The United States of America is a divided nation. Donald Trump, who promised to make America great again, was instrumental in revealing this truth to the world. At one side are those who believe in the MAGA mantra that the Don, consciously or subconsciously, borrowed from Ferdinand Marcos. At the opposite end are believers in preserving freedom and democracy and respect for the US Constitution.
The US election in November galvanized the great divide: 81,283,485 votes (51.4 percent) for Biden and 74,223,744 votes (46.9 percent) for Trump. The numbers speak for themselves.
But what will be the legacy of Donald Trump? I dare say, he provided a political drama of the highest order first hand with his tweets and use of social media. He sabotaged some of the remarkable accomplishments of his predecessor Barack Obama (the Affordable Care Act and Climate Action Plan). He distanced the US from its usual allies and made friends with US “enemies” — Russia and North Korea. He will be remembered for his bigotry, narcissism, incompetence and scandals.
He failed in combatting the pandemic. And if there was an opportunity to salvage his rotten image, it would have been by accepting defeat in the election and congratulating the eventual winner — Joe Biden. But the Don opted to hold on to power like a rat being flushed down the toilet. Repeatedly claiming of being cheated, he said, “You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.” Even in the final hours prior to the Congress’ declaration of Biden as the next president of the US, Trump remained focused on undermining the process through Vice President Mike Pence as the presiding officer of the joint session of Congress. Pence opted to do the honorable thing by declaring Biden as the winner of the US election.
But what will be most remembered in this US election is the mob that desecrated the halls of Congress, one of the most sacred institutions of democracy of the US. The indecency, immorality and illegality of these goons were prompted by Trump’s call in his last rally as the sitting president for his supporters “to fight.” He said, “We will never give up, we will never concede,” and called his opponent’s victories as “explosions of bullshit.” When the dust settled, the Don issued a statement that “there will be an orderly transition on January 20th.”
Biden will have his hands full when he is sworn in as US president. A nation fallen. A republic shamed. A people hurting. And there is a flushed rat swimming back to get out of the toilet. We ain’t seen the last of Donald Trump.