Trump: When the Emperor Has No Clothes – By Prof. Phil Alalibo

Posted by admin American Politics, Articles, Columnists, Headlines, NNP Columnists Saturday, December 19th, 2020

By Prof. Phil Alalibo | NNP | December 19, 2020 – Since November 7 when Biden was declared the winner of the presidential elections, America has had no functioning president. Trump appears to be on hiatus from his presidential duties, allowing the country to auto pilot to January 20, when Biden assumes office. His resounding loss at the polls is having unanticipated consequences that would compromise America’s ability to remain a strong nation.

Trump was proactive, but for the wrong reasons. In advance of the elections, he alleged an imaginary electoral fraud scheme to set the stage for a protracted legal challenge in event of his loss. More importantly, perhaps to suggest arrogantly that his political defeat could only be possible due to massive electoral fraud. In other words, Trump believes that he could not lose to anyone, certainly not Biden whom he considered a lowly rated opposition.

This narrative of a false sense of political invincibility has driven him to the edge and taken America to the precipice. The idea has given rise to a powerful undercurrent that is threatening America’s democracy. As one political commentator put it, “Trump has become the greatest threat to America’s democracy.” This characterization is usually reserved for known chronic enemies like Russia, communist China, Iran and North Korea. It is profoundly disturbing when the threat is not a nation-state, but the president of the United States who has the means at his disposal with the singular interest of overturning the will of the people. This threat has led to a swat of baseless lawsuits to overturn the votes of millions of Americans.

With no evidence and with no fewer than 80 judges across the country dismissing dozens of lawsuits for lack of merit, Trump has continued to pursue the illusion of an electoral victory, sowing the seeds of doubt in many of his supporters. He has undertaken aggressive efforts to undermine the democratic process by attempting to circumvent laid down election laws and processes, all meant to validate his belief of political invincibility. Trump has made democracy his chief opponent and it bears noting that some of those judges who summarily dismissed his lawsuits and in some cases, severely scolded his lawyers for assuming such baseless suits and wasting the court’s time, were appointed by him.

The Supreme Court where three out of nine justices were appointed by him, soundly declined to hear his baseless claims. Two of the most conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, said that if the case brought by Texas against the four swing states (Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania) complaining about their electoral processes had been heard, they would have promptly dismissed it as lacking merit. But what appears to be a finality of opinion by the highest court has not deterred him from trafficking in falsehood.

For Trump, this loss that has thrown him into an irreparable depressive state, can be viewed through binary lenses. On the personal level, he cannot phantom himself no longer the cynosure of the global eyes. It is no secret that Trump is obsessed with attention, praises and endless recounts of his achievements. This was evident at one of his cabinet meetings where he asked all cabinet members to take turns to stroke his ego. Grown men and women, well accomplished in their professional endeavors before joining the Trump orbit, were seen mouthing praises to him as though a god. They touted his leadership, his abilities and foresight as he listened in approval.

Trump as an adult has not known a life where he is not in a position to command and fire his subordinates at will, if not as head of the Trump business empire, as star of the Apprentice, the TV show that truly made him a household name. This election loss is threatening this privileged life of control. The prospects of losing his immunity from prosecution is also emboldening his insistence of an illusionary victory, taking to subterfuge to remain in power. Trump will be facing a slew of charges at the federal and state levels on his untoward business dealings. It has been speculated that some of the anticipated charges may permanently forestall any hopes of him running for president in 2024.

Trump is afraid of the legal reckoning that awaits him after he leaves office. This is why some say he is obsessed with self-pardon. One does not pardon himself if there are no illegalities to pardon. Thoughts of the restive legal “alligators” waiting patiently at the gates of the White House to devour him after he leaves office, have made him reticent and unable perform his duties even as the country faces a grim future. In a shocking revelation, he has not received daily intelligence briefing in almost three months as president of the only standing superpower. The gravity of this omission can be better appreciated in this hyperbolic example of an army general who fights a war without consulting his intelligence officers to understand the enemies’ strategy, positions and moves. The outcome of such a war will be all but foretold. Yet, Trump is unmindful of this grave omission with unimaginable implications on national security in a climate of Chinese economic and military expansion and Russian surreptitious undertakings to undermine America’s global position.

In the face of worsening coronary virus deaths with over 310,000 total deaths and almost 3,000 daily deaths, Trump has been MIA, not even offering a pretentious display of concern and leadership. Americans are dying in their numbers without national leadership to mitigate the trend. Perhaps, one would have thought that the recent revelation of a serious data breach of some of the most sensitive federal agencies by suspected Russian operatives, including the Homeland Security that is tasked to protect Americans, would prompt a reaction from the Commander-in-Chief. But he remains mute and unresponsive in what one Senator, Mitt Romney, likened to Russian bombers flying over the U.S. threateningly without a response from the U.S.

The scenario playing out in the White House is reminiscent of the character in Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s 19^th century classic folktale titled, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and by variation, “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” Like the vain Emperor in this folktale who was praised by his subjects for wearing the finest clothes with unique properties of invisibility that in reality did not exist, Trump has been misled by his followers as having qualities that make him politically invincible and indispensable that like the Emperor’s non-existent clothes, do not exist.wp_posts