Part 1

I don’t believe my poor choices made me the man I am today but I hope my ability to look at them soberly, and hopefully learn a lesson, have made me an improved one. Benjamin Franklin quipped that experience is a fool’s only teacher but the scientist in Ben respected that a reflection on the results should drive the directions of future decisions. That being said, the expectation that simply turning a page on a calendar will somehow change our fortunes could also deny us the opportunity to look back on the lessons of the past year as a navigational beacon to 2021 and beyond. I have decided to break my year in review into three parts: the election, the virus, and the racial reckoning. 

While the second installment of this year-end review focuses on the coronavirus it has become evident that it is intertwined with my other subjects and most especially the election. The reaction to, handling of, and more consequentially the politicization of the Covid crisis altered the course of every election in the country and particularly our presidential and gubernatorial races.  I would like to start with some thoughts on the national race and then discuss our state election within the context of my thoughts on the virus in Part 2.  

As uncomfortable as it may be for his followers to believe, most pundits agree that Trump lost the election. I’m not speaking (yet) of the actual vote-counting and legal wrangling around the process but the campaign itself. The major appeal, if it can even be called such, of Joe Biden was mainly that he wasn’t Donald Trump. Rarely is not being someone a sure path to victory, but I believe future historians will point to the perceived mishandling of the Coronavirus response as the major undoing of the President’s reelection.  He and his people have sought to pass the blame onto China or the mainstream media but the election results show the majority of the electorate believe the job was bungled. 

President Trump’s business acumen was lauded as his most valuable asset during his run for office and his reputation as a winner became more than a hallmark; it became his brand. The problem with having your brand tied to being a perennial winner is when you lose. And this was no small setback that can be glossed over or spun but in fact a loss on the grandest scale in the most-watched presidential election in history.  George H.W. Bush’s and Jimmy Carter’s reelection failures meant that their time in elected public service was at an end but that the tag of “loser” wouldn’t necessarily tarnish their post-presidential legacy.  President Trump’s loss damages his brand which was to be his legacy.  

That, I believe, is the reason for his refusal to concede and his encouragement of his followers to view the election as stolen rather than lost.  Markets and spreadsheets will judge the damage to the Trump brand but without a strong, clear acceptance by the president of his loss the damage to his legacy, and for that matter the republic, will have more far reaching effects.  If the president truly believes in “America First” he will follow the lead of past candidates who swallowed their disappointment and bid good luck to their opponent because their success would mean the success of the country or at worst the success of the concept of consent of the governed.   

The window to do the right thing is closing quickly.  Just today I read about vandalism, graffiti, and threats towards Congressional leaders from both parties and this both saddens and sickens me.  In a perfect world citizens would respectfully disagree with elected officials and express their disagreements through civil discourse and look towards the electoral process to hold them accountable.  In a less than perfect world, politicians would lead by example in calling on the citizenry to respect institutions and model the behaviors required for a healthy democracy.  In the world we have, however, many elected leaders are the very ones encouraging the type of conduct that weakens trust in our institutions for their own gain.

One of the worst things that can happen in a representative democracy is for the will of the people to not be reflected in the candidate chosen but this seems to be the goal of the president and some of his cronies.  No compelling evidence to overturn the election has been presented and every lawsuit has failed.  Simply put, he lost.  And it seems the height of irony that a group of folks who just a few months ago were pushing for law and order have chosen to turn their backs on both.