A little long form in the time of transition
The day before Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, he was visited by Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R-AZ) and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (R-PA). Their agenda was simple. Paint the picture for a failed president that the miasma of Watergate meant that the flashing “Game Over” light was powered by a bipartisan certainty of impeachment and removal from office. In his final days, Nixon was isolated in the White House, withdrawing from contact with his staff and his behavior grew more bizarre from the combination of his angst, insomnia and alcohol intake. Despite the ignominy of moving into his place in history as the only US president to resign, Goldwater, Rhodes and Scott illuminated for Nixon that resignation was the better path for both Nixon and the nation.
It’s clear that Donald Trump is in similarly dark place. His public calendar has been insignificant since election day. He appeared briefly at Arlington on Veterans Day and made a statement in the White House briefing room about the Pfizer vaccine without taking questions. Otherwise, his public schedule has revolved around Mike Pence and George Pompeo, two of his two principal executive branch enablers. And there was the small desk event…His public actions however, have been far more eventful.
Trump fired the SECDEF (apparently via Twitter) and other senior policy officials in the DoD. This also resulted in the DoD appointment of an utterly non-qualified Trump loyalist, Michael Ellis, as the General Counsel at the National Security Agency. Trump fired the head of the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), for the temerity to tell America — and the world — that the 2020 general election was secure, message that speaks to the undeniable non-contestability of the election results. Other executive branch leaders remain in Trump’s sights for score-settling, including the directors of the CIA and FBI. Trump has abandoned any pretense of concern about the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But through his lame-duck appointment to a Pentagon policy position, he resurrected the dubious career of Scott O’Grady, whose celebrity shelf-life has LONG outlived his 1995 adventure after he donated a USAF fighter aircraft to the Bosnian Serbs.
Trump’s post election stance is doubly tragic in the context of both the recent rise in infections and the arrival of vaccines. Taken together, these are more than slow rolling the transition. Trump is in an active and conscious effort to ensure that the next administration arrives in the worst possible situation. It’s insulting to ALL Americans, not just the 80 million who voted for Joe Biden.
Who in his orbit will meet the moment for the nation in 2020 the way Goldwater, Scott and Rhodes did in 1974? The 2020 agenda is a much easier one. Other presidents have lost and been sent home after one term. No matter how unsuccessful Trump’s presidency may be judged, he does not face the singular disgrace that Nixon faced. He’s simply being asked to conduct an utterly traditional rite of American political leadership, passing the baton from one team to another. Who will tell Trump that his legacy will be further tarnished if he keeps breaking stuff on the way out? Who will tell him the undeniable truth that adversaries beyond our borders — and perhaps within — relish his breakage?
Based on post-election behaviors so far, no obvious source of such moral courage is nascent in the GOP. Shame on the entire party for that. How sad that Trump (and the GOP through its complicity) seems only to want Biden’s job made harder during a public health crisis and as millions of Americans desperately wait for help from the related economic hardship. Even if the GOP already has its eyes on the next election, for the good of the country it can PRETEND to meet the challenge, and turn the keys over to the next driver.
Who in the GOP is ready to come out on the right side of history when the balance sheet is reconciled for Trump’s presidency? Who in the GOP is ready to do what’s right for America, and tell Trump that it’s time to recognize tradition, to honor norms and to gracefully assist Biden with the transition? Donald Trump has done enough harm. We know who he is and how he acts. If he’s allowed to do more damage between now inauguration day, the fault rests equally with the Republican party that has enabled his recklessness.
