Joe Biden was elected president of the United States, but the lame duck Donald Trump is trying to tie up the transition of power with a glut of frivolous lawsuits. The lame ducks can do damage before slinking off on inauguration day, January 20, 2021. Things can get particularly dangerous in this time of COVID-19 crisis. Yesterday November 9, 2020 there were 135,574 new cases of COVID-19 with 1,345 deaths. There have been over 100,000 new cases every day since the election. With the lame duck in charge over 100,000 more people may die before the presidential inauguration.
Trump could encourage the rise of violent domestic terrorists that refuse to accept the outcome of the election while continuing to spread misinformation that the election is being “stolen” from him. Don Jr. has advised him to start having more rallies to incite his “base” and promote the stolen election fraud.
Trump just fired Mark Esper, the countries defense secretary. There is no possible reason for the firing except revenge. Mark Esper apologized to the American people for being seen in the president’s photo opportunity outside the White House when peaceful protestors were gassed to allow Trump to pose with a bible in front of a church. Esper has fought back against using armed military against United States citizens. Esper also backed the idea of renaming military bases named after confederate generals, who like Trump lost the war. Foreign nations are aware of America’s vulnerability during a time of presidential transition and it makes no sense for our defense department to be in turmoil as Biden takes office in January. Trump loyalists are being installed in positions of power in the pentagon. The pentagon might be a hot spot for some radical changes in the next 71 days. It has the smell of Trump trying to create a police state after his loss. Mike Pompeo said in a press briefing today that there will be a second Trump term. Trump’s GOP sycophants seem to be enabling the former president’s fiction that he won the election. They support his fantasy with their silence, fearing death threats from Trump loyalists should they cross him.
Whatever happens in the next two month’s, you can expect Trump to continue his tirade of lies. According to the Washington Post’s analysis, President Trump has made false or misleading claims more than 20,000 times between January 20, 2016 and July 9, 2020. He is likely to issue blanket pardons for himself and his family and destroy any White House documents that could be incriminating.
Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud are causing a continued slip of Americans trust in government. That trust is hard to regain. White supremacists are fueled by Trumps ongoing rhetoric. The Department of Homeland Security finds these domestic terrorists to be the most “persistent and lethal threat” in the US.
I frankly am hopeful that I will no longer have to pay attention to the lame duck grifter.