Biden is 46th President, but Trump says fat lady has not signed off

America and the rest of the world have welcomed the 46th President-elect of the United States, former Vice President Joseph Biden and his Vice President, Senator Kamala Harris.

After four agonizing days of waiting in which the sitting President claimed that he had won in the absence of any firm numbers, there was a heavy sigh of relief when Associated Press announced the next leader of the Free World. Greetings have been pouring in from within the country and the world, including from the Prime Minister of India; and in the rural hamlet of Tamil Nadu there is special celebration in the ancestral village of Senator Harris, and expectedly so.

But the incumbent Republican President continues to claim that the election was stolen from him especially in the battleground states and has vowed a fight that is expected to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court. “The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings”, is an adage or proverb that Trump seems to be holding on to dearly even if all things are to the contrary. “Don’t be a sore loser” is a huge sign that has been put up in one of Trump’s Washington DC hotels, an obvious reference to the character and mindset of a person who cares two hoots for anybody else except for himself. Those who know the man make the point repeatedly that he will “Never, ever, ever” concede. In the post-World War II era, Trump is only the third President not to have won a second term — he follows Presidents Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992.

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At this point of time people are not even talking about the customary things that happen on the morning of the swearing in on January 20, 2021: on the portico of the White House the outgoing President will receive the incoming President; have a cup of coffee and a private chat before going away together to the swearing in ceremony. Here the outgoing President will sit in the front rows and see his successor place his left hand on the bible and raise his right hand in the oath administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The rest all fall in place after that.

Today, few people are talking about Trump adhering to customs and conventions. Forget about Trump having a cup of coffee with Biden or driving down with him and attending the ceremonies; people are worried whether Trump would even leave the White House after the Noon events on Capitol Hill. Some of the scenarios talked about in the media or bandied around in social media are either funny or too scary, but nothing can be put past the current incumbent. From chaining himself to the fence of the White House, barricading himself with heavy locks and bolts in the Oval Office to simply refusing to leave, Trump has many options. But officials are confident that when push comes to shove, the Secret Service will remove Trump from the White House premises just as how they throw out trespassers!

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Going by the temperament of Trump and those of his close inner circle who are yet to whisper good advice to the President but egging him on his fancy notions of being “cheated out”, Trump is expected to carry out his threat or promise: that starting Monday he will be filing a series of court cases challenging the validity of the counted votes. Legal experts are stressing that the reasons put forth by the Trump campaign are so frivolous that courts could summarily dismiss them; but Trump could reserve the option of going before the apex court. The final data will take a few days to come but it is believed that close to 150 million Americans exercised their franchise, nearly 75 million voted for Biden and 70 million for Trump.

In the past, right through the political process there has been a remarkable amount of decency and professionalism even if candidates had extreme differences of opinion; all the mud slinging at the time of the campaigning is forgotten for those fleeting moments of January 20 when the new President  takes charge; in modern times the outgoing President leaves a small note for his successor on the Resolute Desk, words of advice, caution or whatever that are considered personal.

But 2020 is different both on account of the environment prevailing in the country and in the viciousness of what had transpired in the last four years and still counting. Surprising still is the fact that few Republicans seem to have the strength to tell their President the stark realities and in the absolute imperative of the need to get on with the business of the day. Even pro-Trump media houses have finally woken up and taken the decision not to be a blind follower, much to the anger of the President and his coterie.

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The next few days will be critical in this post elections phase, not in seeing how the judicial process fans out; but in the extent to which President Trump and his advisors are able to keep rhetoric under control and not say incendiary and explosive things that could fuel unrest in the streets of America. Biden, for his part, has been quite measured with his statement in the aftermath of being declared as the next President; and has indicated in unmistakable terms that healing and national building would be his top priorities even while coming to terms with a pandemic that has taken the tragic toll of 237,000 people and with a third spike being deadlier than the first two.

All eyes will be on Biden and Harris as to how they assemble their transition teams which will be the first indications of what could be in store for the new Presidency. There is every reason to believe that the new President will be reaching out across the aisle as many of his predecessors have done, be it for domestic or foreign policy advice, expertise or cabinet posts. But much of how the future unfolds will rest on the extent to which Trump and his administration are going to facilitate the process. The world watched in dismay as the incumbent made a mockery of the first debate on September 29; in the tissue of lies, misinformation, disinformation that followed; and does not wish to be over awed one more time.

(The writer was a former senior journalist in Washington D.C. covering North America and the United Nations)