and supporters that would flock to its gates during summer vacation to praise him.  Imagine the line to get into the “Mail In Ballot Fraud” roller coaster that dips and rolls as “boxes of ballots” are dragged out of the dark to be counted.  

It would be ridiculous and funny except that one can see him doing something just like that.  Imagine such an ugly, garish display spewing out his lies to catchy melodies as people walk about the place.  But instead of “It’s a Small World,” you’re listening to “It’s a Rigged Election” on an infinite loop.  

More disturbing is amount of Top Secret information Trump has been exposed to while president.  What would there be to stop him from monetizing that information.  Using such secrets to force a leader of another country, for instance, to accept some deal to build a Trump Tower in their capital.  Or maybe even something more sinister, like using the information to make some politician or judge vote or rule on an issue in his favor to keep a Top Secret secret.  

Yes, this is speculation.  But given the track record of the man through the four years leading up to his time, where every week seemed to bring some “unprecedented” statement or behavior, what restraint does he have now, especially after it becomes clear that he has to move out of his current residence in January. 

And finally, there is the fact that Trump has made the Republican Party his.  The supporters that he brought into the process, and their votes, are coveted by members trying to run for or stay in office.  To go against Trump is to have them turn on them.  Only those who are not running for office, or someone who has a set of principles they go by, like Mitt Romney of Utah, are willing to speak out against him.  

Trump could run again in four years.  It usually doesn’t happen with the modern presidency, but could and probably will try to run again.  A modern day Grover Cleveland.  

So…  I am not convinced that however convulsive the transition might be, it will only be the beginning of the next political cycle.  Unless something happens to him to take him out of the picture, we will be dealing with him for years.  

As a result, I’m done with waiting.  There’s no more holding my breath.  

Because I’ll need that breath to say something if I hear or see something I need to speak out on.