I’ve never discussed Trump on this blog. My content has always been an exercise in synthesizing my own thoughts, or sharing what might be a novel way to look at things, or documenting events in a way that might not be captured elsewhere. I’ve also had a personal rule that any content eliciting negative emotions had to be actionable in some way. None of these criteria were met.
I’ve changed my mind. Trump is unique among his contemporaries; a demagogue whose unbridled narcissism has created a cult of personality and killed hundreds of thousands. Half of Americans have bought into his vision and a good number of Canadians too. His supporters in Canada can teach us something: that a significant percentage of people don’t find incontrovertible evidence relevant.
It may be that future historians regard Trump’s presidency as a darker period than McCarthyism. But it could easily be the case that they do not remark anything particular about this period at all; equating it with past administrations. So I want to cover Trump’s record at this late point in his first term.
Trump’s Record
Trump says his power as president is total. Calls the free press the “enemy of the people“. Calls to imprison his political opponent. Advocates for torture. Calls his vice president a “pussy” for not throwing out the 2020 election result and installing him as president. Encourages his supporters at rallies to beat up protesters (Trump: “knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees.“). Praised his supporters who ambushed the bus of his opponent and tried to run it off the road. Incited a mob to violently take over Capitol Hill and watched in glee as those inside ran for their lives. Pardons a convicted war criminal. Resumed the death penalty; killing more incarcerated people than any predecessor in the past sixty years. Blamed news organisations when one of his supporters sent them and prominent Democrats pipe bombs. Refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power. Banned a social media platform with 100 million US users. Planned to introduce white supremacist “patriotic education” in schools. Surrounds himself with those found guilty of criminal behaviour (his personal lawyer and campaign chairman are in prison.) Intimidates judges ruling on matters related to him. Calls law enforcement “human scum”.
Directs public funds into his businesses while President to enrich himself. Directs campaign funds into his businesses to enrich himself. Sold presidential pardons to enrich himself. Was working to sell exclusive media access while President to enrich himself. Petitions foreign governments while President to move events like the British Open to his properties to enrich himself. Operates a fake charity to enrich himself. Cheats taxes to enrich himself, paying only $750 in federal taxes during the first year of his presidency and none 10 of the 15 years previous. Puts his unqualified children in positions of power and pushed to make his daughter vice president.
He acts like a despot, and like one, has a distaste for fair elections:
Asked Russia to hack his opponent during the 2016 election which they obliged within five hours. Trump’s campaign had direct knowledge of the hacking, and organized to fetch it, which the campaign covered up. The campaign shared internal polling data with Russian intelligence for use in election interference efforts. Trump personally covered up meetings with Kremlin affiliates for dirt. Russian intelligence dumped the data to Wikileaks, and Trump through his advisor and son then communicated with Wikileaks (Trump: “I love Wikileaks!“) and coordinated on how to use the illicit information. Trump’s advisor reached out directly to Russian intelligence, helped draft pro-Russian tweets at Trump’s behest, and was found guilty of charges including witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Once in power, Trump fired the FBI director after the latter refused to drop the investigation into Russian electoral interference and commuted the sentence of the advisor who reached out to Russian intelligence. Trump lost the popular vote, but lied that it was because 3 to 5 million undocumented immigrants had fraudulently voted.
During the 2020 election, Trump secretly threatened Ukraine if it did not open a bogus investigation into his opponent’s son. He also publicly pressured China to investigate his opponent’s son. He lied about electoral fraud to delegitimize potentially unfavourable results. He opposed funding the Postal Service during the pandemic to, in his words, block mail-in votes in service of his lie of electoral fraud. Trump also beckoned his supporters to vote twice to service his lie. His Department of Homeland Security ordered its analysts to stop investigating Russian election interference, despite intelligence showing Russia was interfering in the 2020 election. Trump’s electoral campaign also orchestrated a third presidential candidate that’s intended to lose, Kanye West, to take votes from his Democrat opponent.
Throughout his presidency, Trump also repeatedly suggested he would not abide by presidential term limits. He also committed not to accept the results of the election if he lost. After losing the 2020 election, he manufactured conspiracy theories to falsely claim he actually won, filed or beckoned allies to file 62 lawsuits to overturn the results, pressured the Department of Justice to overturn the results, and in a last desperate act, he incited a mob to take over Capitol Hill to install himself as president. Five people died.
Trump likewise praises authoritarians:
Praises the Saudi crown prince after he was found complicit in the murder of a journalist who was an American permanent resident and bragged about blocking investigations of the crown prince in the murder of the Washington Post journalist. Praises Putin and took Putin’s word over his own intelligence after Russia interfered in the U.S. election. Said he was falling “in love” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Called the Egyptian president his “favourite dictator“. Said “Hitler did a lot of good things” on the same trip that he called American soldiers who died in war “losers”.
Silence is another theme. As Hong Kong was roiled in protests for democratic freedoms, Trump promised silence on the issue to the Chinese President. Trump was also silent on the crackdowns on protests for democracy in Belarus. When Russia murdered an ex-national in Britain, Trump was silent, deferring to the Russian position that they had no involvement, despite his own secretary of state acknowledging the contrary. When Russia poisoned the opposition leader with the same nerve agent, Trump said there was “no proof”, despite his own secretary of state acknowledging the contrary. Trump also never brought up with President Putin the bounties the Russians had for killing Americans, calling them a “hoax” despite his own secretary of state acknowledging it was real. When Russia hacked into American agencies, Trump blasted the claims instead suggesting it was China, despite his own secretary of state acknowledging it was the Russians.
Trump’s bond with authoritarians is also financial. In addition to working with Russian intelligence to rig American elections in his favour, Trump as candidate and then president was also trying to build a property in Moscow, with the possibility of giving a $50 million dollar penthouse to Putin. Saudi lobbyists meanwhile paid Trump by booking 500 rooms at his hotel businesses following his electoral win. It should be noted that Trump owed over a billion dollars in debt during his presidency.
Trump admonishes democratic leaders:
Trump insulted the Danish Prime Minister and cancelled a trip to Denmark because they wouldn’t sell Greenland. He threatened to destroy Canada’s economy, imposed tariffs on the grounds that Canada is a national security threat, boasted about lying to the Prime Minister when the latter presented facts, blocked shipments Canada had ordered of medical equipment during the pandemic, insulted the Prime Minister on multiple occasions, and ordered his staff to do so too (White House aide: there is a “special place in Hell” for the Canadian PM). He said “Mexico is not our friend.” Trump shoved the Prime Minister of Montenegro and later asked why NATO should defend the nation at all. Trump also insulted the French President, German Chancellor, British Prime Minister, Japanese Prime Minister. At home, he’s insulted the governor of California, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Washington.
Trump is a racist and venerated by white supremacist terrorists:
Trump tried to sell the Puerto Rico because it was “dirty” and “poor”. Called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”. Implemented this ban. Told Chinese President Xi that putting millions of Uighur Muslims in concentration camps was the “exactly the right thing to do“. Called white supremacists “very fine people” after they chanted “Jews will not replace us“, murdered one person, and injured 28. Supported by the killer in that attack. Posted a video of a couple chanting “white power” and called them “great people”. Defended the front-seat supporter of his rally who killed two Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Said “just shoot them” and “crack their skulls” of civil rights activists. Praised by the terrorist who killed fifty Muslim worshipers at a mosque in New Zealand. Supported by the killer of six Muslim worshipers at a mosque in Canada.
Proposed shooting asylum seekers in the legs to slow them down. Proposed shooting crowds protesting the murder of an unarmed black man by police. Pardoned mercenaries responsible for a massacre in Iraq. Promoted the conspiracy theory Obama wasn’t born in the US because he’s black. Said the only reason Obama got into Columbia and Harvard was because of “affirmative action“. Said an Indiana-born judge was unqualified to preside over a case because he was “Mexican”. Told congresswomen to back to where they came from because they weren’t white. Intentionally separated children from undocumented parents as punishment with no plan to reunite them. Alleged undocumented immigrants were rapists and murderers. Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate“. Called athletes who quietly protests racism by kneeling during the anthem a “son of a bitch” but his supporters shooting Black Lives Matters protesters with paint ball guns are “a peaceful protest… Paint is not bullets.” Had peaceful protesters for racial justice and journalists attacked with tear gas and batons outside the White House. Instructed federal agencies to stop diversity training that covers race, calling them “anti-American propaganda”. Blocked pre-existing plans to put a black American hero Harriett Tubman on the $20 bill calling it “political correctness.” Asked the Department of Education to defund schools that use the Pulitzer-winning 1619 Project that teaches about racism. Instructed the white nationalist group Proud Boys to “stand by” on national television (Proud Boys celebrated the acknowledgement and responded by saying “standing by sir“). Endorsed by the former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke as well as the KKK newspaper. For his part, Trump refused to condemn the KKK and David Duke explaining “Certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong”.
Trump also adds sexism to the mix:
Recorded saying he grabs women “by the pussy” without consent. Said “women; you have to treat them like shit“. Raped his ex-wife. Described his daughter as “voluptuous” and said “if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her“. Raped a journalist. Sexually assaulted numerous other women. Paid $130,000 on the eve of his election to cover up an affair. Bullied a teenage girl unprovoked. Entered dressing rooms of naked teenage girls to ogle them. Said the moderator who asked him about his record demeaning women had “blood coming out of her wherever“. Only had kind words for an acquaintance after she was detained for sex trafficking minors. Endorsed a Republican nominee even after it came out he was a pedophile. Refused to take care of his children. Banned diversity training in the federal government that recognizes sexism exists. Created a climate where female generals slated for promotion saw those delayed out of fear of a sexist backlash from him.
Then there’s the cult of personality:
Called himself “a very stable genius” with “a very, very large brain“. Said “I’m a perfect physical specimen, and I’m extremely young“. Said he had “great and unmatched wisdom“. Said “I know words, I have the best words.” Said “I know more about ISIS than the generals do“, “There’s nobody bigger or better at the military than I am“, “Nobody knows more about trade than me“, “Nobody knows more about taxes than I do“, “I know more about courts than any human being on Earth“, “Technology — nobody knows more about technology than me“, “I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth“, “I know you better than you know yourself“, “I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world“, “I’ve done more for the Black community than any other president“, “Nobody has more respect for women than I do“, “I am the hardest working President in history“, “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one“. Called to be awarded the Nobel prize on multiple occasions. Said “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters“. Trump’s lawyer later argued that if Trump shot someone on 5th Avenue, he wouldn’t face prosecution. If Trump doesn’t know something, then he’ll claim no one knew it, to maintain his superiority. Those around him are compelled to praise him publicly in bizarre display. Welcomed supporters of the conspiracy theory that “a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring” have been plotting against him.
Lied about things trifle and serious such as crowd sizes during his inauguration (Press Secretary: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe“) despite clear photos showing otherwise, mistyping the word coverage as covfefe (Press Secretary: “I think the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant”), being self-made when he inherited $413 million from his father, proposing injecting disinfectant into people to kill the coronavirus and falsely claiming he was saying it sarcastically the next day “to see what would happen”, or altering the map of the projected path of a hurricane with a sharpie to fit his previous erroneous remarks about which states it would hit. The president’s counselor and conservative media have called such falsehoods “alternative facts“.
All experts are removed from positions of power as Trump fires anyone who voices alternate views to his uninformed beliefs. Promotes the “Deep State” conspiracy theory to deligitimize lawful behaviour in government. He required his name to be put on taxpayer-funded food aid boxes and relief cheques as if it was his money. The entire Republican Party has aligned itself with this personality cult and actively purges all dissent. Resulting are moments like the CPAC chairman saying a Republican senator was disinvited from the conference and should “fear for his safety” for dissenting; Herman Cain’s Twitter account stating coronavirus wasn’t deadly after Cain himself died of the virus after catching it at a Trump rally; and the White House asking to cover up the name from the USS John McCain as Trump disliked the deceased senator it was named after. The Republican embrace of Trump’s nepotism was on display with the Republican National Convention speaker list, which included family members given senior roles in government following Trump’s election despite no experience. Among the speakers were Donald Trump Jr, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tiffany Trump, Eric Trump, Melania Trump, Lara Trump, Ivanka Trump, and of course Donald Trump. The embrace of his racist messaging culminating with the invitation of a white couple to the RNC who were only known for threatening with an assault rifle and hand gun protesters for racial justice walking past their home. Meanwhile, Trump wants to put his face on Mount Rushmore with the White House reaching out to South Dakota to make it happen.
He is a bully that defers to name-calling:
Said to millions of Twitter followers that his niece was “rightfully shunned, scorned and mocked her entire life“. Didn’t want to name his son Don Jr saying “what if he’s a loser?” and later called his son, then four year old, a loser. Called U.S. Representative Maxine Waters is an “an extraordinarily low IQ person” (one of Trump’s supporters who attended his rallies later sent Maxine Waters a pipe bomb). Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is “Jeff Bozo“. He responded to teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg winning an award by belittling her. He’s incapable of using his former political opponent’s name without prefacing it with an insult, having called her names at least 480 times so far (she was also sent a pipe bomb by the Trump supporter). There are literally hundreds and hundreds of other people he’s insulted on Twitter during his presidency with grade school insults.
Despite Trump’s propensity for personal insults, he is extremely thin-skinned himself, incapable of taking even taking carefully worded criticism with grace.
There’s also the absence of empathy:
Insulted at least six hundred people, places, and things on Twitter since his declared candidacy. Went to see a movie the night his brother died, orchestrated the cut of his brother’s family from the inheritance, and cut off medical care to pressure them. Made his other brother’s death about him. Made his father’s eulogy about him. Made 9/11 about him; bragging hours after the attack that he now owned the tallest building in NYC (which wasn’t true). Made the deaths of three colleagues in a helicopter crash about him by fabricating a story that he had nearly gotten on himself. Cancelled a trip to a cemetery of lost American soldiers in France because it was “filled with losers“. Called former president H. W. Bush a “loser” because he had been shot down in WW2. Asked to exclude veterans who had had amputations from a military parade because “nobody wants to see that“. Mocked a person with a physical disability. Fired transgender people from the military for being trans. Oversaw dozens of actions to effectively eradicate trans people from public life. Made a speech to the boy scouts about his grievances and wild parties on a yacht. Continuously rips up papers that someone then has to painstakingly put back together. Refused to pay hundreds of people who worked for him. Insulted a deceased congressman. Falsely accused a television host critical of him of murder. Falsely accused his political opponent’s father of helping the JFK assassin. Falsely accused his opponent of ordering Seal Team 6 killed (they’re alive). Falsely accused his political opponent of using performance enhancing drugs, of being a pedophile, of being part of an organized crime family, and “hurting God“. Mocked his opponent for having a pneumonia. Moved to deny aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria because one politician didn’t sufficiently praise him. Denied that thousands died in Puerto Rico, asserting it was under 20. Blamed California for the wildfires they were suffering from because they didn’t “rake” the forest floor and ordered to cut aid to those who lost their homes because they didn’t support him politically.
He has killed hundreds of thousands to service his image:
Called the urgency to address the coronavirus a democrat hoax to hurt him. Purposefully undermined national testing efforts during the pandemic to make the numbers look better. Said he took “no responsibility at all” for the lack of testing. Threatened to fire top doctor at the CDC for warning about the pandemic. Wanted to refuse an American cruise ship from docking and getting tested because it would make the numbers look better. Wanted to send sick Americans abroad to Guantanamo Bay to make the numbers look better. Called to “liberate” states from lockdown measures to stop the spread of the virus. When a militia would then try to kidnap the governor of one of these states, Trump responded by saying “she wants to be a dictator” and “lock them [these governors] all up“. Constantly downplayed the pandemic and the associated loss of life. Continually promoted hydroxycloroquine as a treatment for covid-19 without evidence and even after it was proven to increase fatality. Suggested injecting disinfectants. Lied about vaccine timelines to serve his election. Consistently opposed measures to have the public wear masks or enforce social distancing, despite being life-saving. Belittled reporters and his political opponent for wearing masks during the pandemic. Refused to even wear a mask at mask factories. A factory of medical swabs had to throw out a day’s production after Trump and his entourage toured without a mask. Falsely accused hospital staff of stealing protective equipment during the pandemic instead of acknowledging the shortages. When a nurse told him about the shortage she experienced, he rebuked her. Publicly refused to have the federal government help acquire protective equipment, forcing all states to compete with each other driving up price, and then laughed when a state rep said they couldn’t get protective equipment because the federal government outbid them. Moved to deny coronavirus aid to states that weren’t sufficiently praising him. Derailed coronavirus task force meetings to center his unrelated personal needs. Cut all funding to the World Health Organization without warning during the pandemic blaming it for criticisms of his own response. Boasted about his ratings being the same as The Bachelor reality show during the pandemic. Gave his response a perfect 10 out of 10. When asked what he could say to comfort Americans during the pandemic, responded “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say.”
Said the coronavirus was good because he didn’t have to shake hands with “disgusting people”. When 130,000 Americans had died, Trump said doctors and the CDC were lying and that measures against the virus were a ploy against his re-election campaign. Trump supporters started to send death threats to a prominent immunologist, his partner, and his children. A Cornell study subsequently found that 38% of all English-language misinformation about the virus was linked to Trump and that the president was “the single largest driver of misinformation”. Lied that when people got the virus, they became immune. When over 7 million Americans were infected with the coronavirus and 200,000 Americans had died, 20% of the global deaths, when 1 in 1000 Black Americans had died from the virus, said he had no regrets, said he had done a phenomenal job, said that it affected virtually nobody, dismissed the deaths as being in “blue” states, and kept organizing large indoor campaign rallies despite state directives prohibiting indoor gatherings. Presidential nominee Herman Cain would die of Covid after attending one of Trump’s rallies and a Stanford study would reveal that the rallies had likely been directly single-handedly responsible for 700 deaths.
After all of that, days after again mocking his opponent in the 2020 election for wearing a mask and his entourage refusing to wear them despite requirements to do so, days after again stating lockdowns were a liberal ploy against his election, after promoting hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure for covid and saying he was taking it himself, Trump tested positive for covid. So too did the Republican National Convention chair, Trump’s press secretary, his chief of staff, his vice president’s aides, his campaign manager, his wife, his son, and a number of others who had contact with him. None of this would change their refusal to abide by or advocate for simple measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. Even though he was infected and contagious, Trump refused to isolate himself or wear a mask while at the White House. He subsequently ordered to kill the covid relief package for Americans, disparaged his political opponent for stating that he would “listen to the scientists“, said the death toll was a lie by doctors for money, called the scientists working to stop the spread of the virus “idiots“, and after 9 million Americans were infected and 230,000 had died, repeated the claim that the pandemic was a hoax aimed at hurting him politically. By his last day on January 20th 2021, in the span of just a year, 400,000 had died of the disease. If the country had had the same per capita death rate as neighbouring Canada, 250,000 more Americans would have still been alive come Trump’s last day.
It goes on and on…
The man is a textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder with the Republican Party as his enabler. He seems only capable of thinking of his immediate emotional gratification, which consists of servicing his fragile ego. Any empathy is performative and every comment designed to serve him in the moment and little else.
The consequence of this is that he will contradict himself within the same speech, has uttered over 30,000 falsehoods during his tenure, attacks journalists that correctly report events, attacks all levels of government that face crises, refuses to listen to experts instead believing himself to have superior knowledge in all things, and refuses to accept any information that doesn’t portray him as better than everyone else (Trump: “‘What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening“). There is no ability to genuinely listen, admit error, or to acknowledge room for improvement. Where others are humbled he attacks or lies.
Trump’s unbridled narcissism has made him a disastrous leader during crises; from Charlottesville, to the mass shooting epidemic, to the constant killings of unarmed Black Americans by white police officers, to Hurricane Maria, to the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s no stretch to assert that a hundred thousand have almost certainly died because of his inability to behave any differently. He does not believe in democracy, does not believe in term limits, and has publicly interfered in the electoral process. He is openly corrupt, using the power of the presidency to personally enrich himself. He is a white supremacist publicly venerated by terrorists around the world.
The Republican party bears unique blame for this tragedy. They propped up Trump’s actions and messaging at every opportunity and aggressively attacked any dissenting voice within their own ranks. They set the messaging that would appear on their unofficial media outlet, FOX News, bolstering conservative public opinion in his favour. Trump is one man, and would have never been able to harm at scale were it not for these hundreds of enablers.
Evidence Doesn’t Matter
Nearly half of Americans support Trump. His support remains the same now as it did in 2017, despite everything listed above.
Even a significant percentage of Canadians support him. This isn’t about a lack of evidence, or communicating things in a way that reaches people more effectively.
The issue is that these facts do not matter to a large proportion of the population. 63% of Trump voters in 2016 were uneducated white people. 77% of white evangelicals voted for him. As did 62% of white men. These are the groups who are least likely to question their support for him. Their existing bias is validated in Trump’s messaging that demonizes immigrants, Muslims, and poor people. Their existing bias is validated in Trump’s racism, sexism, transphobia, and performative puritanism. They’re not going to ditch him when the alternative is a potential challenge to this bias. They’re going to support him and work backwards from there to fabricate a narrative that accommodates these facts. Some might even revel in Trump’s ugliness, seeing the pain inflicted on others as soothing; revenge against those they believe responsible for the world changing in ways they didn’t want.
That brings me to the point I want to get to.
There’s this idea that overwhelming evidence or a perfectly crafted argument is enough to change any mind; this is how conservatives and liberals alike like frame rights discourse in “the marketplace of ideas”. But in the real world, it doesn’t matter if there’s overwhelming evidence or the perfect argument. Unless someone is already on board with much of what is being said, minds won’t be swayed. It’ll take many interactions for people to nudge their views, and for those who have enough privilege that they can disregard these realities without consequence, they might never be convinced.
The header image is of Kim Il Sung surveying a chicken factory. Like Trump, he was presented as the expert in all things and all dissenting voices were purged. His policies led to great famine and poverty within North Korea.
Update: Post-2020 Election
December 2020
It’s now after the 2020 election and Trump lost the presidency by a small margin. 74 million Americans voted for him. 81 million voted for his opponent Joe Biden. Trump has refused to accept the result, falsely stating he won, calling the election a hoax, and calling the election rigged.
Republicans are willingly supporting this reckless behaviour. After Trump lost the 2020 election, the Secretary of State promised a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration” and the White House Press Secretary talked about actions for the “second Trump Administration“. The official Twitter account of the Republican Party stated “President Trump won by a landslide.” Meanwhile the Senate Majority Leader refused to acknowledge Trump lost as did the House Republican Leader. Trump’s campaign has launched over 51 lawsuits to overturn the results of the election, and Trump personally pressured a certification board to invalidate the results in Michigan, personally pressured the governor of Georgia to overturn the election results, and called the Republican Secretary of State in Georgia the “enemy of the people” for asserting that the electoral outcome was correct. He then threatened the Secretary of State unless he falsified the vote count to overturn the result. He instructed the Department of Justice to “just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” Republican attorney generals representing seventeen states brought forward a lawsuit to overturn the election results in states that voted for Joe Biden. 126 of 196 House Republicans signed off on that lawsuit too. Trump’s former National Security Advisor suggested imposing martial law and sending the military to states that had voted for Biden, which Trump then inquired about implementing.
Trump is one man. This autocratic behaviour would be over if Republicans stopped enabling his worst instincts. But they don’t. They welcome it.
As the disaster of Trump’s candidacy and then presidency unfolded, I thought there might be a point where Republicans would finally stand up. But one day’s rock bottom became the next day’s ceiling, and so it was for the entire time he was in office. The emperor wore no clothes; a final post-election reminder was when either as a transparent con or through incompetence, Trump’s staff booked a press event at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company instead of the prestigious Four Seasons hotel to falsely claim he had won the election.
At the end of his tenure, it turns out there never was that point where Republicans were willing to object. Not with the blatant white supremacy. Not with his attempts to overturn the election results. Not with his attacking any effort to stop Covid-19. They were with him until the very end, there to encourage and make real his worst whims.
Their gross negligence killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
January 6, 2021
On January 6, the Republicans had lost the presidency, the House, and now the Senate with the Georgia run-off. It wasn’t a resounding repudiation, with the Senate being lost by a single seat.
Trump for his part, was completely ignoring the pandemic. January 6 represented the most deaths up to that date, with nearly 4,000 Americans dying in a single day, bringing the total to 370,000. Trump was instead obsessing over his electoral loss of two months prior and he beckoned his supporters to a rally for January 6 outside the White House.
At the rally, Trump said that there was a mass conspiracy against everyone in attendance, that the election had been stolen, that he would never concede, that his vice president was complicit, and that Biden would be an illegitimate president. His aide, Rudy Giuliani, said it was time for “trial by combat“. Trump then told his supporters to march down to Capitol Hill, and that he’d be with them. “We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore” Trump told his audience. The tactic wasn’t new; Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone had prepped the launch of “Stop the Steal” in 2015 in case Trump lost that election.
Trump’s supporters immediately stormed Capitol Hill following the rally. Five people were killed. 140 police officers were injured. The mob built gallows and chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they broke inside. The vice president inside with his wife and daughter were ferreted away and hid as Trump launched another tweet attacking him. One supporter planted bombs at the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee. Inside the Capitol, Trump supporters yelled to “kill the infidels“. The rioters caused $30 million dollars in damages. Trump for his part, offered warm support for his supporters while they ransacked the building. He purposefully blocked efforts for sending in assistance to protect the staff caught inside. Trump was delighted at the chaos and tweeted “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away” as well as “Remember this day forever!“. Twitter responded by deleting his tweet and suspended his account for 12 hours. In the following months, 500 people were arrested for the events of that day. Trump, unrepentant, would defend the chants to “Hang Mike Pence” as “common sense”. He would view the day with pride, his only admonishment reserved to the media, for in his view failing to give him “credit to the size of the crowd” he attracted.
On the one year anniversary of his supporters storming the capitol, Trump would release a statement saying that the Democrats were “the ones who tried to stop the peaceful transfer with a rigged election”, that “the real insurrection … took place on November 3rd” (election day), and to “Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!” In 2022, Trump would call to terminate the constitution to overturn the results.
This wasn’t even the first time Trump supporters had stormed a capitol building. The previous April, Trump had tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” with his supporters then storming the Michigan legislature with assault rifles. When it was revealed that his supporters hatched a plot to kidnap the governor, Trump blamed the governor instead calling her a “dictator“. All of this because the Michigan government had instituted basic measures to help prevent the spread of the deadly pandemic. Now in January Trump had launched a mob because more Americans had voted for his opponent.
Republicans in office supported Trump’s desire to overthrow government. As calm resumed on the evening of January 6th, 121 of House Republicans voted to throw out the election outcome and install Trump as president. A number of them starting coming up with new conspiracy theories to write off the events of the day, insisting that the people who pillaged the Capitol weren’t Trump supporters. The New York Times found through tracking cellular data that 40% of those who attended Trump’s rally had then immediately proceeded the Capitol. Facts didn’t matter. More Republicans would blame Joe Biden for the riots than Trump himself with most of them asserting that it was the work of the left-wing while Republicans in office would block any investigation. One Republican who was photographed barricading doors and hiding behind security personnel with guns drawn that day, later insisted the insurrectionists were just like normal tourists.
No introspection or accountability from Republicans would ever come for this failed coup, but two weeks later, on January 20th, Joe Biden would be inaugurated as president. With it, the particular nightmare of Trump as head of state was over.