Donald Trump has lost. The nightmare we’ve been living through these last four years — a nightmare of anger and division, of bullying and lies — is coming to a close. After days of careful ballot counting, The Associated Press and the major networks called the race for Democrat Joe Biden.
But — as expected — Trump is not going quietly. He has already filed lawsuits in several states in a bid to torpedo the process of counting legally cast ballots. His underlying argument is as chilling to the fundamental tenets of Democracy as it is absurd: Votes legally cast or mailed in can only be counted up to midnight on Election Day.
Let’s all be clear here: This isn’t about people voting after the polls had closed; it’s about counting votes cast according to the rules of engagement established by each state before the election. With the coronavirus pandemic raging, states made it easier for people to exercise their right without putting their health at risk. We should be celebrating.
But is it any surprise that Donald Trump — facing defeat — is moving to undermine the most fundamental right of every American to have a say in choosing who will lead them? Those who watched him grow to prominence in New York came to learn quickly that his vanity had no bounds. Now we are seeing the full scope of his self-absorption on display.
Over the last four years, a fundamental misimpression has developed about how the media and newspapers such as the Courant view Trump. To his GOP fans and followers, the media has engaged in some sort of a conspiratorial exercise because we don’t agree with his policies or his approach on key issues.
But that’s a false narrative. The real problem the press has with Trump is that he is a liar and a bully. As organizations committed to telling the truth, we cannot tolerate the kind of misinformation and deception that Trump uses as a matter of routine. According to the Washington Post, he crossed the 20,000 mark for false and misleading claims in July.
It’s hard to rank falsehoods, and the story of the Trump presidency will be the web of deceit he spun. But over the last six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary chain of events. In constantly misleading the American public about the true scope of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. He doled out inaccurate information about treatments, downplayed the risks and undermined public health experts as they sought to encourage simple behaviors like wearing masks.
And now Trump is wrapping up his trail of falsehoods by trying to promulgate the notion that the mail-in votes are somehow less legitimate than those cast in person on Election Day. There is nothing illegal or improper going on. The ballots did not suddenly materialize.
But facing defeat, Trump is doing what Trump does — lying in a desperate attempt to get his way. During a bizarre, rambling press conference Thursday evening he insulted Philadelphia and Detroit, threw out a list of baseless claims and pushed a conspiracy theory that had Big Tech, the Democrats and the media coordinating a campaign to oust him from the White House.
Trump is in a corner and could prove dangerous. He is not above using whatever means he has or can find to try to upend our Democracy in a craven attempt to hang on to power.
But we’ve faced tyrants who tried to usurp power before. The Courant was around when King George III ruled over the colonies and the newspaper was a critical part of the opposition that made it clear we wouldn’t stand for having our voices silenced.
We didn’t stand for it then and we certainly won’t stand for it now. It’s time for all Americans — Democrat or Republican — to stand up and fight for what the flag really stands for: The freedom to chart our own destiny; the freedom from tyranny. We are battered and bruised from four years of partisan battling, but now is the time to put that aside and recommit to the notion that what does unite us all is faith in the fundamental power of Democracy.
The people have spoken. It is time for Donald Trump to start packing.