Trump's speech was pathetic, but his authoritarianism is still dangerous
- With his presidency all but over, Trump insisted reality isn't real at a Thursday press briefing. He's following the maxim of his former troll-whisperer Steve Bannon: "flood the zone with s---."
- The president blathered baseless assaults on a democratic process that has no shortage of independent observers vouching for its legitimacy.
- It was such a despicable display by a pathetic, ignorant misanthrope that even a handful of Republicans — including some Trump allies — denounced it as dangerous and unacceptable.
- Trump and his MAGA minions are already calling the election "stolen" and promising "total war." They'd sooner salt the earth and undermine democracy than accept he lost the election.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
President Donald Trump at his Thursday press conference looked every bit the hapless, overwhelmed, morose chief executive he's been for the past four years.
He's always hated honest work, and while he's given it the old trust fund baby try, it's a lot harder to avoid work (such as reading intelligence briefings) when you're the president. The job has worn on him, but even in the face of overwhelming odds he wouldn't accept that he was about to be fired.
It's been said that Trump would be an authoritarian leader, if he weren't so lazy and devoid of political principles. But clearly sensing the end of his presidency was nigh, Trump dug deep and summoned up the narcissistic bravado he's used to grift his way through life.
As he's indicated he would do for months, Trump insisted reality wasn't real and followed the maxim of his former troll-whisperer Steve Bannon: "flood the zone with s---."
The president blathered baseless assaults on a democratic process that has no shortage of independent observers vouching for its legitimacy.
He blamed nonpartisan poll workers for the "surge" in Biden votes that were only counted "late" because the Trump campaign and the GOP in swing states ensured early and mail-in votes weren't counted as they were cast.
Trump implied there's a multi-state conspiracy to steal the presidential election — but not any of the down ballot races where Republicans largely outperformed expectations. He threatened to sue to stop vote counting, and at other times, continue vote counting.
"They're trying to steal an election, they're trying to rig an election, and we can't let that happen … They're trying, obviously, to commit fraud, there's no question about that," Trump said.
It was a despicable display by a pathetic, ignorant misanthrope — so much so that a handful of congressional Republicans including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey denounced it. Even reliable Trump cheerleaders like Rick Santorum and Chris Christie, who headed Trump's transition team in 2016, couldn't abide.
Such belated, tepid rejections of a blatant act of authoritarianism and outright lies were surely done out of self-interest. They feel the ship sinking, and they're grabbing the life vests.
But to their credit, these cautious Trump critics called bulls--- because what he was saying was simply undemocratic, and thus, un-American.
MAGA minions salting the earth
Authoritarians can't spread the "Big Lie" on their own. They need accomplices.
Trump's MAGA minions are doing their part.
His namesake, Donald, Jr., called for "total war." Sens. Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham as well as GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy all parroted the boss' evidence-bereft nonsense. And for good measure, Bannon called for Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray's beheading.
It's all bulls---. But it's dangerous, because it's an assault on democracy.
Sure, Democrats' supporters have undermined the results of presidential elections. They've insisted that the Supreme Court and George Bush's brother "stole" the 2000 election. They've screamed that Russian Facebook bots made the results of the 2016 election illegitimate.
But those calls weren't coming from the top. Al Gore and Hillary Clinton never threatened to illegally occupy the White House once the game was called. Nor did their top surrogates and Democratic members of Congress threaten violence in protest, or tacitly approve of a president who sowed mistrust in basic facts for years.
The details of the "steal the election" conspiracy theory that Trump and Trumpist dead-enders want to cement in the brains of tens of millions of Americans would require the participation, competence, and silence of so many people that you'd need an Alex Jones-level of derangement to believe it.
The process continues to play out, but it's all over but the shouting — in fact Insider and Decision Desk HQ have officially declared it over. Trump lost, fair and square.
This is why Trump's authoritarianism will always be dangerous. People believe his lies as an act of faith. And democracy only works when most of the country believes in the democratic process.
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