Ben Lowry: If this is the end of the Trump presidency, then good riddance

Joe Biden had not been confirmed as next year’s inhabitant of the White House at time of going to press, but it has seemed increasingly likely since Wednesday night, 24 hours after counting began.

It is widely known that the opinion polls were wrong in this race, particularly in key states such as Florida and Ohio where Donald Trump got a far higher percentage of the vote than forecast, but the surveys were not as awry as first reported.

Mr Biden had by last night a massive 74 million votes from across the US. That tally will pass 80 million in coming days, as counts finish in places such as California.

President Trump was on 70 million votes last night and is heading towards perhaps 75m. Both men have got more support than any other candidates in US history.

Republican Party leaders might not back his legal plan to overturn the result. If so it is the end of his tenure as president. In which case good riddance.

Many people who are on the right politically, or are unionist, loathe such criticism of Mr Trump.

They point out that he was pro Brexit, had no interest in Irish nationalist grievances, tackled China, was honest about Islamic terror, boosted Nato (by getting Europeans to pay more) and kept global peace.

Much of that is true (although how much help did he in fact give the UK on Brexit? and did he even think about Northern Ireland?).

Mr Trump did try to stem an immigration flood that could inflict ruinous damage on America (and Europe).

And he rightly despised the Black Lives Matter extremists, whom many politicians in the US Democratic Party support, and for whom in the UK Keir Starmer ‘took the knee’ (as did some police officers on duty in England, while Simon Byrne, PSNI chief constable, tweeted “...we must support #BlackLivesMatter...”)

But at what point does a leader’s unseemly conduct disqualify him for a high office?

My view on that has not budged in five years, since the first Republican Party debates of summer 2015, for the nomination to run for president the following year, 2016.

Within minutes the essence of the man was clear, as it was in every debate thereafter. He stooped to shocking personal abuse about people’s appearance, nasty stuff that a child would know to be unacceptable. Some people found this funny.

Trump’s juvenile side at times can make him seem vulnerable and almost endearing, such as at rallies where he unashamedly basks in — and seems to need — the adoration.

But ultimately there is little amusing about this side to him.

When he assumed office in 2016 I often said that Mr Trump was “like a 12-year-old” because he would say pathetically immature things — for example, saying he knew far more about a topic even than experts, when he knew nothing about it.

But my nephews, aged eight and nine then (12 and 13 now), reminded me that kids of that age have mostly passed the stage of transparently ludicrous boasts.

Mr Trump, irrepressible, expanded his claims of expertise to science, to justify his Covid handling, yet he was patently clueless.

The idea that he has been a good leader on foreign affairs is dubious.

His narcissism was such that if the dictator of a hostile state was charming to him, Mr Trump swooned and would gush about them in return. But if the leader of a long and trusted ally nation uttered the slightest criticism of him, he reacted furiously and vengefully.

The daily lying from the White House set an appalling precedent for children, who look up to US presidents (as, indeed, do adults around the world). He sanitised dishonesty, vanity and verbal abuse.

There has been no US commander-in-chief remotely like this in my lifetime, and perhaps not since 1789. His comments on the election on Wednesday and Thursday night were predictable but nightmarish even so, whipping up people across the US at a time of sizzling tensions.

It is reasonable to issue legal challenges to concerns over contested matters such as postal ballot procedures, but there is little sign of evidence that comes close to justifying annulling this election.

Since 2016 it has been interesting to observe the varying ways that many conservative minded people who did not warm to Mr Trump have tried to come to terms with him as a new political ally.

In trying to make themselves like someone they instinctively don’t, they would — akin to a form of voluntary Stockholm Syndrome — praise Mr Trump warmly after any brief displays of good or calm behaviour, as if it meant he had changed, or he might not be so bad.

Other people said he at least provided entertainment value. Perhaps so, if his responsibilities were not so great and the problems facing the western world not so pressing.

After four years of grotesque Oval Office outbursts, it was tonic to the soul to see Joe Biden on a podium on Thursday night, restoring sobriety and dignity to the world’s most important political office, which he is on the verge of holding.

Like all unionists I am anxious about his Irish nationalism, and am relieved to see that the (still largely anglo in sympathy) Republican Party might hold the US Senate (bringing about a scenario I raised last week, of a Biden presidency constrained by a Republican Congress).

Not that the senators deserve such high office after their acquiescence in the last four years (the noble Mitt Romney excepted).

A conservative movement is essential to tackle an increasingly demented extreme liberalism that seems to hate our western civilisation, at a time when authoritarian global forces are waiting to seize on our weakness.

It needs to rise from the ashes of a Trump presidency, and the disastrous illusion that a man obsessed with his own self image and interests is our saviour.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

• Many writers and letters have supported President Trump, as below:

• Ruth Dudley Edwards: Donald Trump understood the plight of poor white Americans

• Letter: Ben Lowry should apologise to Donald Trump for using such abusive language

• Letter: Best wishes to President Donald Trump, who made America great again

• Letter: Joe Biden is not yet the president of the United States

• Letter: Beware of dancing too soon over Donald Trump

• Letter: Joe Biden as US president would be a disaster for the UK

• Editorial: Congratulations to Joe Biden on becoming president, and thanks to Donald Trump for his legacy

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor