Thursday January 7, 2021, Trump finally concedes for the first time acknowledging that there will be a transfer of power. However, it took months for Trump to accept his loss, and after the election results were shown in 2020, Trump claimed that the election was "rigged." Trump manipulated his supporters into believing he won the election, and on November 7, 2020, Trump tweeted, "I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!." Instead of accepting his defeat, Trump tried to pressure Georgia's Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, into "finding" more votes that would overturn his loss.
Trump's response to the incident that happened at the Capitol building on Wednesday was very upsetting to millions of people. In his speech, Trump actually supported the Capitol rioters and commented "we love you" and "you are very special". His response angered many Americans, and even his administration team. As president, it is Trump's duty to protect the constitution, but instead, he supported the destroying of federal property. Even Ivanka Trump initially called the rioters "patriots", but immediately deleted the tweet right after, and followed up with, "The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful."
Fed up with Trump, many angry Americans want to impeach Trump for the second time, or they want Pence to invoke the 25th amendment. This would allow the Vice President to become President when the President is seen as unfit to do their job. However, on Thursday, Trump administration officials announced that they were going to resign after a mob of Trump supporters disturbed the election results. Following this resignation, in his speech today, Trump condemned his supporters and said, "To those that engage in the acts of violence and disruption, you do not represent our country. To those that broke the law, you will pay." He finally accepted his loss in the election and commented, "A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition." After months of Trump trying to convince the people that he won the presidential election, he finally concedes.
What important factors contributed to Trump finally conceding?
Although Trump claims he wants a "smooth transition of power", do you think he really means it? Is it possible that his supporters will try to interfere with the transition of power?
4 comments:
I don’t think Trump's concession is that meaningful. The damage is already done — a significant percentage of the US population believes there was something wrong with the election, reducing trust in the government and delegitimizing our democracy. I think Trump finally conceded because after the storming of the capitol, some lawyer told Trump that if he kept inciting a “coup,” than he would face greater legal trouble. So, no, I don’t think he meant it. I also don’t think that Trump’s concession makes any difference to his supporters. Most of them already selectively listen to what they want to hear (confirmation bias) from the news, so I have no doubt that this is something that they will completely disregard. At this point, impeachment for the 2nd time, or invoking the 25th amendment, would be just to send the message that what Trump did was way out of line; this concession suggests that Trump's rhetoric to rile people up is diminishing, meaning that any last ditch effort by Trump is unlikely (although his administration is unpredictable). On the other hand, it is important to consider how Trump supporters would react to another impeachment or invoking the 25th amendment. If you believe that this country can be healed (including the Trump supporters that stormed the capital,) then an impeachment is the wrong move, as it further divides the two sides. However, if you believe that justice should be served and that healing is impossible, then impeachment/25th amendment isn’t such a bad idea.
I agree with Anarv, Trump's concession of presidential power comes at a time when polarization and hatred has already been built under his fruitless fight to keep his presidency. Over his 4 years as president, Trump has built a real cult of personality around his image. It is clear that public opinion on him is very divided with those who wholeheartedly despise him compared to those that are willing to storm the U.S. capital building and put their own lives at risk to impede the democrat process all in an effort to protect Trump's power. This cult of personality has only become more apparent where, in his recent speech addressing the storming of the capitol, Biden pleads for Trump to put an end to it as realistically he is the only one with the power to reach those people. In other words, the damage is already done. Fulfilling impeachment or considering the 25th amendment should have been prioritized towards the beginning of his presidency and with only a couple weeks left of Trump's presidency I see very little need for congress to pursue such actions. Trump publicly announcing that he will concede is a step in the right direction of a presidential career that has been trailing the wrong way since the beginning. I hope that Trump carries on his promise and conducts a peaceful transition of presidential power when the time comes. As for his supporters, I hope that they follow the only man, thus far, they have listened to. However, with the divided public opinion and polarization it would not be surprising to me that many of his followers will continue to impede such a transition of power. If they were willing to storm the U.S. capital, an attack on American democracy, who knows what they are willing to do.
As both Arnav and Laurent mention, it’s hard to see Trump’s concession as genuine—after months of hammering down on the sentiment that the election was riddled with fraud and that the public should be wary of any official results, I think the idea of belief perseverance outweighs anything Trump can say at the podium in the minds of his incensed supporters; most of them would probably just see it as a formality because it’s (ironically and hypocritically) hard to let go of the narrative of systemic wrong-doing against them. While it is clear that it was the attack on the Capitol that prompted him to finally, explicitly concede, I do think it is a first step in creating an environment for transition, especially with a number of Trump administration officials resigning in the past few days. In terms of another impeachment trial, somewhat contrary to what Arnav and Laurent state, I don’t think it’s a matter of healing a divide or that there’s only a couple of weeks left anyway; in light of the integrity of our democracy, Trump’s actions (which have most definitely contributed to increased polarization and antagonism) are bigger than partisanship—it’s about precedent. A president that lies, incites, commits crimes and literally threatens democracy cannot be allowed to walk away from office without punishment—and that goes for any president, regardless of party—otherwise, the cycle of cheating and injustice will continue.
I agree with Niyati, Lauren and Arnav that it's hard to see this as a genuine concession that happened all of a sudden after months on whining, and outrage. Additionally, he didn't admit that the election was real and reliable rather he reinforced the idea that the election was stolen sending his supporters home more enraged. Instead of trying to calm people down he created a larger divide making sure that even if he's leaving, he is leaving a divided country.
The lack of an impeachment won't heal a divide. At this point the impeachment is needed to set a precedent, that lies and crimes won't be tolerated by a leader especially in such challenging times. If they don't move forward with impeachment, it will set an idea that with such a high position of power and trust placed in one's hands they can still get away with these actions.
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