Whether Trump eventually demonstrates the same dignity and graciousness is hard to say. He is beyond unconventional and his deepest base of supporters have a cultish affection enjoyed by few previous losing candidates. But no one gets to defy every convention.
By not leaving on a high note, he may find himself in a political purgatory that Thomas Dewey, the losing Republican candidate of 1944 and 1948, likened to the drunk who passed out at a wake. “If I am alive,” the man said, “what am I doing in this coffin? If I am dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?”
The MSM and social media have already decided this. Trump could give an eloquent concession speech tomorrow, announce complete cooperation with Biden's transition team and leave on the final day with a prayer for American success. It will make no difference. The speech will be reported as "minimal" and "bitter". "Unnamed sources" will say that he's actually blocking the transition team. His departure will be described as "skulking". These articles have already been written and are just waiting to be published.
ReplyDeleteLiberal academics will excise all the positives of the last four years - and yes, there were plenty - and write up the history of this presidency as four years of unremitting hatred and darkness. And those of us who were there will just shrug, until the moment where we recall something positive Trump did and are told "No, that never happened!"