Letter: President Trump lost the election

The President is already in discussions with his staff about running for the Republican nomination again in 2024. While I am not critical of the President’s policies, I hope Republicans don’t make the mistake of nominating Donald Trump a second time. Here are my reasons:

1. No matter what you may currently think, Donald Trump lost in 2020. Would that I were wrong on this, but the issue has come before a number of conservative judges, several of which were members of the Federalist Society, and they have seen no proof of massive fraud. Fraud is hard to prove when you are talking about more than 150 Million individual votes, and there was undoubtedly some fraud present. But the President has not convinced a single judge that he possesses sufficient evidence to meet the burden of proof that enough fraud existed to change the outcome of the election. Donald Trump lost not because of his policies, but because of his Tweeting and his undisciplined speaking. It was never wise and his most astute advisers counseled him to curb his untoward comments. He refused to do so. His failure to discipline his speech not only cost him a second term, but it subjected the rest of us to a Joe Biden Presidency.

The president defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 because Hillary was so imminently unlikeable. The Democrats did not then look to give her a second chance. The President does not deserve a second chance either. He was the cause of his own demise. I am not celebrating that; I am mourning it. Nevertheless, we’ve seen absolutely no evidence that he would do better if given another opportunity. I don’t actually believe he has it in him. He is so proud and self-centered that when those around the Emperor told him that he had no clothes, he refused to believe them. Considering yourself to be the smartest man in the room can be a real liability, particularly when you are not.

2. His treatment of subordinates was disgraceful. I will give as examples Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, and Jim Mattis. Jim Sessions was a Trump loyalist who was advised by the ethics section of the Justice Department that he must recuse himself on the Russian collusion issue. Sessions did so. He really had no choice. When the ethics officials counsel recusal, you recuse yourself, whether you like it or not. For that, the President steeped scorn on a good man and opposed his attempt to win back his Senate seat in Alabama. While Rex Tillerson did refer to the President as a moron, he only did so after the President had told the Press that Tillerson was “dumber than a rock.” After firing his Department of Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, the President referred to Mattis, a decorated Marine general with a distinguished career, as “the world’s most overrated general.” Those are just three examples of how the President treated subordinates. There are dozens of others that are nearly as shameful.

The President was wholly incapable of disagreeing with anyone without being disagreeable. And he had a real talent for selecting sycophants rather than accomplished talent. If you think otherwise, I’d ask you to sit back and consider how individuals like Omarosa and Michael Cohen ended up so close to the President.

3. The President underpperformed Republican down ballot candidates in the 2020 election. There was a reason for that. It was due to the fact that the President was less popular with Republicans and Independents than were the Republican House, Senate, Gubernatorial, and State House candidates. That should tell you something about the President’s alienation of average Americans.

4. Many blame the president’s loss on the Ppess. While the Press definitely treated the President disgracefully, they treat every Republican candidate disgracefully. It is time that we own up to the fact that what was once a professional press corps has become little more than a gaggle of Democratic groupies. That is the world we live in. Whomever the Republicans select as their next presidential candidate will face the same obstacle. Republicans must plan around that and do their best to win in spite of Press opposition.

The Republican Party has a cadre of good, conservative men and women whose chances of defeating Joe Biden in 2024 far exceed that of a second Trump run. But when the president announces his intention to run again, it will suck all of the air out of the room and leave little opportunity for good candidates like Tim Scott of South Carolina to secure the nomination. If you recognized in 2016 that Hillary Clinton’s character flaws denied her the presidency and fail to recognize that Donald Trump’s character flaws did the same to him in 2020, I don’t know what to say. Donald Trump had his day, and his policies were generally very good. But he made it difficult for the average American to see that because of his overbearing personality. Let’s not make that mistake again.

— Victor E Thayer,

Madera