Sergey Podlesnykh/Staff Writer
On Saturday morning we finally got a call in the tight 2020 Presidential race that made history; Joe Biden was announced the 46th President of the United States. However, the President-elect doesn’t take his oath until January 20 and the lame duck is already trying to legally challenge the election results. As such, this upcoming two-month transitional period is expected to be extremely volatile and dangerous for American politics.
All seasoned hunters know that delivering a lethal shot is a crucial part of boar hunting. If the beast drops dead, the result is obvious, there’s no second-guessing yourself, and the hunter is safe. By contrast, a wounded enraged boar could become extremely aggressive, blindly attacking everything in sight. A landslide didn’t happen, so Joe Biden failed to deliver that lethal shot. Now cornered, Donald Trump refuses to concede, treating the Elections as merely one lost battle in an ongoing war. Let’s look into the dangers of the President’s seeming reluctance to accept the election results.
Do you think Donald Trump was controversial, provocative and divisive before the elections? My sweet summer child, this whole time he was still restrained by his reelection prospects. Now, he has nothing to lose. For Donald Trump, it is now or never. His only bet is a dangerous “all-in.” He has only two months to fight back and keep the presidency slipping through his fingers like the sand of Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s campaign announced the intent to appeal the election results not even 24 hours after the polls closed on Tuesday. Remembering Kimberly Guilfoyle’s cringeworthy promise of “the best” that is “yet to come”, I’m afraid anything might be on the table for the incumbent.
Will the Supreme Court review the election results? Will some mail in ballots be cancelled? Will Trump’s team attempt to influence the electors to sway the electoral college? How about an executive order invalidating results of certain counties or states? We might want to listen to Ed Stark from Game of Thrones, because our political winter is coming.
Even if Donald Trump doesn’t succeed in overturning the inconvenient election results, he is still our sitting president for two more months. The incumbent on multiple occasions mentioned that he still has “plenty of time till January.” Expedited Supreme Court reviews of Affordable Care Act or Roe v Wade don’t sound that unrealistic. Another controversial foreign policy decision might be the finishing “stroke of genius” for the outgoing President. These two months might not be enough to keep Donald Trump in the Oval office, but it could be plenty to undermine American internal and foreign affairs for the next four years.
I have faith in the American system and hope we will see a smooth transition. But if we have learned anything from Trump’s presidency, it is that he breaks existing rules and defies the established system. We have seen many “firsts” in the last four years, culminating in the first time in history the Presidential candidate declared his victory before all the votes were even counted. Another character from Game of Thrones, Tywin Lannister, made a relevant notion: “Any man who must say ‘I am the king’ is no true king.”
So far, it sounds like the President is still in denial. I’m not sure if we are ready to see his “anger” or “bargaining.” Brace for impact, America, this lame duck might prove to be very dangerous.
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