Former president and now president-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated again – this time to a non-consecutive second term. (The first since Grover Cleveland, elected in 1885 and 1893.) Although I was disappointed, to say the least, about his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, it is clear that Trump was elected fair and square by millions of Americans I disagree with regarding his fitness for office.
Despite my severe doubts based on his first-term presidency – two impeachments resulting in party-line acquittals and four felony charges: two blocked by judicial stall tactics, another by a prosecutor’s personal indiscretion, plus one conviction with no penalties allowed – I had no choice but to respect the results and give the winner the benefit of aforementioned doubts. I say “no choice” because without evidence of anything but a straight-up electoral Trump victory meant to me – as it should to any American who believes in democracy – that he is our once and now-again president. Others I respect on the losing side upheld that rightful interpretation of constitutional law. Harris conceded the next morning. And she fulfilled her constitutional duty as vice president and president of the Senate to confirm the electoral count on Jan. 6. Remember that date, anyone? Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House of Representatives, gaveled his announcement of the final count to the applause of mostly the winning side. Nothing wrong with that. But compare this entirely peaceful transfer of power to that of the MAGA mob, egged on by Trump, on the same date four years ago.
Still, Trump is about to be our next president. And he was among a rich and rare assemblage of colleagues on another historic day just last week. Trump and three other former presidents, plus President Joe Biden, sat together as a far more exclusive club than the “Saturday Night Live” five-timer host club. But it was the centenarian of the hour, 39th President Jimmy Carter, whose funeral stood as a still-living memorial to the great man in the flag-draped casket – a fallible human of unassailable character, decency, integrity and the belief I have now and always did that Jimmy Carter never lied to us. All the eulogies were authentically moving and real. No embellishment necessary. One of my favorites was the bipartisan tribute read by Gerald Ford’s son Steven because these former presidential election rivals and best friends for the rest of their lives, agreed to write each other’s eulogies. Carter outlasted Ford by 18 years.
I can apply none of those accolades to the man about to take his second oath of office I doubt he will keep for a minute. I say that because I’m certain he will never take the step that could redeem himself and his idolaters: Tell the truth about the 2020 election. Are we to just pretend that he’s not the one who tried to “steal” an election? – campaigning before and after the votes were counted that it was “rigged.” It’s an impossible feat considering all the states, counties, and municipalities, not to mention the thousands of precincts you’d have to line up to pull off a stolen national election. And never mind there is zero evidence of such a widespread possibility in 2020. If Donald could bring himself to announce, or at least imply, at his inauguration in front of the president who once defeated him that, yes, Biden won that election, just as he – Trump – won this one, he could obliterate the fact-free obsession that has divided America for more than five years. Confession is good for the soul and would be for the country he now leads. Again. But Trump will never do that.
Too bad for all of us on either side of his contagious lie. You won in 2024, Mr. Trump. Mr. President. And no one seriously challenges that. Why would you contribute to keeping the country divided against itself as you did when you lacked the simple courtesy of attending Biden’s inauguration? Sore loser, for sure. Why would you now be a sore winner as well? Just to get even? Surely, you can’t expect to run again. Make the best of this term for yourself, your legacy, and for all the rest of us.
Jimmy could be watching you, Donald. But you don’t seem to care. You think Carter was a loser. But so were you in 2020. Be a man and admit it. Put an end to all the personal strife you brought upon yourself as a result. And all of us fellow Americans, too. Then get on with being the best president you can be for a more united USA.
Make America Grateful Again – grateful to be who we are when we’re all working together.
Steve Parks is a retired journalist now living in Easton.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.