Donald Trump: When a Narcissist Loses
For a leader that made “winning” the bedrock of his persona, Trump never acted like one
When one considers the qualities that a leader possesses, words like integrity, fortitude, and strength come to mind. During the course of his presidency, Trump has offered glimpses into his narcissistic persona through Twitter exchanges and rally speeches. Despite the falsehoods, contradictions, and blatant lies, Trump has been able to keep his head up and back straight while peddling his snake oil.
Throughout this election, as the votes slowly stacked against him, Trump took off the mask of false confidence and revealed a coward. He has attacked the election process, falsely claimed victory, demanded a stop to the counting of votes, and threatened mass litigation. Trump never wanted to lead this nation, he wanted to use the seat of President as a shield against the litany of accusations stacked against him.
Trump is not a leader, he is a scared child that is facing his first punishment. Despite his behavior, Trump’s constituents will still follow him off a cliff. They are willing to turn their backs on the constitution and to forgive every transgression, all for the sake of keeping a Republican in the White House. It is up to the informed and ethical members of our nation to rally and to resist the cult of ignorance.
Trump is still erratically swinging at the election process
After the polls closed on Tuesday evening, Americans waited for the first results to start rolling in. To those that were still awake around 1:30 am, they had the privilege of witnessing Trump make a fool out of himself by declaring victory even though Joe Biden was ahead on electoral votes 220–213.
“This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.” — Donald Trump
When Trump realized that he was being ignored by the opposition and reprimanded by fellow Republicans, he doubled down on attacking the election process for the hundredth time since this summer. Trump tweeted and repeatedly made calls to “Stop the Count” and, as more ballots arrived in favor of Biden, Trump seemed to become more unhinged.
He did not even attempt to appear consistent, calling for a halt to the count in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan where he had a lead and demanding that Nevada and Arizona, where he was trailing Biden, to keep counting. With senseless rhetoric and threats of litigation, Trump is taking every action to de-legitimize Biden’s win.
Trump’s followers, yet again, make a case for why fanaticism and blind obedience are a plague in the United States. Hearing their supreme leader’s call to arms, supporters surrounded the election center in Detroit, chanting, “stop the count.” They believed every false allegation of observers being banned from the ballot rooms, despite Trump’s own attorney admitting to the judges that Republican observers were present at all times.
“The federal court denied the Trump campaign’s motion….The President and his campaign representatives had falsely claimed throughout the day that their representatives were not allowed in the room. But their counsel admitted at the hearing, after questions from the court, that they had several representatives in the room. In fact, they had at least 19 party representatives as observers in the Convention Center this afternoon, and more than 15 in the room while the case was being heard this evening.” — 6abc
This is the first time in memory that there has been an American President attacking the election process in this country in such a blatant manner. Even authoritarians and dictators play along and support the legitimacy of the election process when attempting to steal the seat of power. Throughout the election process, Trump never acted as a leader and his attacks on the Democratic process are contrary to our Nation’s traditions.
This is just a continuation of Trump’s tantrums this summer
Before the first ballot was cast, Trump’s administration was attacking the election process in the United States. Since this summer, Trump has overtly cast false accusations at mail-in and absentee ballot voting, claiming vast fraud and conspiracy. Accusations that his devoted followers accepted, ignoring the fact that, over the past twenty years, there have been hundreds of millions of votes cast by mail with a statistically insignificant amount of fraud.
When Trump wasn’t shooting off his mouth about fraud conspiracies, he was spending his time dismantling the efficacy of the United States Post Office. Despite a pandemic ravaging his constituents, Trump’s administration pushed through changes to the USPS that included the dismantling of sorting machines and even withholding funding, openly admitting that this would hamper election efforts.
“Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren’t getting there. — Donald Trump, 08/13/2020”
It was difficult for Republicans to argue a misunderstanding when Trump was laying out his reasoning upfront. The attacks on the election were so blatant that a Federal Judge had to order a halt to the USPS changes.
“It is easy to conclude that the recent Postal Services’ changes is an intentional effort on the part the current administration to disrupt and challenge the legitimacy of upcoming local, state, and federal elections…” — Judge Stanley Bastian
A coward cannot lead
Politics are the last thing that people should pay attention to in a leader. There must be a base-line measure of attributes that would inspire a nation to follow. Trump is the embodiment of this philosophy. Through four years of empty rhetoric, Trump has proven that he is nothing more than flashy packaging with an inferior product inside.
The economy was Obama’s fault. The inefficiencies in the healthcare system were also Obama’s fault. Covid-19 was China’s fault. The rioting is the Democrat’s fault. The tilt of the vote against him is due to fraud. The continued counting is an attempt to steal the election.
If the ship is sinking, the captain doesn’t blame the passengers. Has Donald Trump ever taken ownership of a single aspect of what happened on his watch other than when his ego was stroked? It is like a child pointing the finger at his brother when confronted with the shards of a broken vase.
Now that we are approaching the end of Trump’s journey, how does he face his legacy? With stoic pride and resilience? His latest Twitter tantrum saying, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” makes no such promise. Let's be honest, there are teenagers that faced firing squads with more backbone than Trump is showing. Since the votes turned against him, Trump has seen his immunity slipping away and it shows. His frantic attacks on the election process, false claims of victory, and threats of litigation are the dying swipes of a wounded animal.
This election has seen a record number of voters cast their ballots. If nothing else, this election should be a foundation for continued cooperation and civic advocacy amongst Americans. There is a hope that our nation will see a leader that can unite, rather than divide. As an American, I would like to hold my head up once more.
