Dean Obeidallah: Trump's election lies are an attempted coup. Biden and other Democrats should say so.
By: Dean Obeidallah (NBC News)
Democrats are trying to stage a whoopty coup. Joe Biden is not the President of the United States. Joe Biden cannot become President until he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2021. Donald Trump is not going to concede the Presidency while he holds office. Nor should he.
Joe Biden claims he has a plan for everything. But Joe Biden cannot begin implementing those plans until he becomes President. And Joe Biden cannot use the excuse of transition to begin interfering with the sitting President. Joe Biden cannot be the President of the United States while Donald Trump is still President.
The Trump administration has gone strangely silent to the point that officials are deliberately avoiding the press. That's rather odd for a strongman attempting to become a dictator by overthrowing a democratic process. Trump has ceded the spotlight to Joe Biden. How Joe Biden chooses to use the public stage is his business. Joe Biden is so weak and uninspiring that the press would rather talk about a whoopty coup than Joe Biden.
It's too late for buyer's remorse. The press cannot ignore Joe Biden for four years. Now is the time for Joe Biden to begin acting like a President since he will hold the office soon enough. As President, Joe Biden will be responsible for a policy agenda; not for micro-managing the bureaucracy. Joe Biden doesn't need the pomp of the Oval Office to begin preparing the public for his administration. And Joe Biden certainly doesn't need to interfere with the sitting President.
Joe Biden choosing to become whiner-in-chief doesn't suggest leadership. The press cannot hide Joe Biden's weak and uninspiring nature forever. And the hair-on-fire opinionating about a whoopty coup won't gloss over the buyer's remorse.
Supposedly voters (and the press) got what they wanted in Joe Biden. Why aren't they celebrating what they got?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump is not trying to simply undermine President-elect Joe Biden's presidency, nor is he primarily trying to position himself for a 2024 presidential run, as many have suggested. No, Trump's No. 1 goal is to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It's time for Biden and other Democratic leaders to describe his actions in the most forceful and universally understandable language possible. And that means, in this case, calling them part of an attempted coup to illegally overthrow the Biden presidency.
In the past few days, several experts have noted that Trump's actions do not technically constitute a "coup" in the academic sense.
In the past few days, several experts have noted that Trump's actions do not technically constitute a "coup" in the academic sense. According to Michael Albertus, an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, for example, a coup "typically connotes a violent takeover of government." Yet these same experts warn that Trump's actions are a threat to our democracy.
New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of the new book "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present," explained to me that Trump's actions are more aptly described as an "auto-coup" — in which a leader remains in power through undemocratic means. Importantly, Ben-Ghiat notes that this auto-coup should be taken very, very seriously.
Regardless of how you define the word, now is not the time for academic debates. Trump's wildly effective communications strategy proves that sometimes simpler is better. Biden's response, in contrast, has been far too careful and far too polite. On Thursday, Biden called Trump's efforts to undermine the election results "totally irresponsible," adding that his message to immigrants worried about Trump's electoral attacks was "Hang on. I'm on my way." Other leading Democrats have, for the most part, followed Biden's lead.
This message is not surprising given Biden's campaign strategy, which emphasized unity. Such sentiment was also at the heart of Biden's victory speech Nov. 7. But it is nevertheless a very bad strategy.
Italy's Benito Mussolini and Russia's Vladimir Putin amassed power through bullying. These types of leaders treat silence or muted responses as a sign of weakness, emboldening them to push further with their authoritarian goals.
As Ben-Ghiat put it, rather starkly, during a recent interview on my SiriusXM radio show: "Democrats have to ask themselves how they want history to view them: as those who fought ferociously against Trump's efforts to undermine our election or as those who unintentionally appeased him with their silence, allowing him to decimate our democracy."
These are the stakes. Biden and the Democrats cannot hope that simply ignoring Trump will persuade him to give up. His brazen attempts to defraud the American public now include pressuring local GOP elected officials to join his plot. Even assuming Trump does vacate the White House on Jan. 20, these types of attacks could have long-term consequences, especially without clear, forceful pushback. Countless authoritarian regimes began as democracies, as Ben-Ghiat has noted.
Instead of taking the supposed high road, Biden and other Democratic officials must flood the media — including Fox News — with warnings about Trump's lies. Attempts to remain in power against the will of the people are not business as usual in America — they are more akin to something seen in banana republics.
52 percent of Republicans say Trump "rightfully won." This is incredibly disturbing, and probably unprecedented.
A growing — albeit still small number — of Republican elected officials have begun to publicly call on Trump to concede. Biden is using these defections to double down on unity and bipartisanship. But without a more aggressive media campaign, Biden will be forced to govern a country more divided than ever before. A Reuters poll released Wednesday found that only 73 percent of Americans said Biden won the election, while 52 percent of Republicans say Trump "rightfully won." This is incredibly disturbing, and probably unprecedented.
Team Biden must also repeatedly highlight Trump's lack of credible evidence of voter fraud. Common sense tells us that if the assertions by Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani of a "national conspiracy" to rig the election were true, the Trump effort would have more to show for it. It has been nearly three weeks since Election Day. Instead, Trump's lawyers lashed out at reporters when pressed for details or data.
In fact, Giuliani essentially admitted Tuesday in federal court in Pennsylvania that there is no voter fraud, stating, "This is not a fraud case." (On Saturday night, a federal judge dismissed the Trump campaign's lawsuit in Pennsylvania, calling it a "strained legal argument without merit.") The same thing happened in Arizona, where Trump's lawyer conceded to the judge that the president was not alleging voter fraud. Biden needs to be talking about this hypocrisy every day, all day, on as many platforms as possible.
It is even possible, former federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner suggested on my radio show Thursday, that the actions of the Trump campaign in November could be considered part of "a criminal conspiracy to deprive the voters of their rights."
Biden, as president-elect, is rightfully focused on trying to facilitate an effective transition of power between Trump's outgoing administration and his incoming one. But he must simultaneously be spending the weeks until Inauguration Day vocally defending our democratic elections against authoritarian attacks from within. By standing up to Trump's attempted coup, Biden will be proving to those millions of Americans who voted freely and fairly for him that they made the right choice.
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Whoopty coup. Everyone would rather talk about Donald Trump than Joe Biden. It's too late for buyer's remorse. If everyone got what they wanted then why aren't they celebrating what they got?
Donald Trump is the President of the United States until January 20, 2021. And there isn't anything that suggests Joe Biden won't become President on January 20, 2021. No clickbait conspiracies flouted by the press for their own self serving ends will change that.
I really thought TDS might finally be brought under control with Biden winning, but I can tell it just ain't going to be that easy.
Guess we'll have to live through at least another 4 years of the same old same old.
Two years. 2022 is shaping up to be a bad election for Democrats. Even Nancy Pelosi sees the writing on the wall.
I suspect some will be afflicted the rest of their lives with TDS.
Trump will not be on the ballot in 2022 so the results will likely be more like 2018 than 2020.
2010 is the precedent that Joe Biden is following.
Post Trump American politics has changed. The 2022 midterm will be more like 2018...
And Santa Clause is real...
Biden should stay out of this entirely. Let the system rid itself of Trump naturally. This will end legally and Trump will cease to be PotUS on Jan 20th. Biden needs to focus on the transition and not get soiled by the Trump shit storm.
True. But it's hard to ignore a toilet that's overflowing.
Leave that to the maintenance crew.
More like the Hazmat team, Lol
Why should Trump not concede that Biden won? What does that accomplish other than impede the transition? Do you applaud gratuitous harm?
Because it's not required for anything. If he wants to pout like John Adams, he has that right. In a couple of months, we will all move on with our lives. There have been other uncooperative or acrimonious transitions. We can spend all our time whining about it or we can get back to work.
This all looks to me like the Democrats have an emotional need to have Trump "surrender." He's obviously not going to do it, but it's not really the most important thing when it comes to governing.
So Trump should not concede because he does not have to legally?
That is the reason he does not have to concede. It is a lame reason for why he choose to not do so.
Well I am not a D and that is not my thinking. I want Trump to get out of the way and let the transition continue. By not accepting the results of the election (conceding) he is impeding the natural progression of our system.
And for what reason? That was my question. What possible productive purpose does this serve?
What would be the reason why he should, though? Because it’s always done that way? That’s kind of lame, too.
He could publicly concede and still not cooperate with the incoming administration. You can say it’s rude, but it’s not illegal. That’s true for a lot of things Trump says and does. I see little value in making a big deal out of it.
I already answered that question:
Tacos!, good grief, why are you pretending to not understand my point?:
I do not care if he makes a concession speech, just accept the results of the election, cease the pointless lawsuits and stop encouraging Trump sycophants from doing what they can to disrupt the orderly transfer of the presidency.
Why are you against that?
Why don't you calm down and just have a discussion? There is no need to accuse me of pretending anything. I haven't accused you of anything.
I never said I was against him conceding. By the way, I can point out your mistake without losing my temper. Or should I now accuse you of "pretending" to not understand me?
Then why are you defending Trump's choice to continue to impede the transition?
I defended his right to do it. I never said it was a good idea. I also said it wasn't worth making such a fuss over.
Defending Trump's right to be an asshole is tacit endorsement of his choice.
So you disagree with his choice but hold that he has the right to make it.
My position is that while Trump has the right to make this choice, it is a bad choice that is bad for the nation. It is curious that you chose to defend Trump's right to be an irresponsible asshole rather than agree that it would be best if Trump got out of the way of the transition.
No, it isn't. That is ridiculous for two reasons.
First, I already told you I was not defending the choice. Why you choose to ignore this is a mystery, but it doesn't look good.
Second, acknowledging legal rights in no way endorses the choices people make - tacitly or otherwise.
You can accuse me of tacitly doing anything and the accusation just sits there not needing proof and therefore immune to denials. It's a disingenuous game. We could accuse each other of tacitly doing anything at all if all we cared about was demonizing the other.
You might be justified in seeing tacit endorsement if I hadn't already told you that wasn't the case. Your claim of a tacit endorsement serves only to contradict my own opinion about my own feelings on the matter, and you get to do it without evidence.
I guess I won't continue with this if that's how you are going to be.
Make up your mind.
That is also wrong. It would be best if he helped with the transition. But if he's not going to, grown ups should accept it and deal with the world as it exists, rather than whine about how they would like it to be.
I acknowledged that:
That seems like clear language.
It comes across as tacit endorsement. ( This should be obvious. )
Instead of agreeing that Trump should not be holding up the transition, you argue that he has the right to do so. You choose to defend Trump's right to do harm. That is basically arguing a current R talking point. When faced with the objection to Trump dragging this one of the key responses has been: 'but it is his right to do so'.
That reasoning avoids dealing with what is the right thing to do. Seems to me that one should focus on what is right vs. what can one get away with.
On what? I just stated your position. Instead of acknowledging that you tell me to make up my mind?
Wrong? No, it is not wrong. I agree, that would be better if he helped, but he needs to first stop blocking the transition. You get that, right?
Objecting to Trump's block of the transition is whining? That is exactly the kind of crap one would expect from a Trump apologist. You state that you disagree with his choice yet spend your time making excuses for him.
Odd way to operate Tacos!
How it comes across to you is your problem. You have been told multiple times now that it's not true, but you keep on with this lie that I am endorsing something. I don't know what your problem is, but there definitely is one. Don't seek to tell me anymore what I think when I have already told you something different.
OK I want to back up for a second and clarify something. I am not defending his right to hold up the transition. That is a strawman that you created and because I was in a hurry, I fell for it.
You created this strawman @ 3.1.5 when you took a conversation about "conceding" and turned it into "impeding the transition." Those are different things. My position was that Trump does not have to have make a public concession announcement (nor even a private one).
The thread starts with you asking about Trump conceding and then expressing the unsupported opinion that such failure to concede impedes transition. I ignored this connection and chose to focus only on the concession. It was the only part of your post I quoted, and the only part of it to which I was responding. It is what I was talking about.
You have now completely abandoned that point to focus only on your belief that Trump is impeding the transition - something I see no evidence for - and to accuse me of supporting his alleged impeding of the transition. This is something I neither see nor support, and I did not comment on it. Nevertheless, your relentless attempts to declare what I think continue, over my objections. It is not a fair or honest way to carry on a conversation.
And just so you know, this very day the General Services Administration has informed Biden that they are now ready to begin the process of formal transition. And it didn't require a concession speech from Trump.
You claim you are not pretending to misunderstand. Okay. Let's go with that. Then pay attention to what I write because you are not reading carefully.
I never claimed that you endorse Trump's behavior, I stated that making excuses for Trump's behavior (defending his right to be an asshole) is tacit endorsement of his choices therein:
Anyone who defends Trump's right to be an asshole is (via their words) giving tacit endorsement of same. The word ' tacit ' is an important one to not overlook.
Further I have stated my summary of your position:
You choose to ignore this and instead weave your own little strawman from which to complain. To me that means, yet again, you are just arguing for the sake of argument. It gets old Tacos!
Why play these stupid games? Read the context:
My question @ 3.1.5 asked about the apparent contradiction you just made: defending Trump's blocking (the context I had established). It was a question designed for you to resolve the apparent contradiction.
Yeah, Tacos!, I seeded this when it happened:
So I knew.
More proof that you either do not comprehend what I wrote or are pretending same. A concession speech explicitly has nothing to do with the point. Remember what I wrote @ 3 and how you twisted it from that into this pointless interchange:
Clear as a bell. No way do I buy that you cannot comprehend that my point was for Trump to stop impeding the transition. And note that even when I am so specific @ 3.1.3 that I tell you that it is not about a speech you still end up talking about a concession speech.
Don't whine about a poor discussion while you intentionally sabotage it.
( This ⇡ is an actual accusation. Remember how it looks. And no question mark. )
Acknowledging that Joe Biden won the election doesn't require a concession. According to latest reporting Trump has told his administration to begin the transition process. That doesn't require a concession, either. Donald Trump is the President of the United States. The press chasing wild weasels won't change that.
What harm has been caused? Joe Biden doesn't need to micro-manage the Federal bureaucracy. Especially since Biden is not yet President. Now is the time for Biden to act Presidential and begin preparing the public for his administration. Joe Biden does not need access to the Federal bureaucracy to assemble a cabinet or plan a policy agenda. And Biden cannot begin implementing a policy agenda until he takes the oath of office.
Joe Biden has the spotlight on the public stage. Trump has been oddly quiet; Trump isn't trying to dominate the news. How Joe Biden uses the public stage is his choice.
What has been fascinating is that everyone is still talking about Trump. Supposedly the voters (and the press) got what they wanted. Why aren't they celebrating what they got? Buyer's remorse before Joe Biden even takes the oath of office is a bad omen.
Splitting semantic hairs again?
A concession speech, etc. is irrelevant to my point. My point is that Trump’s petulant refusal to cooperate with the transition and his pointless lawsuits and claims of victory do a disservice to the nation.
It is fascinating observing people making excuses for this asshole.
At this point, it's more embarrassing. Like a parent is when their child acts out in public.
None. It's a lot of hand-wringing over nothing. The election was only three weeks ago, several states took weeks to count all their votes, and only in the last day or two have some of these states certified their results. These people want Trump to just give up because CNN says he should. Instead, the administration waited until the states with the actual authority to certify results did so.
Some people need to be outraged all the time.
Now there's a reference you don't see every day.
He will, though. He learned from the best. Obama spent 8 years blaming George Bush for shit.
Doesn't matter. In politics, you are free to either change the meaning of words, or by claiming "dog whistle" you can just assign whatever meaning you like to anything your opponents do or say. Convenient!
Except that isn't happening. Trump is still legally the president.
I like how this claim is made without actually listing the consequences. I guess we should all be terrified of some unidentified thing that isn't happening. Remember this the next time they accuse someone of appealing to - or campaigning on - fear.
How soon they forget 2016:
Back to the silly rant:
Why? There is a legal process that Trump is milking for all it's worth. He has that right. On January 20, Trump's term will legally end, Biden will be sworn in as president, and this will be over. Stop acting like the sky is falling. Panic-mongering like this does more to "undermine faith in our democracy" than anything Trump is doing in the courts. If Biden wants to respond to this at all (and I don't think he should bother), then it should be in the form of proclaiming his faith and trust in our Constitution and our legal system.
Arguing about this stuff in the press, with the idea that such arguing will produce results, actually is the kind of thing you might see in a so-called "banana republic." In a constitutional republic, we let people exhaust their legal rights, and then we enforce the law.
The whoopty coup is already over. Trump has told his team to begin the transition. The press has been completely and utterly wrong again.
Now the press has to come up with another clickbait conspiracy to pretend they are relevant.
The freakouts over nothing are so tiresome. Just imagine if there was a real problem. What would they do? We already know. Ignore it for a while and then blame someone else when it gets out of hand.
Yeah, and even with knowledge of that development, people continue to complain that Trump is improperly holding things up. Facts be damned.