The Election 2020 Chronicles, Volume 16. The Trump Chronicles, Volume 150: Reflections on 2020

As 2020 comes to a close I have to make a confession: I had hoped to blog more this year on issues I care about. But after three years of the Presidency of Donald Trump I found it harder and harder. Not only was it difficult to blog, but frankly it was difficult to follow the news.

I don’t say that lightly. I grew up reading The Washington Post and occupied a front row seat into the Watergate scandal. Nobody argues the damage President Nixon caused but in the end democracy won.

But President Trump was different. His contempt for people of color, for immigrants, for those who disagreed with him stunned me to the core. I never felt he wanted to do the hard work of being President but enjoyed the perks (e.g. Air Force One). I also felt he ran for reelection only because he didn’t want to be seen as a looser or a quitter.

As with the majority of Americans I looked forward to the 2020 election as a way to defeat his attempt for a second term. But I also feared his lack of respect for his office or the democratic process would endanger a transition. I wrote about this here last April.

It’s been a little over 8 weeks since his defeat and he has refused to concede. I always knew acknowledging his defeat was a bridge too far for him and I was hardly surprised with his attempt to sabotage President elect Joe Biden’s transition.

But I’m still troubled. It’s bad for our nation if the Biden administration needs to catch up on issues they should have known about in November. It also shows President Trump’s contempt for our nation. Losing another four years as President stings but our nation has previously shown incredible graciousness.

In 1992 Governor Bill Clinton defeated President George H.W. Bush for a second term. President Bush, as was the custom, wrote a letter to his successor and left it on the desk in the Oval Office. The letter teaches us a great deal about the respect for the office. You can read it here. I don’t believe President Trump will do this, even with a box of 64 crayons.

I previously worried that President Trump would refuse to leave the White House but I’ve been reading that this is unlikely. I hope so.

In 2021 I’m going to stop writing on the 2020 Election Chronicles. I hope to stop writing on the Trump Chronicles but given his craving for attention I can’t make this promise.

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