Trump Has Already Won
Even if Donald Trump loses the 2020 presidential election he has already won.
Trump’s defining feature is his attention-seeking behavior/mentality. Whether it’s his compulsion to communicate to the American people via Twitter or surround himself with oceans of zealots and sycophants
In that regard, he’s already won. His legacy was written as soon as he took office as the most polarizing president in modern history. He will forever go down as one of the only presidents to be impeached, though if we’re being honest his impeachment was akin to Al Capone’s conviction of tax evasion, guilty of many accusations but what brought them to justice was the only charge that stuck.
The truth is, even if Trump leaves office his reign of terror will continue.
Bit of History
Trump showed zero remorse and denied any wrongdoing during and after his impeachment hearing. His situation shared many similarities with Andrew Johnson, the first president to ever be impeached.
Alexander Hamilton, one of the most influential founding fathers wrote that impeachment is “a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men” accused of violating the “public trust.”
Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 enacting broad protections on citizens following the Civil War. He also granted widespread amnesty for Confederate officers and labeled many anti-slavery patriots as “traitors.”
His inevitable clash with congress led him to visit each state and imploring citizens to take his side and vote for different leadership in congress. His undisciplined and acrimonious speeches led to widespread pushback and heckling. Johnson also famously opposed the ratification of the 14th amendment, which gave Black citizens the right to vote.
If this doesn’t sound eerily similar, it should.
In many respects, Trump’s impeachment was inevitable. His behavior is essentially exactly what impeachment was created for. The founding fathers feared a leader that would abuse executive power and become the very tyrant this country fought against.
After Office
The sad truth is that even after Trump leaves office whether that’s in 2020 or 2024, he’ll still have a rabidly loyal fanbase that will follow Trump. His very existence legitimizes fringe and often problematic behaviors/beliefs.
Typically, presidents who have left office are expected to stay out of politics and quietly fade into their well-earned retirements with maybe a book and some speaking engagements scattered post-presidency. Based on what we know of Trump, it is extremely unlikely that he will simply fade into retirement. He has on multiple occasions told the media that he will fight any result that doesn’t point to his immediate victory.
But assuming he finishes out his presidency, Trump will likely retain his influence over his core fanbase. He will most likely call in his favors that he’s accrued over his presidency and get to work subverting politics and pushing whatever agendas that will result in the most amount of gain.
He could become one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington or influence public opinion and inject fringe misinformation, already one of the biggest problems during his presidency, wherever he sees fit.
His influence may even grow post-presidency as he will no longer have to answer to congress and the Democratic party. He will be free to launch full offensive campaigns based on lies that can derail any effort to break the status quo. He will be able to drop the façade of pretending to care and fully lead QAnon, white supremacist groups, and whoever wants to join what will undoubtedly be a resurgence of xenophobia and self-destructive American exceptionalism.
To say nothing of the possibility that he can just run for president again on 2024 if he loses in 2020 and you can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll try to delegitimize Biden and the Democratic party along the way.
What Can be Done?
Truthfully, not much. Trump won literally and metaphorically in 2016 when his presidency legitimized everything he did and stood for. No matter what happens, Trump supporters can point to the fact that he was at one point the most powerful man in the world and got there through legitimate means, regardless of how antiquated the systems that allowed that to happen are.
The only thing that can take away his power is to delegitimize him. There is a strong possibility that he may just self-destruct one day. But that was a hope that his critics have waited for throughout his first term and he’s weathered them all including impeachment and several investigations.
Voting him out of office does not delegitimize him as it would with other presidents. He has already made clear that his stance is his loss, regardless of the context, would be illegitimate. He has already rallied his forces to his side even in defeat, the sorest of losers.
The only thing to do is consistently beat him down. Defeat him with a large enough margin to make clear he is not the American messiah he claims to be and defeat him again if he runs for president again.
The GOP rebuking the bully that Trump is would be one of the greatest windfalls in delegitimizing him but that is extremely unlikely as they know they’re losing power with every new president. They’ll want to unify as much as possible.
Like a bad habit or destructive addiction we need to quit, we’ll have to take it one day at a time and defeat him whenever he pops up, which will be nearly constantly in the next few years win or lose. We need to elect better people locally and allow them to work their way up because like trickle-down economics, relying on those at the top will always lead to failure.
