Think the election might restore order? Think again
WASHINGTON » Tuesday, American voters had their say: They gave Democrats control of the House, a check on the chaotic and rageful Trump presidency that left many voters saying in Election Day polls that they felt anxious and overwhelmed.
Wednesday, President Trump gave his response: He will be even more chaotic and rageful going forward.
Trump called a news conference Wednesday and, incredibly, proclaimed Tuesday’s loss “a great victory for us ... very close to complete victory.”
He mocked Republicans who lost, claiming they didn’t embrace him enough: “Too bad, Mike ... Mia Love gave me no love.”
He threatened to respond to House Democrats’ prospective probes of his administration by bringing government “to a halt,” going to a “warlike posture” and directing Senate Republicans to investigate House Democrats.
He raged at the media, renewing his “enemy of the people” accusation, telling CNN’s Jim Acosta “you are a rude, terrible person” and accusing an African-American journalist, PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor, of asking “such a racist question” because she dared to inquire about Trump’s self-declaration as a “nationalist” emboldening white nationalists.
And then, the coup de grace: Soon after the news conference ended, Trump announced that he had ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He hadn’t even bothered to tell Sessions. Trump replaced him with a loyalist, Matthew Whitaker, who has publicly criticized special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia probe and speculated about ways to end it.
This was a brazen and defiant response to the election results by a president who is apparently moved neither by convention nor by constitutional checks on his power. He renewed his threat Wednesday unilaterally to try to rewrite the Constitution’s citizenship provisions by executive order. Rather than offer reconciliation, he trolled his opponents and spun more wild fantasies: The Democrats “agree that a wall is necessary” on the border, Democrats “at a high level have suggested ... getting rid of law enforcement,” CNN has perpetrated “voter suppression.”
Though the Sessions firing had been expected after the election, Trump’s handling of it renewed a sense of looming crisis. Trump, before announcing the ouster, again declared the Russia probe “a hoax” and asserted that support for Mueller had fallen. It’s difficult to see the appointment of Whitaker, stripping Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein of authority over the Mueller inquiry, as anything but an attempt to shut down a probe that has already earned criminal convictions against several Trump advisers.
The defiance of the electorate is breathtaking. Republicans appear to have lost nearly 35 House seats, seven governorships, more than 225 state legislative seats and six legislative chambers. And Republicans’ House losses would be higher if not for gerrymandering.
Trump’s victory claims rest on Republican gains of a few Senate seats — an artifact of a political map friendly to Republicans, not popular will. The latest popularvote tally for the Senate, though distorted by the absence of a Republican candidate in California, shows Democrats leading Republicans by 12.5 million votes. Voters turned out at near-presidential levels. Of the twothirds of voters who said Trump was a factor in their votes, most said they were voting to oppose him.
Most troubling: Trump is acting as though he actually believes the midterms were a triumph. His sacking of Sessions suggests he thinks he can get away with anything — even ousting Mueller — with impunity. And he seems to credit his reckless campaign tactics for his fantasy election outcome.
“Why are you pitting Americans against one another, sir?” NBC’s Peter Alexander asked.
Trump’s reply: “We won a lot of elections last night.”
Trump’s fury and falsehoods sent tens of millions to the polls Tuesday to tell him to tone it down.
Instead, he’s determined to be even worse in defeat.