Founded by Stefano Vaccara

Subscribe for only $6/Year
  • Login
  • Register

Editor in Chief: Giampaolo Pioli

VNY La Voce di New York

The First Italian English Digital Daily in the US

English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro

  • English Edition
  • Letters
  • New York
  • U.N.
  • News
  • People
  • Entertainment
  • Arts
  • Lifestyles
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Italian Edition
No Result
View All Result
VNY
  • English Edition
  • Letters
  • New York
  • U.N.
  • News
  • People
  • Entertainment
  • Arts
  • Lifestyles
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Italian Edition
No Result
View All Result
VNY La Voce di New York
No Result
View All Result
in
News
November 29, 2020
in
News
November 29, 2020
0

Trump’s Refusal to Concede Defeat: History Repeats Itself, Sometimes as a Farce

Whether to keep a hold on his base or to prepare for a 2024 run, the damage he has done to institutions and to democracy is real

Renzo CianfanellibyRenzo Cianfanelli
“Fermate il conteggio” twitta Trump, come se gli USA fossero la Corea del Nord

Trump as "The Great Dictator" (Illustration by Antonella Martino)

Time: 3 mins read

Art of the possible or survival of the fittest? The old dilemma of American politics is not even remotely close to being addressed. The Democratic challenger Joe Biden, by the laws of arithmetic, is the clear winner. He is now the 46th president-elect of the United States with over 80 million popular votes and 306 electoral votes.

The Republican incumbent and 45th president Donald Trump, with close to 74 million electors and 232 votes in the electoral college, is equally clearly the loser. But partly out of sheer vanity–having been humiliated by a competitor whom he had repeatedly insulted–and who he was convinced he could easily destroy and defeat, he refuses to concede.

While indirectly Trump appears willing to accept the inevitable, he still persists in his fictional claim that Democrats stole his re-election by massive voter fraud. Reality, comments The Economist, is a stranger to Donald Trump, who was crying fraud even before the first vote was cast. But, as it has often been the case in his presidency, it is difficult to know how seriously to take his protests.

One theory is that the defeated president may simply be playing to his huge gallery of supporters. According to a poll by Monmouth University, a massive 77% of Trump voters, despite lack of evidence, believe that president-elect Biden ousted Trump through fraud.

The survey finding appears to reflect far more than the ordinary post-election disappointment on the losing side. Even assuming that Trump supporters may be more disposed than others to take his words and claims at face value, such a high level of mistrust in a free election is deeply disquieting.

It signifies, in fact, that the virus of “democratic backsliding” – recently denounced at the U.N. General Assembly during the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of International IDEA, a highly regarded multilateral institution created by Sweden in support of free elections – is not sparing even the United States, long believed to be the gold standard of democracy.

So far, while president Trump’s refusal to concede defeat and cooperate with his successor has hurt America’s credibility as a world champion of democracy, the damage is circumscribed. Public confidence in the courts and in the military is intact. About the November election, the chances of a reversed decision by the courts are rated between very low and non-existent. Even the ill-considered decision by Trump to dismiss the civilian secretary of Defense, that suggested to some fanciful observer the outlandish theory of a possible self-coup, or autogolpe Latin American style, has mercifully sunk without trace.

Trump-Mussolini (by Antonio Giambanco for VNY)

The damage to institutions caused by Trump’s procrastinations and false tweets is different. The outgoing president has stalled the transition of 4,000 top civil servants who, in deference to the American tradition of the “spoils system”, are not career bureaucrats but political appointees. Some 1,200 of these, to complicate matters further, will require confirmation by the Senate where Republicans (to put it mildly) will be less than willing to cooperate.

Given these circumstances, Biden’s promise to “hit the ground running from day one” will require the skills of an acrobat. In addition, there is Trump. He may be preparing to greet his successor on Inauguration Day with the ultimate “New Year surprise”: a massive demonstration of diehard Trumpists welcoming their wounded hero as a “shadow president” in preparation for his second coming in 2024.

Politics sometimes mixes with pulp fiction. But four years in politics is an eternity. The final joke of this page of history ending in farce is revealed by the Washington Post. In an article titled, “20 Days of Fantasy and Failure”, the journal describes in great detail the tragi-comical drama of a president sequestered in the White House and muttering like a Mad King George “I won, I won, I won”. To placate his fury, his lawyers Rudolph W. Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell spoke on the president’s behalf at the Republican headquarters. They argued that Democrats rigged the vote in a number of majority-Black cities, and that voting machines were tampered with by communist operators in Venezuela, at the behest of Hugo Chavez, the former Venezuelan president who died seven years ago.

Rudy Giuliani, during the black hair dye dripping down his face press conference. (Immagine da Youtube)

The Venezuelan story was too fantastical even for Trump who for years had feverishly spread fiction. It quickly degenerated into farce when the president saw the face of Giuliani with black hair dye dripping down his face during a news conference on the fake plot. “It makes him look like a joke”, commented a furious Trump about his trusted lawyer.

 

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Renzo Cianfanelli

Renzo Cianfanelli

Renzo Cianfanelli. Studi classici e laurea in giurisprudenza con specializzazione in economia monetaria, Università La Sapienza, Roma. A Londra per 4 anni con la BBC World Service. Poi corrispondente per il Corriere della Sera da Londra e New York. Inviato a Tokyo, Mosca, Israele, Sudamerica, Cina, Australia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Iran. Corrispondente di guerra dall’ ex-Jugoslavia, Cecenia, Somalia e altre aree di crisi. Attualmente a New York nella sede dell’ONU. Visiting Scholar, SAIS Johns Hopkins. Vincitore di premi giornalistici (Premio Max David Inviato dell’anno, Premio Hemingway e altri). Per le corrispondenze in Iraq ha ricevuto i gradi di tenente colonnello onorario della Brigata Friuli. Renzo Cianfanelli is an award-winning global correspondent-at-large. Graduated in Law and Monetary Economics at La Sapienza in Rome, Italy, he worked as a broadcaster in London at the BBC. For Corriere della Sera he served as resident correspondent and Bureau Chief in all parts of the world including London, New York, Belgrade and Moscow. As a war correspondent he covered contemporary conflicts from Sarajevo to Baghdad. He is currently based at the UN in New York

DELLO STESSO AUTORE

In Russia si rischia la guerra civile. Prigozhin si ritira in Bielorussia

Chaos in Russia: Transcript of Prigozhin and Alexeyev’s Negotiations to End the March

byRenzo Cianfanelli
++ Israele, Herzog a Netanyahu: stop a riforma giustizia ++

Is America Losing the Middle East?

byRenzo Cianfanelli

A PROPOSITO DI...

Tags: Biden inaugurationconcession speechDemocracyDonald TrumpElection 2020Joseph BidenUS democratic elections
Previous Post

Lo dice la scienza: siamo sempre meno intelligenti. E se i politici sono lo specchio…

Next Post

Bill de Blasio ci ripensa: le scuole elementari di New York riapriranno

Discussion about this post

DELLO STESSO AUTORE

Mosca, espulsione di massa di diplomatici russi da Berlino

Lavrov and His Mission Impossible: Convince the UN that Russia is the Victim

byRenzo Cianfanelli
Ocse: nessun rischio di crisi sistemica da crollo Svb

The Silicon Valley Bank Crash: “Helicopter Money to All?”

byRenzo Cianfanelli

Latest News

Azerbaijan ok a missione ONU, ma la fuga degli armeni dal Karabakh non si arresta

Azerbaijan ok a missione ONU, ma la fuga degli armeni dal Karabakh non si arresta

bySimone d'Altavilla
Scott Hall patteggia e parla: nuove svolte nel caso dell’elezione del 2020 in Georgia

Scott Hall patteggia e parla: nuove svolte nel caso dell’elezione del 2020 in Georgia

byMarco Giustiniani

New York

I migranti e la nostra storia: riapre il Tenement Museum di Manhattan

I migranti e la nostra storia: riapre il Tenement Museum di Manhattan

byDania Ceragioli
Confermate più di 45 vittime sull’East Coast per il disastro preannunciato di Ida

Millions of New Yorkers on Red Alert for Heavy Flash Flooding

byLa Voce di New York

Italiany

Mamma Mia! There’s a Microchip in My Parmigiano!

Mamma Mia! There’s a Microchip in My Parmigiano!

bySunny Day
La cucina italiana inizia il suo percorso verso l’UNESCO: obiettivo 2025

La cucina italiana inizia il suo percorso verso l’UNESCO: obiettivo 2025

byAugusto Laspina
Next Post
Bill de Blasio ci ripensa: le scuole elementari di New York riapriranno

Bill de Blasio ci ripensa: le scuole elementari di New York riapriranno

La Voce di New York

Editor in Chief:  Giampaolo Pioli   |   English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro   |   Founded by Stefano Vaccara

Editor in Chief:  Giampaolo Pioli
—
English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro
—
Founded by Stefano Vaccara

  • New York
    • Eventi
  • Onu
  • News
    • Primo Piano
    • Politica
    • Voto Estero
    • Economia
    • First Amendment
  • People
    • Nuovo Mondo
  • Arts
    • Arte e Design
    • Spettacolo
    • Musica
    • Libri
    • Lingua Italiana
  • Lifestyles
    • Fashion
    • Scienza e Salute
    • Sport
    • Religioni
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
    • Italia
  • Mediterraneo
  • English
  • Search/Archive
  • About us
    • Editorial Staff
    • President
    • Administration
    • Advertising

VNY Media La Voce di New York © 2016 / 2023 — La testata fruisce dei contributi diretti editoria d.lgs. 70/2017
Main Office: 230 Park Avenue, 21floor, New York, NY 10169 | Editorial Office/Redazione: UN Secretariat Building, International Press Corps S-301, New York, NY 10017

VNY Media La Voce di New York © 2016 / 2023
La testata fruisce dei contributi diretti editoria d.lgs. 70/2017

Main Office: 230 Park Avenue, 21floor, New York, NY 10169 | Editorial Office/Redazione: UN Secretariat Building, International Press Corps S-301, New York, NY 10017

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • New York
  • Onu
  • News
    • Elezioni 2022
    • Primo Piano
    • Politica
    • Economia
    • First Amendment
  • Arts
    • Speciale Venezia
    • Arte e Design
    • Spettacolo
    • Musica
    • Libri
  • Lifestyles
    • Fashion
    • Scienza e Salute
    • Sport
    • Religioni
  • Food & Wine
    • Cucina Italiana
  • Travel
    • Italia
  • English
    • Arts
    • Business
    • Entertainment
    • Food & Wine
    • Letters
    • Lifestyles
    • Mediterranean
    • New York
    • News
  • Subscribe for only $6/Year

© 2016/2022 VNY Media La Voce di New York

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In
By clicking on "Create my account" or by registering, you accept the Term of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
La Voce di New York
Gestisci Consenso Cookie
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Funzionale Always active
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono strettamente necessari al fine legittimo di consentire l'uso di un servizio specifico esplicitamente richiesto dall'abbonato o dall'utente, o al solo scopo di effettuare la trasmissione di una comunicazione su una rete di comunicazione elettronica.
Preferenze
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per lo scopo legittimo di memorizzare le preferenze che non sono richieste dall'abbonato o dall'utente.
Statistiche
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso che viene utilizzato esclusivamente per scopi statistici. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per creare profili di utenti per inviare pubblicità, o per tracciare l'utente su un sito web o su diversi siti web per scopi di marketing simili.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Visualizza preferenze
{title} {title} {title}
La Voce di New York
Gestisci Consenso Cookie
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Funzionale Always active
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono strettamente necessari al fine legittimo di consentire l'uso di un servizio specifico esplicitamente richiesto dall'abbonato o dall'utente, o al solo scopo di effettuare la trasmissione di una comunicazione su una rete di comunicazione elettronica.
Preferenze
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per lo scopo legittimo di memorizzare le preferenze che non sono richieste dall'abbonato o dall'utente.
Statistiche
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso che viene utilizzato esclusivamente per scopi statistici. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per creare profili di utenti per inviare pubblicità, o per tracciare l'utente su un sito web o su diversi siti web per scopi di marketing simili.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Visualizza preferenze
{title} {title} {title}
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?