The high cost of recalcitrance

President Trump is fast running out of schemes to overturn the election, as court after court has rejected his campaign’s implausible claims. But it’s apparent he has not exhausted his attempts to sabotage the policy landscape Presidentelect Joe Biden will inherit on Jan. 20.

Trump’s refusal to accommodate a smooth transition of power is not just a spasm of pettiness that once and for all should put to rest the question of whether the selfabsorbed 45th president puts his vanity and quest for power above the nation’s interest. It is dangerous to the public health and national security.

Of most immediate concern is the lack of coordination on strategies for addressing the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken more than 255,000 lives and is raging across the country. A president truly concerned about the wellbeing of his people would be working with his successor to share information, synchronize public health messaging and develop logistics for distribution of vaccines to hundreds of millions.

“If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind,”

Biden said. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”

Many Americans are going to suffer economically as a result of the Trump administration’s recalcitrance. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has abruptly turned off an emergency lending program administered by the Federal Reserve to help businesses along with state and local governments. The Fed will be forced to return $ 455 billion in unspent funds that could have helped soften the economic shock from the virus. The move will force Biden and the new Congress to start over in negotiations to revive the program — a formidable task in a polarized Washington.

On the foreign front, Trump’s move to reduce U. S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 each — just days before Biden is scheduled to take office — presents significant military and diplomatic challenges for the new president. The Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban this year had linked U. S. troop reductions in Afghanistan to a reduction in Taliban attacks. In fact, those ground assaults and bombings have increased in recent weeks. If the situation continues to deteriorate, Biden may be put in the untenable position of having to send back troops to one or both countries.

It has been nearly three weeks since election day, and Biden has yet to obtain access to the Presidential Daily Brief, the topsecret summary of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis. It is important to note that one of the 9/ 11 Commission’s recommendations was that an incoming president must have access to the latest intelligence “as soon as possible after election day.”

Trump reportedly has been planning to tighten sanctions on Iran, which could complicate Biden’s stated effort to reengage the United States with the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump has also been said to be contemplating military options against Iran, which could seriously escalate tensions in the Middle East.

At least some of Trump’s lameduck moves can be reversed. For example, his administration has been pushing to ease safety regulations on offshore drilling in the Arctic. The Biden administration would have an opportunity to withdraw that proposed rule before it’s finalized.

Still, there are actions that Biden will not be able to undo, such as the expected flurry of nominations to the federal judiciary, with its lifetime appointments. While it’s not unusual for a president to take some enduring actions on the way out — President Bill Clinton’s order establishing seven national monuments in his final three days comes to mind — the scale and audacity of Trump’s moves are not just unprecedented, they are putting American interests at risk.