President Trump and key Republican party members are refusing to accept Joe Biden’s victory despite the fact that Joe Biden’s team has started to work on the transition. The question arises whether Trump is reacting merely based on his anger at the election loss, or is it part of a well thought out strategy by the Trump administration to create frustration amongst Biden’s team.
Trump refusing transition & sacks defence secretary
In the last 48 hours, a number of important events have happened. President Trump has fired his Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. It’s noteworthy, as it’s for the first time ever in American history that an outgoing president has sacked his defense secretary during his transition period.
…Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2020
Very few American presidents have lost a second-time election; Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H W Bush in 1992 – to name a few. But not even one president made so many changes during the transition period as Trump.
America heading towards chaos?
The Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, till the time of this piece’s writing, has not congratulated President-elect Joe Biden. He has gone to the extent of supporting Trump’s stand of not conceding the 2020 election. McConnel opines: “In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted. The process must be transparent or observable by all sides, and the courts are here to work through concerns”.
Read more: US elections: Will Trumpism remain in 2021?
“Our institutions are actually built for this. We have the system in place to consider concerns, and President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” he added.
Analysts had anticipated that the Republican Senator Mitch McConnel would create problems for the Biden administration. But not accepting Joe Biden’s victory altogether is a mood indication. Although conventionally the other party congratulates the winning party in the US, it seems, the Republicans have decided to stand behind Trump and his stand on the election which looks like some sort of strategy or a grand design.
Attorney General orders Enquiry into Election Fraud
Even the US Attorney General William Barr has ordered an investigation into the alleged “voting irregularities”. Whether the motive behind taking such an action is part of a formality or is there some serious intention behind the move, is yet to be ascertained.
More so, the administrator of the General Services Administration Emily W. Murphy, responsible for kickstarting the transfer of power has refused to issue a letter of “ascertainment” to the Biden team even as law bounds her to facilitate presidents-elect.
Officials privy to the transition process said that her inaction was preventing the incoming cabinet officials to receive top-secret access – as agencies are unable to perform background checks until she acknowledges Biden’s victory. Murphy is not even releasing funds, though days have passed since Joe Biden was declared victorious after securing the magic number of “270” electoral seats.
Read more: Trump’s Republican convention adds fuel to the most divisive US elections in history
China & Russia have not recognised Biden victory?
The events that have unfolded ever since Joe Biden got elected as the president and the silence of the two major adversaries of the US – Russia and China – over the election results raise several questions. To explain the latter, it must be rooted in the deep intelligence presence of the two countries in America so they are carefully looking at the events happening in the US.
In the backdrop of the aforementioned, Trump is also filing lawsuits in major swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevadad etc.
Is this a reaction based merely over Trump’s anger at losing the election or a part of a well thought out strategy?
Because Democrats have alleged that Trump had asked his voters to not cast votes through mail-in ballots but vote on the election day – reason being: votes cast on election day are counted first. Was it a strategy to declare an early victory by President Trump? His tweet confirms this.
I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Democrats believe this was part of the plan of President Trump, who, according to them is dragging the system towards chaos.
Now, if legal challenges progress as planned by the Trump team, and the investigation continues in several swing states – will the electoral college be elected and show up before the congress, before 8th December?
It appears that the United States is moving towards chaos with the ways things are going. If we recall, the transition after the 2000 presidential election was delayed by the court fight between the campaigns of Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas over several weeks. But at that time only one state was disputed. This time around several lawsuits have been filed in key battleground states.
Read more: Russia and China interfering in American Elections: Biden
What will happen in the near future is difficult to predict. How long will the transition of power hang in the balance, is also yet to be ascertained. But America is certainly more polarised than ever.
Will US democratic ideals, primarily smooth transition of power prevail or will Trump never concede the election to Joe Biden?