President-elect Donald Trump used to be all about rigged voting conspiracy theories. Back in the days when he was as convinced as everyone else that he was going to lose that is. In victory, he seems curiously reticent to investigate claims of voter fraud.
Democracy is a flawed creature yet it provides a singular advantage over all other systems. It’s stable.
The desire to flip over cars and storm government offices is curtailed by the simple fact that if you really do not like your elected representative then you are free to fire them once every four years or so. The spirit of 1776 would never have occurred had American colonials been granted a full voice in government.
Which is why Trump’s warning that he would keep the American people in suspense as to whether he would accept the election or not was one of those ‘face-palm’ moments.
It was, as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted, “Horrifying.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojgkAI0EHX0
Or was it?
Numbers Racket
Up in the nosebleeds we saw only the childish antics of a man-baby seemingly intent on throwing his rattle out of the pram and wailing at the injustice of it all. It was all commensurate with the Trump we had come to know and loathe the past year. It was the last refrain of a cornered animal, the conspiratorial whispering of an ash-delicate ego. Here was the last gambit of the thin-skinned prophet teetering on a pulpit made of vague promises and contemptuous lies.
There was another layer to all this, though.
Elections are not inviolate. A commitment to democracy is one of those moments of intersection between the rough and the smooth. You take your wins and you take your losses. The split between the number of Democratic and Republican presidents is split fairly evenly down the middle. When you think about it, we’re all losers, really.
Such thoughts, however, are positioned atop the uncomfortable salient of 21st century life. As the political fault lines grind together in a paroxysm of mutual contempt, the need for transparency has never been higher. There can be no post-truth, fake news, dissonance aversion when it comes to the results of the election. Competing sets of figures cannot be allowed; win, lose, or draw, the only result that matters is the truthful one.
Where the result is in question, the American people must be kept in the very sense of suspense Trump alluded to.
Post Truth Hurts
As the reasons for an almost inevitable impeachment of Trump mounts thanks to his clear intention to turn the United States into a kleptocracy, it’s no wonder that people are looking for a do-over. Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s use of crowdfunding to force a recount in Wisconsin won’t change the results of the election, not unless fraud on an unheard of scale is discovered. Even then, recounts in other states would have to be called, and called in Clinton’s favor at that.
Not that it matters. What matters is that the events of election night are examined, turned over, and debated. What matters is that the electorate on both sides can step back from the primal urges of tribal politics and accept a defeat as being regrettable, and painful, but ultimately legitimate.
Would that Trump could be so magnanimous. Sore winner? Sore loser?
Take your pick, he’s got all the bases covered.
The Truth Is Way Out There
Trump’s response to an attempt to shine light on the results was more torrential than presidential as he unleashed the kind of compulsive tweet-rage that we are by now — somewhat depressingly — all too familiar with.
For Keith Olbermann, it was all too much. The hashtags started to fly.
What, @realDonaldTrump, was that bullshit from you this week about everybody uniting? #MinorityVotePresident #GoEffYourself #Resist pic.twitter.com/Jh0QemlKIJ
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 27, 2016
The only narrative that Trump is interested in is the one that exists in his own head. An election rigged in his favor would be one he would applaud, even if it hinted at foreign intervention. That would just make him smart in his eyes.
An interest in truth and justice? Such notions in his eyes are for losers like Hillary Clinton, a woman he has now twice threatened to prosecute. Considering all of this, Olbermann’s response was perfectly rational.
Honest to God, @realDonaldTrump – shut the fuck up. #Resign pic.twitter.com/mkQMPDIZTz
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 27, 2016
RE: Sign Here Please, Mr. President-Elect
President Barack Obama was absolutely correct when he said that Trump:
“… Doesn’t have the temperament, or the judgment, or the knowledge, or apparently, the desire to obtain the knowledge, or the basic honesty that a president needs to have.”
Indeed, whole chapters of books could be dedicated to the list of desirable qualities Donald Trump lacks. So until such a time as a recount overturns his victory, until such time as he gets himself impeached, the mantra we need to adopt is quite simple really.
#resign.
Oh yeah, and if Trump could shut the fuck up while he’s at it? That would be super.
Featured Image via screenshot from YouTube video
