He questioned the integrity of the elections ... and sought to inflame the anger of his supporters

Trump has caused lasting harm to American democracy

  • Al Gore quickly admitted defeat, as for his rival, George Bush.

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  • Trump's behavior affected his supporters.

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What US President Donald Trump did, after the election results emerged, the doubts he planted, and the allegations he made, will remain after his departure.

Restoring confidence in the democratic process will take time and effort.

And as I wrote, during the 2016 campaign, when Trump was threatening not to accept the loss to Hillary Clinton, democracy depends on the recognition of the losers;

And agreeing to the right of the winning candidates to rule, and not to raise grievances among supporters.

For now, the complainants may be more inclined to sabotage democratic institutions, at a time when the losers must acknowledge the legitimacy of the process that has worked badly for them.

And since the winners have a greater incentive than the losers to continue playing the democratic game, "the losers have the right to (veto) the democratic game."

When I spoke to him before Trump agreed to the transfer of power, Sean Bowler, one of the co-authors of the book “Loser Consent,” told me that he views Trump's refusal to compromise as not just a noise, but, also, a signal.

"When a soccer team loses, the defeated players do not attack the referees and the opposing team nor condemn them," Boller said. "If you do not respect the rules of the game, you will not play this game anymore."

UNIQUE Commentators say Trump is unique, and thus his challenge to the democratic process is an isolated event.

Even so, Trump's challenge to democracy is rooted in broader discontent.

André Blaise, another co-author of “The Losers’ Consent, ”told me that“ America is in deep trouble, ”referring to the country's faltering democratic institutions and sharp party polarization.

Blaze believes that "there are very few politicians like Trump," so he remains "cautiously optimistic" about American democracy.

But he noted that the underlying dynamic of the losers ’approval was clearly" not working well "in the United States, and not just because of the president's reaction to the election result.

"There is a principle that your role is sometimes, not your role at other times, and it seems that some people do not accept that," Blaze said.

There is no direct precedent in modern American history, or even among other democracies, for what is happening now in America.

Well established democracy

The current president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, refused to accept the results of his country's elections in 2006 and 2012, but he was not president at the time, and democracy in Mexico is less established than it is in America.

Charles de Gaulle had criticized France's Fourth Republic for years, but its collapse in 1958 gave way to a fifth still democratic republic.

"This has never happened to this degree before," Bowler said.

He continued: "A well-established democracy moves away from its own democracy and moves away from its working mechanisms."

Bowler said his concerns go beyond Trump to include many Republican leaders, who have backed his unfounded claims about election integrity.

There may be rational, short-term political reasons behind this, “but there are long-term consequences, which is that they stand by, while someone denies the legitimacy of the election process and says, to varying degrees, 'Yes, that's right,'” as Boller explains.

There are also clear indications that Trump's message is echoing among his supporters, while Republican confidence in the electoral system has declined.

The question, Blaze said, is: How many Republicans truly believe in Trump's fraud allegations, and how many are simply repeating the president's narrative out of disappointment with the outcome?

For his part, Blaise explained: "I assume it is a small minority, but if it is not a small minority, then this is really a source of great concern."

Recent threats of violence against government officials underscore the danger.

In this, Bowler says: “Once people begin to question the legitimacy of the outcome and the integrity of public officials, things can begin to unravel on the WAS scale.” He continued, “We can guess that from now on, many close races will be challenged and described as "Corrupt, so we will see many elected officials have to defend themselves after the elections."

Disappointment

Trump supporters may remain resentful for much longer than usual after the disputed rivalries, creating a segment of the electorate that not only is temporarily disillusioned, but also chronically disappointed.

"People can hold grudges for a long time," Bowler said, especially when those grudges stem from allegations of cheating.

This is why it is so important that the losing candidates give up.

And the statement that Bill Clinton gave, on December 14, 2000, after the Supreme Court halted the recount in Florida, is one of the best examples of losing safely.

"Last night, President-elect Bush and his rival Al Gore showed what is better in America," he said, referring to Al Gore's abdication speech and victory speech by George W. Bush.

More recently, while Trump was tweeting about the "meaningless" 2020 vote, she reached out on "Zoom" with Terry Edmonds, Paul Glastris and John Pollack, the three letter writers who worked on the Clinton statement.

The three remembered that they began work as soon as word was received about the Supreme Court ruling, and Al Gore was determined to waive, as they met at the White House to see what the president would say next.

Glastris recalls that the draft speech was “not bitter,” or “angry,” adding: “He only acknowledged what the people who voted for Al Gore and supported Bill Clinton were feeling.

The speech, in its own way, was acceptable to the recipients ».

In the speech, the reference to Al Gore's defense of the vote count disappeared, and there was no indication of partisan overrun and distrust of the elections.

Yes, the nation was divided and Bill Clinton and Al Gore did not agree to the Supreme Court's decision;

But they accepted the ruling, and Clinton stressed the need to rediscover "unity" and "common ground."

“We worked for the people, and both the president and vice president (Democratic Candidate Al Gore), who were statesmen, realized that this was a moment that required a lot of reconciliation, more than division,” Edmonds said.

Pollack told me that he deliberately concealed his early notes of the statement, in his official speech file, for future generations, because he felt that the point that each vote should count was central to American democracy and the stage of American history in which he was living.

But what happens to our democracy, when the grievances of those who lose the election, and the presidential notes, are not carefully formulated to enlighten future generations, to avoid the feeling of despair that the elections leave?

And what happens when it is published widely.

Or does a losing American president motivate her in the elections, and announce that the entire democratic system in the country is "rigged"?

Trump is a unique politician, Blaze says, but “what if it happened in 2000, today, even without Trump, with all this partisan polarization, I don’t know what would have happened?”, Continuing: “This will be very difficult.”

Uri Friedman is managing editor of the Atlantic Council and a writer for "The Atlantic".

Trump supporters may remain politically disaffected for much longer than usual after the contested rivalries, creating a segment of the electorate that not only feels temporary disappointment, but also chronic disappointment.

Trump is unique, and thus his challenge to the democratic process is seen as an isolated event.

hard mission

In the age of social media, it is impossible to maintain party discipline.

In contrast, clever newcomers, such as Representative in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, can sit safely in her district and call for a halt to police funding and a review of the composition of the Supreme Court, while her colleagues in the purple states bear the brunt of the backlash.

If the political system does not become more responsive, social media will continue to dominate the debate, as a force for the engine of extremism.

Currently, America passes the test again.

Control of the Senate remains in doubt, perhaps another sign of voter wisdom.

Some want to topple every Republican who helped Trump's attack on American laws and values, but the diverse government may be part of the pacification process the country needs.

Americans are badly divided, but they seem to agree that unbalanced, unsupervised executive powers must be addressed.

The foundations of American democracy were shaken, and the honor system tore apart a reckless president.

And the man who wished to be a dictator is replaced by a decent man who has always wanted to be president.

Joe Biden believes in government action, and he believes in America's ability to be better.

And his mission is to unite the country around this principle.

And before America can chart a new course, it must return to the map ... first.

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