73 DAYS OF CHAOS LOOMS
Fears over actions before exiting White House
With his inflated ego mortally wounded by the first defeat of an incumbent president in four decades, Donald Trump’s 73 days left in power will be far from quiet.
Trailing Joe Biden in the final critical battleground states, already the US leader is pumping steroids into his usual chaos and confusion, discrediting the election process that four years ago put him in power.
Trump has made clear he has no intention of conceding and respecting the vote counts, doing what he only knows best by launching lawsuit after lawsuit demanding he gets his way.
His family have backed him, with his son Don Jr turning up the heat on leading Republicans, warning them of the potential political cost not supporting his father could do to their careers.
Trump’s increasingly unhinged behaviour has sparked fears that until the president leaves – or is evicted – from the White House on January 20, he is hellbent on creating as much long-lasting destruction as he can.
“Like a wounded animal, Trump is more dangerous today than he was whi le comfortably sitting in the Oval Office,” political pundit Tori Malvern said.
“He will remain a hero among millions of the Republican electorate and, with his aggressive style of politics, any resistance to his plans will be f iercely met by his loyalists. They will view any prevention of his wishes as treason.”
Trump is set to use his three months left to put his house in order while the protection afforded by the Oval Office still exists.
It is a point the president seems to know only too well after, in July 2017, he tweeted he had the “complete power to pardon”. Months later, he returned to Twitter to add he has the “absolute right to PARDON myself ”.
Before relinquishing his grip on power, it is feared he will use the time to seek revenge on some of his perceived adversaries.
Angry at a defeat, he may fire or sideline several senior officials who failed to carry out his wishes as he saw it.
They could include FBI director Christopher Wray and Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases specialist, who is still battling the pandemic.
But a broader purge of the government will heighten the danger for Trump in making more enemies who might have
damning information they can later use against him.
Elsewhere, his cronies have signalled Trump will continue to pack the courts until he leaves with judges sympathetic to him – a move backed by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham.
The president could also use his last days in power to try to install more officials in political and career posts – seeking to ensure his policies continue after he leaves.
On Wednesday, Majority leader Mitch McConnell signalled he might try to hold up Biden cabinet secretaries, who need to be approved by the Senate. It would ensure Trump’s influence on lower-level officials continues long after he has packed up and moved to his Florida mansion, Mar-a-Lago.
Unlike Jimmy Carter and George H W Bush, who were ousted after just four years with heavy defeats, Trump’s 70million votes from Tuesday will provide him with the ammunition he feels to do as he pleases until Biden’s inauguration.
Until a new generation of Republicans step forward, he could position himself as the capo dei capi of the party. Some even feel he will take on a mob-boss like aura within the party, with Republicans making a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago seeking his blessing. “It isn’t like his Twitter account or his ability to control a news cycle will stop,” said Brad Parscale, the president’s first campaign manager. “Trump also has the largest amount of data ever collected by a politician. This will impact races and policies for years to come.”
Others hope, l ike other one- term presidents such as Gerald Ford, Carter and Bush, he fades back in the political shadows drawn instead to the bright lights of TV.
Trump has long toyed with launching his own network to compete with Fox News, while in private he has suggested the idea of running again in 2024. Even if his days as president are over, his 88-million-strong Twitter following gives him a big voice.
However, he also needs to be careful that his greatest mouthpiece could also one be taken from him as he ends his presidency. Recent weeks have seen Twitter flag many of his tweets as misleading.
Twitter chiefs believe people should be able to hear from world leaders even if their posts are controversial. But private citizens, of which Trump will be one, are not afforded the same protection and are open to having their accounts locked or shut down if they break Twitter’s rules.