Crouching Failure: Disintegrating loser

By Jolly Somasundram

“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us.To sie oursels as ithers see us.”

(“O what power the fairy can give us, to see ourselves as others see us.”)

Robert Burns

What benefits a six-time bankrupt, to holler “I have won, I have won”, after losing the bet? A fire without a flame?

Only after the tide goes out, does realisation dawn that one had been swimming naked. The ebb has occurred for the 45th President though he had not gained a trickle of enlightenment. The result? Never in history has a head of state cut such a pathetically sore figure, cravenly and shamelessly whimpering conspiracy theories, to account for his loss of a second coming. The White House has become a theatre of the absurd. It is sadness when the US, an economically and militarily dominant state- the oldest functioning democracy and the most powerful in the world- is headed by a schmuck. Even when the narcissistic Roman Emperor Nero had to give way, he did so with panache, saying, qualis actifer pereo (what an artist but still I die!). Dignity is wanting in the 45th. The 45th, a two of clubs became an ace of spades, which unrenewed, reverted him to his familiar slot. A somebody has now become only a body. His behaviour and actions have debased a respected institution – the Presidency of the US. And departing, he does this on the White House door-step!

All the world’s a stage, but for this impeached and now, booted out player, the stage was a platform for extraction and avoiding taxes- like a Mafia Don-to benefit family and himself. For him, too much is never enough. He is ending his blood splattered four-year term with a killing spree, making human sacrifices of condemned prisoners, the first, few days ago and the second, two days later. Ten executions authorised by him from July this year, preceded these two. Three more have joined this macabre death assembly line, to be done-in before the 45th relinquishes office on 21st January 2021. These executions were the first, after 130 years, which took place during a lame-duck presidency. (Earlier this year, the 45th tasted blood in another context, ordering a Drone killing of Soleimanyi, the Deputy head of Iran). The 45th, in a widely telecast event, pardoned a Turkey – a lame duck pardoning a wholesome fowl – a few days before the executions of these two, to show his Christmassy compassion, an emotion unextended to the executed humans! For them it was a season of ill-will. In Russia, there was a kingly executioner named Vlad the Impaler. This one in the US, could be called, 45th the lethal injector. Midas turned everything he touched to gold, the 45th turned everyone he met into corpses! The 45ths successor- Joe Biden- has a firm anti-capital punishment position. The 45th’s warp speed executions were to ensure that the remaining three – two men and a woman-will not benefit from Joe Biden’s compassion. He wishes to leave the presidency in a blaze of gory! The 45th earned his spurs from medical certificates, now gets spurns for his execution spree. The Soleimanyi execution could be a war crime. Pinochet- the Chilean ex-President- was indicted after he left office. Ribbentrop, was executed as a war criminal for being Foreign Minister in Hitler’s cabinet. Tony Blair is another war criminal awaiting justice. The same indictment awaits the 45th.

The 45th confronted the burgeoning Covid-19 pandemic with indifference. He did not take it seriously. He called it a hoax, fake news, a Chinese conspiracy, voodoo magic, inject detergent, prescribed unsuitable, medicine – hydroxychloroquine- like a quack doctor, withdrew from the WHO, the international organisation fighting the epidemic, discouraged simple care measures like wearing masks and social distancing. Instead, he became a super-spreader. The result was disastrous. Within eight months 300,000 have died, more than the American casualties of WW II. When the pandemic peters out in three to four years it is expected that 600,000 Americans would be dead. The 45th could appropriately be called the Pol Pot of the West. His indifference could rightly be called a crime against humanity, a term minted at the Nuremburg War Tribunal.

Elections are the life-blood of a democracy, not a voice degradable activity, decided by vote not voice. Judgement day is when results are declared and the mandate of the people withdrawn from the old or conferred on the new.

The date for the election of a US president is specified in the US Constitution, the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, every leap year. In the US, elections are a devolved subject, conducted according to the state’s constitution and adjudicated by the state’s Supreme Court. A president of the US has no say in their conduct. Perhaps, having a premonition of his dire electoral prospects, irrespective of his lack of status to intervene, he used his position as President to do so. His bizarre interventions were in three phases, first, the pre-election phase, the second, the concurrent phase during the election, and the third, the post- election phase. In the pre- election phase, he declared the election to be the most corrupt in US history and wanted it postponed. He was playing a Banana Republican. His demand was laughed out of court as the postponement was unconstitutional. The next in his pre-election gaffes was to declare that since he had deep reservations about the conduct of the elections, he wished his opponent to concede and accept him as the legitimately elected president. He went better than the USSR, where the victor gained 99% of the votes cast, here, he got 100% since voting did not take place. Another gale of laughter ensued. This comic opera of the first phase continued to election day. The first phase was a failure with a small ‘f’. In the second phase, he regularly interfered with the count, claiming, on the basis of early returns, he had been elected, and declared himself as the second term president. This was ignored. The results were declared: he had lost badly, the opponent gaining a majority of 7 million votes and 320 votes in the electoral college, where only 270 would suffice. It was failure with a big ‘F’. Nonetheless, he refused to concede. He has become a pretender president.

The third phase was full of his post-election shenanigans. He tried every possibility to discredit the elections and cast doubts on their validity, calling them a steal, despite his own Director, overseeing the election, stating that they were the freest and cleanest in the history of the US. This officer was sacked the next day for his temerity. He then tried the law court route, every one of the 50 cases he got filed was rejected, one judge calling it “a Frankenstein stitch up.” The next recourse was the Supreme Court, which, after 30 minutes of deliberation, unanimously rejected it, stating the case had no merit. The 45th abused the Supreme Court for having “no wisdom and courage.” Running out of legal runway, the next was the preposterous claim that since he got the highest number of votes than any second candidate, he should be the one to be selected. More laughter! He then tried the time-tested strategy, of suborning politicians. No dice. The 45th was the failure who failed, even as a failure.

Joe Biden will take oaths as the President of the US at the stroke of twelve (midday) on 21st January 2021.

The 45th will have as his epitaph Nunquam considere: I will not concede