what Trump's final days in office will look like

[Gordon Tubbs]

I believe Trump will never concede the election.

The only model that can explain his behavior at this point is that Trump genuinely believes he is the victim of a concerted effort to depose him via electoral rigging, fraud, Deep State conspiracy, and/or any other means. It's not like he's entirely irrational in this belief, after all, he was impeached over circumstances surrounding the previous election.

I know comparing Trump to Hitler has become an overblown cliche at this point, but an interesting comparison can be made between Hitler's downfall and Trump's defeat. In the final days of WWII, Hitler struggled deeply with worthiness. He wondered if he was worthy to lead Germany. As the proverbial walls came crashing down around him, he never admitted his unworthiness, rather he said the German people were unworthy of him.

Likewise with Trump we see a man who fully believes he is worthy to lead America, and that his worthiness requires a 2nd term. Now that he has failed to secure a 2nd term, he must now confront his own unworthiness, which he is incapable of doing. And so, what we will see in the final days of the Trump administration is more and more blame shifting. We will see variations on this theme: "If the system wasn't rigged against me, I would've won."

If we do get a concession, it will likely be a reluctant one, nor will it acknowledge defeat in any sense. Trump will most likely say "In accordance with Constitutional Law, I am leaving office today." It will be a matter-of-fact statement that does not reference the results of the election at all. It will be unapologetic.

History will remember Trump as an aberration.

[Spero]

IMO, Trump knows his litigation is a fail, and I do believe he’ll concede once the States have certified. I think losing to Biden is such a blow to his ego that he wants to be able to blame the loss on a massive fraudulent voter scheme, and then say the courts are biased against him..in effect, anything that can get him out of admitting his own big mouth played a huge role in his defeat. To be fair to him, though, I’ll admit things were “rigged” from a media standpoint. Of course, there are right-wing sources that were biased in the other direction, but by and large, the mainstream outlets purposely went to work on him.

He doesn’t exactly have the monopoly on delusional stubbornness in not conceding, anyway. I believe Stacey Abrams is still calling herself the rightful governor of Georgia, with most of the party minions backing her up.

[ArtD]

Gordon: "The only model that can explain his behavior at this point is that Trump genuinely believes he is the victim of a concerted effort to depose him via electoral rigging, fraud, Deep State conspiracy, and/or any other means."

I disagree. He's vulnerable to various law suits which the presidency shields him from.
Forget "genuine belief".  Self-interest explains MUCH more of what he's done over the years.
 

[bdsimon]

If Trump is the tyrannical despot that people make him out to be then we are lucky that he could not control his mouth or his Tweets. If not for that, he likely would have been reelected. In fact, if it were not for his mishandling of Covid he might have been reelected in spite of his outbursts.

[Spero]

If Trump is the tyrannical despot that people make him out to be then we are lucky that he could not control his mouth or his Tweets. If not for that, he likely would have been reelected. In fact, if it were not for his mishandling of Covid he might have been reelected in spite of his outbursts.

If Covid never happened, he probably would’ve been re-elected. I was a whisker away from voting for him myself, and literally at the last second couldn’t do it because of a Covid statement he made.

[wonderer]

If Trump is the tyrannical despot that people make him out to be then we are lucky that he could not control his mouth or his Tweets. If not for that, he likely would have been reelected. In fact, if it were not for his mishandling of Covid he might have been reelected in spite of his outbursts.

Are we lucky or unlucky that he doesn't read?  I'm certainly glad he never read Joe Steele.

[lucious]

You are correct, but remember Trump is a criminal. He is a tax fraud and cheat and an obstructer of justice. The DOJ prevents a sitting President from being charged with a crime and he loses this immunity without the clout of the POTUS chair.

He was not running for President so much as he was running to avoid prison. It's obvious Trump is trapped in a catch-22; he is in a job hes overwhelmed by and cannot handle the sheer scrutiny of the chair and public exposure, but he must remain there to avoid charges and prison.


What absolutely does not motivate his behaviour is a respect for democracy, his countrymen or any sense of patriotism.