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Blog: Disruptive Trump news cycle comes to an end

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Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

Dubai - In a concession speech of sorts last night, he finally reconciled to the idea of having lost the election.

Published: Wed 20 Jan 2021, 12:04 PM

  • By
  • A. Sreenivas Reddy

The time has come to bid farewell to Donald Trump and his four-year mercurial leadership of the world’s greatest democracy.

All through his term, he never ceased to be the centre of attraction, keeping the news cycle churning with his incessant tweets and colourful digs at opponents. His was a distinctive style, one unparalleled in recent history.

Trump developed a unique idiom to deal with problems, drawn from a typical white American man’s experience. And it connected well with, and fired up, his constituency. He aimed his barbs at the politically-correct crowd who targeted right-wing politicians for their supposed lack of sensitivity on race, gender, and class issues. And he succeeded in putting them on the back foot with his virulent and uncompromising campaign.

But he earned too many enemies in the process. People of colour, women and the white working class started joining hands to build a powerful coalition. And his dream of a second term ran aground.

Trump's constituency remained loyal. They kept him going. But that was not enough to see him through. He lost the game to a formidable alliance of groups. But he never accepted it and invented a theory of electoral fraud, which, he maintained, stole the victory from him. He fed his supporters conspiracy theories, keeping them charged up and willing to do anything to help him continue his presidency. Things finally came to a head when they stormed the Capitol building on January 6, leading to an unprecedented crisis in the world’s role model for democracy. The blame remains squarely with Trump who constantly egged on them to do something.

Chastened, Trump moderated his rhetoric and condemned the unsavoury events on January 6. Last night, he released a farewell video wishing the new government good luck and success. It is a concession speech of sorts. The 20-minute-long video dwelt on the successes of his four-year rule. He blamed the ‘China virus’ for spoiling his success story and gloated over the success of his tough policies. He particularly mentioned the Abraham Accords which, he said, is the dawn of the new Middle East.

All is well that ends well. Trump has finally reconciled to the idea of having lost the election. Now it is over to Joseph R. Biden Jr.



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