A Tale of Two Transitions
There was a time when, with few exceptions, the incoming
President elect, regardless of partisan affiliations, was shown the courtesy
and cooperation we have come to accept as “normal” for our 230-year-old
republic. This meant that the incoming administration was given appropriate aid,
assistance and cooperation by the outgoing one. This typically included not “tampering”
with personnel in place at the time of the election, and leaving such matters
up to the incoming administration.
This is not to imply that incoming and outgoing POTUSs have not had their differences. FDR and Herbert Hoover had mercilessly carped at each other on the campaign trail in 1932 over deep seated differences of opinion regarding the economics of how to deal with the great depression.
That aside, their staffs worked fairly well together to assure a smooth transition
at a time when the nation desperately needed a sense of unity. Oddly enough and
eerily familiar, media pundits and especially Evangelical radio “clergy” such
as Father Charles Coughlin and Gerald L.K. Smith labeled Roosevelt as a “Communist”,
“Jewish dupe”, “Socialist”, etc.”
Truman and Eisenhower
had worked well together during the final days and aftermath of WWII and, in
1952, Truman had actually approached Ike about running on the Democratic ticket
to be his successor. Ike demurred, deciding he was probably a Republican. He
and Truman had major disagreements regarding the best way to deal with the
Korean conflict and even more to Truman’s disliking, Eisenhower, sensitive to
the need not to alienate Republican voters during the campaign, refused to
condemn Joseph McCarthy’s ranting in the
Senate about a “commie under every bed.”
Even so, their staffs cooperated in transition, putting politics behind
the national interest.
Bill Clinton
and Bush 43 couldn’t have been more dissimilar, in intellect, political savvy,
or types of personal indiscretion. That said, there was an orderly transfer of power
even though Vice-POTUS Al Gore had been “stiffed” by the USSC in the 2000 election
Florida farce. The concern shown by the Clinton administration included a fairly
detailed terrorism brief, sadly ignored with tragic results, identifying Osama
Bin Ladin and Al Qaeda as the major extant threat to US security.
Barack Obama, having been slandered for eight
years by Donald Trump and conservative media in almost every way imaginable,
still conducted and oversaw a transition which placed the nation above personal
politics. This included having his staff coordinate and conduct a run-through, a week before Trump's inauguration, of the scenario (with a 60-page playbook) the Obama administration had
developed for dealing with a widespread pandemic. Mitch McConnell would later
claim there was no “playbook,” although his wife, Transportation Secretary Chao
was an attendee, as was Energy Secretary Perry, now gone, another victim of the
revolving Trump cabinet door.
Likewise, President-elect
Biden, then VPOTUS, tweeted on November 10, 2016: “I just met with VP-elect
Pence at the White House to offer our support for a smooth, seamless transition
of power”
In contrast, 4
years later, the Trump Administration (if one can call the current chaos machine
an administration) still refusing, 13 days after the election, to concede the inevitable, refuses to participate or to allow staff to do so. In fact, as of this writing the GSA has not
released funds for transition planning, and very few Republicans have developed
enough backbone to say, “Stop, enough!”
As a contrast, here’s a day by day, "blow by blow”
timeline, contrasting 2016 and 2020:
Day 1,
2016: Election day was November 8th in 2016. Hillary Clinton
conceded/Trump golfed, insisting that he won. Mrs. Clinton called Trump at
around 2.30 a.m. the night of the election to concede his win. The very next day, funds for the transition
were ordered released by the General Services Administration (GSA). By noon the
next day, Clinton had made her concession speech and (Obama Defense Secretary)
Ash Carter gave the formal order for a peaceful transition of power.
Day 1, 2020:
In 2020, Trump was again at the golf course as most major networks called the
race for Joe Biden. At the same time, Trump personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
held a press conference in the front yard of Four Seasons Total Landscaping(!),
announcing the president's intention to litigate over alleged voter fraud. Later that night, Trump tweeted: "I WON
THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!" (He lost by over 5 million popular, and at least
58 electoral, votes as of this writing)
Day 2, November
10, 2016: On November 10, 2016, Vice President Joe Biden met Vice
President-Elect Mike Pence, and Melania Trump met First Lady Michelle Obama. Trump
and Obama spent an hour and a half together in the Oval Office and Obama shook Trump's hand in front of the cameras.
Both men (Obama and Biden) made statements indicating their intentions to
facilitate a smooth transition.
Day 2, November 4, 2020: Republicans were
soliciting calls to a fraud hotline set up by Trump, which was then flooded
with prank calls. The same day, Melania Trump made her first public statement
in support of Trump's fraud allegations, tweeting: "Every legal — not
illegal — vote should be counted."
Day 3, November 11, 2016: The White House announced
details of Obama's global farewell tour, in which the President said he would
be helping prepare allies to work with Trump!
Day 3 November 6, 2020: Three days after victory in 2020, with no concession
or acknowledgement of defeat from Trump,
Biden met with and announced his coronavirus advisory board, designed to mark a
break with Trump's chaotic handling of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, on
Twitter, Trump continued promoting claims of election fraud. He sent a total of
25 tweets with links to right-wing media supporting him, or rumors about the
count in some states — many of which were flagged by the platform as disputed,
most of which are since dismissed as false and/or un- founded.
Day 4, November 12, 2016: Trump designated Chris
Collins as the head of his transition team. His transition team also signaled
to The New York Post that he planned to pull the US out of the Paris Climate
Accords, reversing an Obama policy.
Day 4, November 7, 2020: In 2020, four days after the result, Trump's
administration was still holding up Biden's progress. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo joked in a press conference about preparing for a "second Trump
administration," for which he was later praised by the president.
President-elect
Biden addressed the lack of cooperation at a press conference, telling
reporters in Delaware that he was moving ahead anyway: "We don't see
anything that's slowing us down, quite frankly," He called Trump's refusal
to concede "an embarrassment," adding, "It's not of much
consequence.”
Day 5, November 13, 2016: Trump named Reince Priebus as his chief of
staff and Steve Bannon as his chief strategist, The Guardian reported. On CBS's
"60 Minutes" Trump shifted from his former hardline position on
Obamacare, moderating some of his campaign positions ahead of taking power. Note:
At the same point in 2020, Trump continued flinging accusations. Attacking
both ABC News and The Washington Post, he claimed that a joint Wisconsin poll
they published purposefully understated his chances to discourage his
supporters from voting. (a claim since debunked)
On day 6: Trump
sought unjustified security clearances for his elder sons, Ivanka, and
her spouse. Meanwhile Biden was still denied access to messages of
congratulation from world leaders by the State Department, CNN reported.
Day 7 and 8, 2016 / 2020: More of the same: in 2016, Trump got a National
Security briefing, putting him on a par with Obama in that area. Allowing this
was an Obama decision, deemed to be in the best interests of a smooth
transition and preparing an unexperienced President-elect.
Seven days after Biden's win was
confirmed in 2020, he still did not have access to these briefings. Despite the
Trump administration's refusal to acknowledge Biden's victory, China officially
did so. This left Russia as the only major world power not to accept the
results.
Day 9, 2020: Trump appeared to accidentally
concede the election by tweeting that Biden "won because the Election was
Rigged." He quickly recanted that, tweeting: "He only won in the eyes
of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING!" (Ed note: Trump loves the word
“rigged” because in his mind it absolves him of any admission of losing.)
Present: The Trump shit-show rolls along, denial the name
of the game, meanwhile President-elect Joe Biden soldiers on, wisely refusing to
engage Trump, who is off the rails and evidences no concern for the nation.
Yet, the
Republic will, as it has before, in times of trial, endure.
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