Donald Trump has made very few public appearances since the results.
Washington, United States:
A week after losing the U.S. election, President Donald Trump remained locked in the White House on Tuesday, pushing an alternate reality that he is on the verge of winning and blocking Democrat Joe Biden’s ability to prepare for the transition.
“WE WILL WIN!” The Republican President tweeted, adding, “WE ARE MAKING GREAT PROGRESS. RESULTS START TO COME NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The post referred to Trump’s unprecedented move for a US president to challenge a lost election, refusing to concede to his opponent and staging a flimsy series of court challenges in states where Biden won.
Several combinations were dismissed almost immediately and the rest clearly have no chance of reversing Biden’s slim but convincing wins in multiple states.
Trump’s attempt to cling to power has become all-consuming for the man who often makes a point of publicly mocking his rivals as “losers.”
Since polling day on November 3, he has made few public appearances and appears to have virtually put aside normal presidential duties.
His only known activities outside the White House were playing golf twice over the weekend after the results were released.
Normally, routine secret presidential briefings are not part of the daily schedule. He made no mention of the dramatic rebound of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country.
And his once almost daily press conferences, interviews with Fox News, or impromptu question-and-answer sessions with White House reporters have dried up.
Instead, Trump has spent much of his time tweeting, mostly about what he claims to be the stolen election. Sometimes he references favorable comments from right-wing hosts on Fox News, tweeting quotes from shows throughout the network’s daily program.
Trump’s only significant presidential action was the brutal sacking of Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, which he announced on Twitter.
– Transition blocked –
Exactly four years ago on Tuesday, Trump had just scored his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton and visited the White House for the first time as a guest of outgoing Democrat Barack Obama.
This courtesy to elected presidents is an old tradition, underscoring the nation’s almost sacred respect for the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump, who took office promising to shake up institutions and what he called the “deep state,” is now breaking another custom.
Not only did he fail to invite Biden for a chat in the Oval Office, but he blocked the Democrat from accessing the facilities, funding, and expertise that are typically provided in a ready-made package for help the new leader.
The release of this transition assistance is being controlled by the head of the General Service Administration, Emily Murphy, who has been appointed by Trump.
Biden, who won with a record number of votes but acknowledges that nearly half of the electorate nonetheless backed Trump, apparently chooses to ignore the chaos.
Rarely mentioning Trump, Biden set up a coronavirus task force and gave his last political speech on Tuesday – this time on the fate of the Obamacare healthcare plan that Trump is asking the Supreme Court to dismantle.
– Republicans support Trump –
Washington is buzzing with speculation about who, if any, in Trump’s inner circle will ultimately persuade him to leave.
Former President George W. Bush, the only living ex-Republican president, praised Biden on his victory, but he is an outlier in a still very popular Trump-dominated party.
On Monday, Republican Congressman Senator Mitch McConnell said Trump was “100% within his rights” to challenge the election in court.
How long that level of support will last – or even how long Trump will want to keep hanging on to the presidency – is unclear.
None of the lawsuits appear to have the potential to change the outcome of the votes, and even a planned recount in Georgia, or elsewhere, would likely not change fundamental mathematics.
But Trump added a potential new weapon to his crusade against the results on Monday when his attorney general, Bill Barr, agreed to allow investigations into “specific allegations” of fraud.
Barr added a caveat that “specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for launching federal investigations.”
However, Barr’s unusual intervention in the dispute has raised concerns that Trump will go even further in his efforts. The Department of Justice’s senior electoral crimes prosecutor, Richard Pilger, resigned in protest.
Biden’s inauguration is January 20, at 71 days.
