I want to take a minute to reflect on the rhetoric that Trump is using right now. To just take it at face value and explore what he is saying. So, let's start by stating a few facts that ought to be relatively uncontroversial.
No one disputes that Donald J Trump was the President of the United State of America in 2020. He was in charge. Few would dispute, I think, that Trump was an authoritarian President with trenchant views about China, immigrants, and the media. He never shrank from conflict with China or the media and he managed to build 500 miles of his "beautiful wall". He is a man of firm opinions who speaks his mind.
Moreover it was clear that—love him or hate him—the Republican Party backed him to the hilt, down to the point of throwing the first impeachment trial and voting unanimously to acquit him of a crime he was very obviously guilty of. Trump had the full support of the Senate and strong support from Representatives.
In addition Trump had stalwart support from his Vice President the surviving members of his cabinet especially from the Attorney General Bill Barr and the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. These three in particular appeared to be utterly committed to Trump and Trumpism and willing to do whatever they could to assist him.
If Trump was weak anywhere, perhaps it was his West Wing. Mulvaney in particular made the huge gaff of admitting to criminal behaviour and shrugging it off. He was moved sideways into a negligible role that he only just resigned from. But the replacement was loyal to a fault.
Now as President, Trump controls (one way or another) the FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ, and the military. Not only this but he has appointed three supreme court judges and hundreds of other federal court judges. POTUS is generally reckoned the most powerful person on the planet and as POTUS Trump kept a tight grip on that power and made sure everyone knew it.
Moreover in terms of his person characteristics Trump boasted of being an extraordinary businessman, a deal maker, a very rich man, a man of considerable intellect, perhaps even a genius.
My point is to stipulate all this uncontroversial stuff, even his boasting. And then ask, so how did he allow the election to be stolen?
To be clear the election was stolen, according to him, in broad daylight. Indeed, he began to say that the election would be stolen from him some weeks before it happened. He says he knew it was going to happen. So it not only happened in broad daylight, out in the open, but it happened despite Donald Trump—the most powerful man in the world—with all the levers of power in his hands, with genius level intellect knowing about it weeks in advance.
Of course, if what Trump says is true, then this is the most egregious attack on American democracy since the formation of the Republic. An election was not only stolen but the extent of the conspiracy must extend to virtually every agency, elected official, and civil servant in the USA. Everyone from the seemingly loyal Vice President and the supportive Senate who ratified the election, to the Attorney General who denies widespread voter fraud, to the Supreme Court, and something like 60 state and federal judges who threw our lawsuits. It must include the highest levels of the NSA, CIA, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies; the entire Democratic Party apparatus and election officials and volunteers across multiple states. The conspiracy must include thousands of Journalists across the spectrum of mainstream media with the exception of hyper-partisan right-wing outlets. Thousands upon thousands of people were involved in this conspiracy that seems to have involved more or less everyone outside of the Trump family.
In other words, the illusion of being in control that Trump liked to project must not have been true. In fact, far from being in control, Trump was everyone's patsy. He was taken in by everyone. He is the last to know. The party has been moved and no one told him the new address. This is not a winner. This is a loser.
Trump, according to his own account, saw it coming weeks in advance, but he failed to prevent it. Trump presided over, as commander in chief, the worst failure of the institutions and offices of the Republic in history. If what he says is true then the USA is now has, at best, the illusion of democracy. And on his watch, while he was wide awake, watching it happen.
Now Trump, like all office holders before him took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the US. His own narrative shows that he has utterly failed to fulfil that oath. Indeed he has presided over and failed to prevent the end of the republic and the take over of the US by what he calls far-left or hard-left radicals. He was president when this happened. This was his sacred responsibility to prevent!
If I was a follower of Trump, I would be looking at this record of failure and thinking, "We need a new leader because this one failed when he had everything on his side."
If Trump is telling the truth then he is the biggest loser in history. If he is lying he lost the election and got caught in a lie and wouldn't stop lying. That's less of a loser, but still a loser. Trump's story about being the victim here does not fit with his image as a strong man capable of leading the country. One cannot both be a constant victim complaining about unfair treatment and a strong and capable leader. You can be a victim who needs help or you can be leader who takes charge. You cannot really be both.
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