When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he liked saying America would win so much under his leadership we’d “get bored with winning.”
But it turns out what’s more exhausting is all the not losing.
Trump can’t lose, at least in the eyes of his loyal supporters, which includes the top Republican politicians in Iowa. He doesn’t lie. He’s not corrupt. He’s a victim being persecuted. Sort of like Jesus, or so I’ve heard.
This is a problem. Because knowing how to graciously lose and accept the result are necessary for democracy to function. Democracy be damned, Trump is undefeated.
He can’t lose in the courtroom, even after a 23-person grand jury indicted him and a 12-person jury spent several weeks listening to evidence and testimony. They found him guilty of falsifying business documents to cover up an affair and keep voters from knowing about it in 2016.
He was found guilty of 34 felonies, but Trump’s pals in Iowa claim none of it counts. He’s in the crosshairs of a vast conspiracy to enforce laws.
Trump can appeal. But why let the process play out when you know Trump can’t lose?
“America saw this trial for what it was, a sham,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement soon after the verdicts were handed down.
“For years, Democrats like Alvin Bragg have been trying to put President Donald Trump in jail with complete disregard for our democracy and the will of the American people. The only verdict that matters is the one at the ballot box in November where the American people will elect President Donald Trump again,” Reynolds said.
The juries were full of Americans. But don’t stop her. She’s on a roll.
“Today is a dark day in American history,” Attorney General Brenna Bird said, “Case in point why politics should have absolutely no place in prosecutions. The American people, not a court, should decide who the next leader of the free world will be. President (Trump) deserves better.”
But we know the only way the “will of the American people” will count is if Trump wins. If that’s not the verdict at the ballot box, Trump won’t accept it. The “next leader of the free world” must be Trump. Any other outcome is fraudulent, illegitimate and rigged. He brags about the potential for violence if he loses.
We know this from 2020, when Trump lost the presidency but perpetrated the big lie about a stolen election that was not stolen. He incited rioters to invade the U.S. Capitol with hopes of stopping the certification of electoral votes. His vice president refused to stop the certification, and Trump threw him to the wolves.
In the months and years after the Jan. 6 attack, Iowa Republicans have downplayed its importance. Let’s move forward.
After all, was it really that bad? Forget what you saw live on television — Capitol Police being beaten, waves of violent protesters breaking into the Capitol and elected representatives and staff hiding for fear of their lives. The attackers were just tourists. Now, facing criminal charges, the rioters are really political prisoners or hostages, according to MAGA.
We can move forward, to the next violent MAGA eruption. Trump and his acolytes refuse to say they’ll accept a free and fair outcome this fall. Because there can be no free and fair election if Trump loses.
If he wins, his reckless agenda will not be stopped by the guardrails of government. Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the Trump presidency, will remove tens of thousands of civil service employees and replace them with Trump loyalists.
For example, the president, under the plan, would take control of the Federal Communications Commission and eliminate rules governing media ownership. That way, a conservative broadcast company such as Sinclair could grab even more TV stations to trumpet Trump’s message.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be dismantled, and Trump could end public radio stations’ status as “non-commercial education stations.” Such a move would remove NPR-affiliated public stations from the low end of the FM dial, opening those spots for religious broadcasting and other conservative uses.
A restructured Department of Justice will focus on election-related issues, making sure Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, no matter how fantastical, are investigated and prosecuted. Well, at least when they’re not prosecuting his political enemies.
The playbook is basically an authoritarian vision of how Trump can rule the country with an iron fist.
Nothing can stand in the way. Because Trump can’t lose.
Christian nationalists see in Trump the opening they’ve been waiting for to trash our secular, pluralistic democracy. They’ll let us know what rights we get to keep.
No important American institution is safe.
The American court system is worthless and crooked because a jury had the audacity to hold Trump accountable. But not because Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas thumb their noses at the idea of judicial independence and ethics.
Destroy the credibility of the courts and judges will be less able to use our Constitution to stop Trumpian overreach. Rulings may be ignored. Because Trump can’t lose.
Congress, particularly the Senate, is being shutdown by Republicans, including Sen. Joni Ernst, as part of a Republican revenge tantrum for Trump’s prosecution.
American elections must be subjected to reckless allegations of fraud. Those fabrications have led many states to approve restrictions on voting. Trump doesn’t lose, and if he does, surely the election is illegitimate.
All I can say is the Iowa Republican leaders who paved the way to this moment should be ashamed. History, if it can still be taught, will judge them harshly. They could have done the right thing and tried to stop the madness. Instead, they picked political ambition and power over the good of the country. They’re squarely to blame for what happens next.
It was fitting this week that we marked the anniversary of D-Day. American soldiers who stormed the beaches couldn’t know, 80 years from that day, the nation they served would be on the brink of electing a wannabe despot who has more in common with the enemies they fought than the America they knew. It’s a betrayal of their sacrifice.
Their cause was to free Europe from tyranny. Trump cares only about himself and admires dictators who he believes are strong and powerful.
Trump can’t lose. But he must if American values are to survive.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
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