US Election Drama – Sleepless in the White House



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Donald Trump doesn’t speak like a winner. Sometimes it seems that in the end he no longer believes what he says. But this can be deceptive.

The president looks like a beaten man: Donald Trump after his appearance before the media in the White House.

The president looks like a beaten man: Donald Trump after his appearance before the media in the White House.

Photo: Keystone

When historians look back on the 2020 US presidential election, Donald Trump’s appearance on Thursday night in the White House will undoubtedly play an important role in the elaboration of what happened. The president delivered a speech as full of lies and baseless accusations as rarely, perhaps ever, heard in American history.

He said he would win the election if only legal votes were counted. By “legal” he apparently meant: votes for him. The elections were “stolen” by the Democrats. This is all extremely unfair. It went on for minutes. And since the allegations were so blatant and so devoid of any reference to reality, Major television channels NBC, ABC and CBS have decided to disengage from live broadcasting. That too was a monstrous process.

On NBC, host Lester Holt appeared on screen and said, “We have to stop here because the president has made a number of false allegations.” ABC and CBS reacted similarly. The speech was full on CNN and Fox News, but also on Fox, usually the president’s court broadcaster, the host said there was no evidence to support Trump’s statements. When Fox News is no longer by his side, Donald Trump will be alone.

Senator Graham supports Trump

After this appearance, Trump could only count on his most loyal followers. On the great opportunist Lindsey Graham, for example: shortly before his election in 2016, the senator had called Trump a “racist and xenophobic hypocrite”. Shortly after his election, he became his most hasty defense attorney. He called Trump’s allegations “shocking” and promised to donate half a million dollars to his legal efforts to contest the election.

Senator Graham said the Philadelphia election was “dishonest as a snake”. He talked about Philadelphia because it is still where postal votes are counted. These could help Democratic challenger Joe Biden win a majority in the state of Pennsylvania, even though Trump clearly initially drove there. Without Pennsylvania, Trump cannot win the election, regardless of the results in other counter states.

Minority leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, also stepped aside from Trump. The president won the election, he said. McCarthy looked like a man watching a hailstorm and saying, “What a beautiful sunny day.” Then he decided to go a short distance from bizarre to dangerous expressions by saying, “All who listen: do not be silent. Do not give rest. We cannot allow this to happen in front of all of us.” It just meant that he was urging Trump supporters to take the lead, whatever.

There are also Republicans who are distancing themselves

Other Republicans have distanced themselves from the president. Congressman Adam Kinzinger said, “He’s going crazy.” The president should stop spreading disinformation. Chris Christie, a former New Jersey governor who prepared Trump for the televised duel with Biden, said there was no evidence of the president’s statements. Trump goes wild.

The two Republicans’ statements may have been a harbinger of what some observers believe will happen in their own party – if Trump, as he currently appears, does not win the election. Become a general “Donald who?” be heard.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, where Republican threads come together, posted just one tweet. Now the courts should decide, that’s how it works in America. Otherwise nothing has been heard from him. However, this may be because McConnell doesn’t care who the president under him is.

The fact that President Trump experienced at least one partially sleepless night after his appearance could be followed on his Twitter account, where else. Shortly after three in the morning, he announced that he would win the election with ease with legally cast votes. The Supreme Court should now decide.

Twitter provided this message with a warning. The company had done this more often in recent days, when Trump had spread lies or false accusations. The president was so frustrated that he immediately rolled out a new tweet: “Twitter is out of control,” he wrote.

“Out of control,” however, rather describes Trump’s actions in the face of impending defeat. “Stop the count!” He asked in a tweet, for example. He overlooked the fact that if the count was stopped immediately, Joe Biden would win the election. Of course, Trump just wanted the count to stop where the tide was gradually turning against him.

In Arizona, where he still has little chance of winning despite being behind Biden as in neighboring Nevada, he sees himself on the right track, he said.

Trump didn’t seem combative, he didn’t seem convinced, he didn’t seem like someone who still wants something.

It is part of the traditions of American politics for the losing candidate to give a so-called “concession speech,” in other words, a speech in which he acknowledges defeat. This is certainly the only speech you don’t want to make in politics, but it is also an occasion to demonstrate greatness.

Nobody expects Trump to deliver such a speech, at least not without rebelling again. And it is still too early. Nothing is decided in nominal terms. However, what Trump did on Thursday night was, in a sense, exactly that: a “concession speech”. Not a dignified speech, but the speech of a candidate who has lost.

Trump didn’t seem combative, he didn’t seem convinced, he didn’t seem like someone who still wants something. One could almost say: he was lying to himself, but perhaps he no longer wanted to believe himself. As he trotted off the podium with slumped shoulders, he looked like a defeated man.

He read most of his speech from the newspaper, mostly monotonous, sometimes hesitant. It seemed like it actually had nothing to do with the text, a particularly noticeable impression when he was at one point told by his challenger how “Mr. Biden” spoke. Trump gave Joe Biden many names. He called him. ” Sleepy Joe “,” Creepy Joe “,” Crazy Joe “,” Slow Joe “, he also called him” Joe Hiden “. But he never spoke of him as Mr. Biden. No doubt someone else wrote it in his manuscript .

Biden is warming up for the victory speech

It was expected that Trump would hang on to defeat. It was announced that he would send his lawyers immediately after the election. He said it as if he were about to free a pack of hounds from the chain. In fact, these lawyers are all over the country. And it is Trump’s right to check whether the elections are fair. (Read the Analysis “Trump is no longer about votes, but about chaos”.)

Joe Biden also appeared in public again on Thursday. He has not yet claimed victory for himself, but he is still very presidential now. “Democracies are a bit messy sometimes,” he said. “And sometimes it takes a little patience. But this patience has been rewarded for 240 years with a system of government that the world envies us “.

One can argue about this statement. But while it looked like Donald Trump had delivered the first part of his farewell speech at the White House, Joe Biden looked at that moment as if he was gradually warming up for his victory speech.

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