The End of Trump
I have spent weeks warning about the danger that Trump would pose if he lost the election.
And I was wrong. So wrong.
It has amazed me for four years to see once powerful politicians bending to Trump’s will, living in fear of his tweets. Even foreign leaders walked on eggshells around him. His base was beyond rabid. This election cycle they were willing to risk illness and even death from COVID-19 to attend his rallies.
I imagined that his hold on the Republican Party and his base was ironclad.
I was convinced that if Trump lost the election, he would carry this power and the fear and intimidation that it caused to his new center of power in Mar-a-Lago. I feared that he would set up a shadow government there, encouraging his base to reject the legitimacy of the Biden administration, causing riots and division that might result in civil war.
And I was wrong. So wrong.
Trump’s power has been revealed to be the thinnest of veneers. Once cowed politicians have begun to stand up for themselves and their party again. While not yet openly defying Trump, they are not enthusiastically supporting him either. And a few have begun to do the unthinkable and speak out against him, urging him to allow the transition process to begin.
Foreign leaders who have less to fear from Trump, have been openly welcoming Biden as the President Elect as soon as it became clear that he had won the election.
And Trump’s base, which once seemed so rock solid, has been losing its enthusiasm. The Million Maga March on Saturday was sparsely attended. Crowds were estimated at an anemic 5,000 compared with the 470,000 that attended the Women’s March after Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
And the violence that I had predicted? I think one person was stabbed. The power of White Supremacy is fading as quickly as Trump’s power.
This will only serve to embolden members of the Republican Party against Trump. They have been hesitant to do anything that might alienate Trump’s base whose votes they need. That base seems to be seeping away in a slow, steady trickle freeing the Republican Party to reshape their party and their platform to their liking.
The truth has been exposed. Without the power of the presidency, Trump has no power, no leverage to impose his will on a democratic country. He tried hard for four years to turn this country into a fascist state but in the end, our democracy won. Barely.
71 million Americans voted for Trump. We must never forget that.
Trump’s power is fading each day. By January, he will be a shell of a man, ignored by almost everyone except the sycophants in his closest circle of advisors. And even they may start to drift away as Trump’s presidency winds down.
Instead of a triumphant return to Mar-a-Lago, Trump will quietly take up residence and return to his golf resorts. Once he is a nobody again, he will find it harder to find celebrities to play golf with. Membership at Mar-a-Lago and his other resorts will start to fall.
Trump is said to want to continue to hold rallies, but he is notorious for not paying his bills. Venues were hesitant to say no to a president, but once he is a private citizen, he will find it difficult to book venues, especially ones where he still owes money.
He is also said to want to start a TV network to rival the Fox network. But to do so, he will need to borrow money and with $421 million in loans coming due within the next few years, no financial institutions will be willing to lend him more money.
The authorities will start to close in. Biden may be hesitant to pursue charges against a former president, but New York State will not hesitate. Good luck finding a lawyer. The law firms that are handling his election lawsuits are resigning under pressure from their other clients. No reputable law firm will want to associate themselves with Trump in his defense against the charges that will be filed against him.
Watching the end of Trump is almost sad. We should all be cheering. Instead, exhausted from four years of chaos, lies, grifting and defiance of the norms of our governing institutions, we are all content just to sit back and watch him slither away.
The relief is almost palpable., , , , , , , , ,
