This is a quick diary from the airport as I’m watching media talking heads debate whether Trump has a “mandate” while ignoring the fact that large swaths of America not only do not accept that Donald “Grab Them By the Pussy” Trump has a mandate, they don’t accept him as a legitimate president. Why? So many reasons.
1. The guy never accepted his twice-elected predecessor as legitimate, coming to political prominence via birtherism, which included accusing President Obama of murder:
No one owes this bigot a shred more respect than he showed his predecessor. He’s unfit to serve on this basis alone.
2. Trump lost the popular vote by 2.86 million and is only being installed into the office of the presidency by the unprecedented machinations of an institution—the Electoral College—that is itself illegitimate and should be abolished.
3. Trump “won” the election with a razor thin Electoral Vote margin that could easily have been the product of a foreign, hostile government’s interference. A majority of Americans wanted to delay the EC vote to more fully investigate Russia’s hacking and manipulation of American media in the run-up to the election. This is more than a “cloud” hanging over Trump’s presidency, it means the legitimacy of his presidency hasn’t been established at all.
4. Trump “won” the election with a razor thin EV vote margin that could easily have been the result of illegitimate vote suppression in Republican-controlled states like MI, WI and NC. Republicans across the country were caught red-handed and hauled into court trying to illegally suppress Democratic votes throughout the summer and fall. We don’t know what they actually managed to get away with, though we do know the GOP has zero commitment to democratic norms. An extremely tight election that may well have been the product of illegal vote suppression/vote purges is simply not legitimate. Don’t like that, Republicans? Then quit trying to cheat your way to victory every. single. election.
The list could go on (we haven’t even talked about the FBI), but I want to think about the bubble the MSM and many DC politicians are living in. While they’ve been busy figuring out ways to appease a certain man-baby narcissistic authoritarian, they’ve been ignoring the widespread anger and disrespect for the political system that produced this illegitimate outcome. Protests around the time of the Inauguration seem like a ripe platform for bursting this bubble and pushing back against the extremely corrupt, right wing agenda Trump is cobbling together. In case anyone from the MSM or DC is reading this: Donald “Grab Them By the Pussy” Trump will never, ever represent America as its president in any legitimate sense. I am not alone in this sentiment, there are millions and millions of Americans who feel the same way.