Donald Trump: the worst president in US history
No American president had pushed democracy to the limit by not accepting defeat
Almost 20 days have passed since the expected presidential elections in the United States. On this occasion, the circumstances imposed by the pandemic, forced the elections to be carried out in large part by voting by mail, a legal and traditional option in the United States.
Those same circumstances led to the registration of votes arriving in many cases with a dropper, being one of the elections in which the data updates took the longest to consolidate. Still, it soon became clear that while the results initially seemed to favor Donald Trump (since most of his supporters voted in person and face-to-face votes were tallied first), the advantage would soon be for rival Joe Biden, who, as the weeks have passed, has taken the lead by a difference that can no longer even be classified as adjusted.
Yet Donald Trump is unwilling to admit defeat or accept the will of the American people, and is abusing the power of his office to try to reverse the election results, orchestrating a far-reaching pressure campaign to persuade Republican officials in Michigan, Georgia and other states to overturn the results in a frankly alarming scenario.
DEMOCRACY IN DANGER
Until now, Trump has been insisting that the imaginary lawsuit be resolved in court. Let's not forget that as a real estate mogul that was always his strategy: to sue his rivals until they ruined them with infinite complaints. After the courts have dismissed dozens of unsubstantiated allegations from Trump's campaign of widespread electoral fraud, the president is now trying to stay in power with an all-out assault on the integrity of the vote by spreading misinformation, not to mention lies, and trying to persuade loyal Republicans to manipulate the electoral system on his behalf in a scandalous and shameless move.
In an extraordinary press conference at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, his lawyers claimed without evidence that there was a centralized conspiracy with roots in Venezuela to manipulate the US presidential elections. Already the lawyer Rudy Giuliani had suggested that many votes were sent to Barcelona (in Trump's list, Spain appears as a communist country). The legal team alleged voter fraud in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and other cities whose municipal governments are in Democratic hands and where President-elect Joe Biden won by wide margins, with no evidence being provided to support that or any other claim by fraud.
REASONABLE CONCERN.
On Capitol Hill, high-level Democrats have expressed concern, calling these maneuvers close to treason and undermining the very essence of democracy.
Not only do Democrats disagree with the would-be dictator's dangerous tantrum, some Republicans have begun to break ranks and side with democracy. Senator Mitt Romney is among those who have condemned Trump's actions saying that "the president has now resorted to open pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and annul the elections," adding that "it is hard to imagine a worse and more undemocratic act on the part of a sitting US president. " Trump is disdaining the ballot result by trying to prevent key states from certifying his results, while he recruits Republican state officials to nullify Biden's victories by putting Trump voters in the electoral college. That is, he is trying to change the rules of the game after the elections have been held in order to adulterate the results.
THE TRUST OF BIDEN
Joe Biden is being confident (perhaps overconfident) that Trump's increasingly intense effort to maintain power will fail. Trump's focus for the moment is on Michigan, where Biden is the projected winner and leads by more than 157,000 votes. Trump invited Michigan Republican state House and Senate leaders to meet with him at the White House before tomorrow's state canvassing meeting to certify the results. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer showed her concern by explaining that state laws do not allow for the tricks the sitting president is trying to pull off his sleeve by meeting Republicans behind her back.
In Georgia and Pennsylvania, where Republicans also control local legislatures, officials said Trump's ploy had little chance of success.
A top adviser to Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger (R), said there is no chance the secretary will receive a phone call from the president or his advisers. Yet for the past few days, Trump has been publicly harassing election monitors to intervene in the recount, discard ballots and 'change' the result, which currently shows Biden as the winner.
AN UNPRECEDENTED LOSER
Never in the history of the United States has a president refused to leave the White House peacefully. Of the 44 presidents who served before Trump, 35 voluntarily surrendered power to his successor after their two-term limit expired, lost an election, or chose not to run again. Eight other presidents died and one resigned.
WHAT HAPPENS IF DONALD TRUMP REFUSES TO LEAVE THE WHITE HOUSE?
There are several steps that lead to a president-elect assuming full control of the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021. These include the deadline for resolving ballot disputes, as well as the outcome of the voting of the electoral colleges, which takes place on December 14. After that date, Vice President Mike Pence will announce the election results on January 20. It could be that by then he has prevailed pressure on Trump to accept (at least in private) his defeat.
Otherwise, there is no precedent for a president who has lost the election to entrench himself in the Oval Office, so no one can say for sure what will happen. What is known is that once the legal disputes have been resolved and if it is proven that he has been defeated, he really has no right to remain in the White House. Political science professors tend to agree that if the president refuses to leave office, the Secret Service and the FBI will spring into action. If Trump were to be dragged out of the White House, a national crisis could possibly ensue. Although many trust that Donald Trump will listen to reasons and avoid a possible civil war only to avoid going to jail due to multiple processes against him, or to pay off his large debts, it must not be forgotten that Trump is currently trying to leaving the nation in the worst position simply with the intention of making it difficult for his successor and calling for rebellion with his incessant tweets in what can only be described as the attitude of a sore loser he prefers, rather than admitting defeat , "Let Rome burn."
