Trump is still president: what he can do in the two months of handover
The president threatens to fire the head of the FBI or the doctor in charge of the management of the health crisis, may try to issue a pardon for himself and hinder the communication of information to the new teams
Donald Trump remains the president of the United States with full powers until January 20 at midnight. That is the time when his term and that of his vice president ends, as marked by the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
This amendment was approved in 1933. Until then, the wait for the president-elect lasted until March. This unusual gap between elections and inauguration stems from the origins of the United States, when travel was a matter of weeks or months and it took enough time for the new president and his team to get around. In the modern era, it has been a comfortable period to do the handover of powers in an orderly manner. It is a time that is used, for example, for outgoing national security, foreign policy and health emergency teams to hold briefings for incoming teams.
One of the most exemplary relays was the one between George W. Bush and Barack Obama in 2008. It coincided with the financial crisis and both teams worked together on the response then. The Bush White House left very detailed documentation and offered specific sessions by areas. Obama praised that transition and, in fact, his obsession was to do the same when he had to take over from the next one. He tried and even left in the oval office Donald Trump a letter, according to tradition, with good wishes.
The W keys
The transition has not always been easy and friendly. When George W. Bush won the disputed elections in 2000, when he arrived at the White House, he found computers that had the "W" key pulled off. Members of Bill Clinton's team had removed them. A form of passive aggressive protest that now seems like an innocent game with what Trump and his small team of faithful can do in these months.
This two-month period with a defeated Trump and even more out of his mind has always been one of the most feared moments on the electoral stage.
"He will purge and grant pardons to his friends and allies. He may try to approve a pardon for himself, although it is not clear if this is possible. He can prophylactically forgive people for any crimes they have committed in office. It is also concerning what those two months could do on the global stage between now and January ", said just before the elections in an interview with elDiario.es David Axelrod, director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago and former Obama campaign manager .
Outgoing presidents do take advantage of this period to grant often controversial pardons (as did Bush, Clinton or Ford, with Richard Nixon). But not in a preventive way or of course to benefit themselves.
And Trump can do much more. It can announce massive layoffs, including the director of the FBI, the CIA and the chief physician in charge of the pandemic crisis, Anthony Fauci. The Secretary of Defense is also in danger. Without brakes, your decisions about foreign policy or what depends on the federal government in the fight against the coronavirus or financial aid can have consequences.
This happens while the United States is living a very tough months due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the third wave of the pandemic. A score of states are breaking the record for daily infections.
What can go better is the part that depends on officials in the White House and government agencies, who have enough power to convey essential information to the president-elect and his team.
But nothing about Trump will be normal. Nor is he expected to leave one of those letters for the presidential courtesy collection. Perhaps the most famous is that of George H. W. Bush, who wrote to Bill Clinton after his election in 1992: "Your success is now the success of our country. I am in your team thoroughly."
