The obduracy of US President Donald Trump, who refuses to accept the poll results sealing his fate for a second term in office and heralding Joe Biden as the new President, is sending wrong signals to the institution of democracy and giving a fillip to right wing autocrats and ‘nationalists’ the world over to emulate his example. This is, indeed, an ominous lesson of the current US Presidential poll. The list of such friends and followers of Trump prepared by the Washington Post includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The others make an unenviable picture gallery: Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Hungary’s anti-immigrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.
The paper published an article on the international implications of Trump’s obstinacy not to follow the rules of democratic electoral process. It says though Trump is gone, ‘Trumpism’ survives beyond the borders of the USA. “With President Trump’s narrow election defeat, the globe’s right-wing autocrats and nationalistic movements face a new challenge: how to navigate a world where the most powerful man on Earth is no longer in their corner. Around the globe, Trump’s style is inspiring imitators and unleashing dark impulses. Few are predicting an end to global Trumpism, the nation-first, people-dividing style of governance with a hint of authoritarianism that began to gain traction in Europe and Asia well before Trump’s 2016 election,” Washington Post article states. It goes on to assert that President-elect Joe Biden’s tight victory could even embolden Trump’s global allies to project his strong showing as anything but a rejection of their arch-conservative populist ideals.
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Biden has described Hungary and Poland as rising “totalitarian regimes” and implied that its leaders were “thugs.” On the other hand, Trump welcomed Poland’s Duda in July as the first world leader to visit the White House following the initial wave of the coronavirus pandemic, giving his re-election campaign a boost just days before the poll.
Interestingly, according to a CNN report which was sourced from reliable sources, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has approached the US President about conceding the election to Biden. Trump’s assertion in a statement from his campaign that Biden was “rushing to falsely pose as the winner” and that the race is “far from over” prompted Kushner to offer the advice. He reportedly told his close circles that Trump should accept the outcome “even if he won’t come to terms with how it was reached.”
But, Trump is in no mood to relent or heed his son-in-law’s advice as is clear from his resolve: “I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.” Trump’s statement also announced the campaign’s legal battle will begin Monday.
However, leaders of Trump’s own Republican Party are sharply divided on the issue of accepting or not accepting the poll results. Notable among them is former President George W. Bush, who, in a written statement, has said, “I extended my warm congratulations to Mr. Biden and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night.” Bush’s statement was released after he spoke with Biden over telephone. “I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair. Its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear,” Bush categorically stated.
On the other hand, Republican leaders such as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have refused to publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory, though they have stopped short of endorsing Trump’s wild allegation of electoral fraud. Many others in the party have suggested Trump should be permitted to file any lawsuits or call for recounting under the laws. Only a few well-known Republicans such as Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have congratulated Biden.
Trump’s dogged refusal to concede defeat could serve as a model for right wing autocrats and their clones how to handle their own political challenges at home. The precedent of a sitting US President refusing to honour a free and fair vote, it is being widely feared, could encourage these others when political defeat stares them in the face to make similar attempts to cling to power or at least challenge the legitimacy of their opponents’ electoral victory.
This would be a great challenge to the various institutions of democracy and it is in such a time that their resilience would get tested.
