What Would the Us Be Like With Trump Again in 2020
In his trademark manner, the late New York Mayor Ed Koch once summarized his view of how voters should decide whether to back a candidate.
"If you concord with me on nine out of 12 problems, you should support me," Koch said. "If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 problems, you should come across a psychiatrist."
His whimsical observation came to mind during my Palm Beach interview with Donald Trump on Presidents' Solar day. As I wrote last week, No. 45 was relaxed in a white golf shirt and cherry-red MAGA chapeau as he answered questions on the Biden presidency, his relationship with GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell and his dealings with Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of Communist china and European leaders.
But one topic reigned supreme, and it was the main reason I requested the interview. It involves the 2020 election, and relates to Ed Koch's view of how voters should think well-nigh candidates.
The 'stolen' election
My question to Trump was this: "You constantly claim the ballot was rigged, that you actually won and your victory was stolen.
"Just if I am a voter who agrees with yous on well-nigh policies but disagrees with you nearly the ballot results, or is just tired of hearing you talk near it so much — should I vote for you? Is it a litmus exam that I must hold the election was stolen?"
Trump shook his head and said no without elaboration before asking me a question: "Only considering I won, how can I non talk near information technology?"
Later ticking off the roster of states where he has alleged fraud, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, he added, "Everything I said was true, and information technology's being proven every bit we speak."
That's the endless rabbit hole of continuing claims and audits that have proven nothing significant, so I repeated the question: "Is agreement a litmus test for voters?"
His answer shifted, and after citing the large oversupply size at his recent rallies, he claimed, "These people want me to talk about 2020 more anything else. If I didn't talk near it, I would lose a lot of them."
Although he's right that most polls show a majority of GOP voters agree the election was stolen, fewer than a third of independents concur and only a sliver of Democrats practice. The overall full in most polls falls somewhere between 1-third and forty% and seems to be failing over time.
In short, Trump'southward playing a losing manus. For about voters, the 2020 train left the station.
When I suggested every bit much, he insisted that "most voters tin can walk and chew glue at the same time" and said it was necessary to "detect out what happened" in the last election or "they volition try to cheat once again."
He added: "I recollect Democrats crook in elections," and seemingly compared information technology to how "men playing in women's sports are destroying women's sports." He finished past saying, "Our election system is cleaved and corrupt."
I told him well-nigh a fiddling dinner plebiscite I conducted among four conservative New Yorkers in Florida days earlier. All four voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and plan to vote for him again in 2024 if he runs.
Notwithstanding, they were also unanimous in wishing he would driblet the stolen-election talk, maxim information technology was time to move on. They wanted to hear more about how he would solve the multiple crises overwhelming the Biden assistants.
He responded by repeating what I said — that the 4 conservatives would vote for him regardless — so insisted he doesn't "dwell on it endlessly" earlier adding that he must talk about the last election "because it's the most important thing for some people."
"But," I asked, "is it the most of import thing for you?"
When he quickly said no, I asked what is, to which he said, "The biggest, nigh important thing for me is bringing back the country."
His obsession
That was essentially the finish of the interview, but hardly the stop of his obsession with the past. The side by side day, when radio host Cadet Sexton asked Trump what went wrong in Ukraine, the onetime president declared: "Well, what went wrong was a rigged election. And what went wrong is a candidate that shouldn't be there and a human being who has no concept of what he's doing."
It was in the same radio interview where Trump fabricated news with another foolish statement, saying it was a "genius" movement and "very savvy" for Putin to declare portions of eastern Ukraine independent before starting the invasion.
To be sure, at that place is nothing controversial in the central indicate Trump was making well-nigh Biden being outmaneuvered by Putin. The view is widespread, with fifty-fifty many Democrats saying Biden and NATO were weak and slow in developing countermoves as Putin surrounded Ukraine on iii sides with near 200,000 Russian soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles and missile launchers.
Merely especially in public life, how you say something is oft as important equally what you say. And by complimenting Putin's strategy as the Russian brute was invading an marry, Trump sounded unpatriotic.
The root of all this linguistic malpractice lies in the former president's inability to accept defeat. His insistence that he won and was cheated smacks of an effort to evade whatever responsibility for the outcome. The fact is, he should accept beaten Biden like a pulsate.
Yet more a year later, he remains trapped in the spider web of victimhood he is spinning around his loss. Ane result is that he has gained no apparent insights about what he might have washed differently.
When I asked if he had any regrets about his term, he conceded that "you always take regrets," but didn't offering specifics. Instead, he fell back on the defense that "from the solar day I came down the escalator, I was under attack."
He'due south right well-nigh that, and no president was always treated every bit unfairly by the media and the Deep State as he was. It's also truthful he had a right to contest the results, as Democrats take often washed.
Digging himself in
But Trump, equally is his habit, didn't know where to stop, and his bear and comments nearly the ballot played a major role in creating the temper for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. All the same that role is ultimately defined, at that place is no question he is in a much deeper hole, legally and politically, than he would be otherwise.
Look at information technology this mode: Had he conceded defeat earlier January. 6th, he would at present have a clearer path to a 2nd term, especially in light of Biden's disastrous performance.
Instead, too much of Trump's focus is nevertheless fixed on the by at a fourth dimension when Americans desperately want, and the globe needs, a leader for the futurity.
Source: https://nypost.com/2022/02/26/forget-the-past-2020-election-steal-donald-trump/
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