It will be mild
Donald Trump once again is saying he will not accept the results of a rigged election. And what constitutes a rigged election for Trump? Any election he doesn’t win. That lack of acceptance, as you may recall, even included the results of the election of 2016, a technical loss for Trump, as Hillary Clinton got approximately 3.5 million more votes.
None of this is news to me. As some of you know, I had the misfortune of having two malignant narcissists in my life under two separate circumstances. Those of you who have experience with narcissists know exactly what I mean when I say that narcissists have a certain infuriating predictability. They never lose, and they never admit it when they lose. Every loss comes with an accusation of cheating by the other side, or at least an excuse of some kind.
Speaking of Hillary Clinton, in her understandable innocence she once said that we needed to win the 2020 election by a landslide, otherwise Trump would contest the result. I said then what I say now, there is no election result that Trump will accept under any circumstances if he loses. We could beat him in November by the biggest landslide in history and he will still say the election was rigged, and his followers will agree. More or less.
But there is some very good news here, brothers and sisters, and I suspect you already know what it is. This time I think things are going to be a little different. When Trump loses this time, the protesting crowds will be a little smaller, their protest will be a little less passionate, there will be little or no damage. The anger of 2020 just isn’t available this time.
Why do you suppose that is? I think it’s in part because of Joe Biden’s overwhelmingly successful term of office. We will have to wait for the final judgement of history, I’m afraid, but I believe that Joe Biden is the most successful US President in history. Virtually everything he does is crowned with success. And there are no scandals or screw ups, no huge tragedies on Biden’s watch. There are no Watergates, no Monika Lewinskys, no Iran-Contras. Inflation and gas prices are coming down, jobs and confidence in the economy are going up, America has a thriving infrastructure and a record breaking stock market.
Every screw up and scandal these days comes compliments of Trump and the Republican Party. With Biden you get nothing but good old-fashioned, quiet competence. With Trump you get infamy, smut, theft, treason, sleaze and the looming prospect of prison. With Biden you get winning, with Trump you get whining.
It’s very difficult to work up an authentic anger with things as they are. Trump is facing the same problem Hitler faced in 1926-1929: things are just too goddamn good for Biden, and things are just too goddamn bad for Trump. And this time, unlike Hitler, Trump is simply too old to make a comeback.
Should we expect some problems from a 2024 win for Biden? Absolutely. Will it be like the January 6th insurrection? I sincerely doubt it. The storm warnings just aren’t the same. So go ahead, MAGA, do your worst. Show up for the protest when you lose in November. I think it will be a fizzle. Last time Trump promised “it will be wild.” This time I think it will be mild. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.