• The king of hubris has up to January 20 to surrender, which is why he is still playing by his own rules.
• He does it with the conviction of a man who thinks he is more sinned against than sinning.
Image: OZONE
The lead bull in the Banyankole kraal does not go down howling. It fights for dominance. Like the buffalo in Bob Marley's lyrics, Donald Trump fought on arrival. He is fighting on exit to show he is not a loser.
Inside the burly bull of a man lurks a boy who refuses to put on his big boy pants, even when presidential decorum demands sanity. Shaming democracy, and the White House comes easily.
US vote count may have closed, and the winner declared, but Trump has opened another path to retain the White House. When the legal recourse hits a cul de sac, Trump may open another window of confrontation.
He is defying what he calls a conspiracy against a president who promised to make America great again. The man doesn't want to leave the White House, but the White House may leave him when the curtain closes on his reality show.
The king of hubris has up to January 20 to surrender, which is why he is still playing by his own rules. He does it with the conviction of a man who thinks he is more sinned against than sinning.
If he needed a moniker that describes his persona, then it is 'Tantrum' Trump. The one-term President needs no provocation to explode. Fury comes easily to the Republican exemplar of hubris.
The billionaire realtor does not need to be offended to blow up, way out of proportion with reality. He operates in his own universe of alternative facts. He is the provocateur-in-chief, who plays the victim of conspiracies.
He is quick to take offence, and even faster to slander opponents. Trump is the predictable bulky bull of the mythical world of the free. Mythical because freedom dies in the dark.
Like a carpenter, Trump needs a hammer to confront challenges, including attempting to change the gears of history to fit his universe of delusions.
The man does not need evidence to make claims that advance his personal interests. All he needs are a microphone, a Twitter account and an audience. His fanatics could lend him their kidneys if he desired that be the price of loyalty.
The US election stalemate exposes the cultic monster Trump has petted since 2016, when he run for President against Democrat Hillary Clinton. He lost the presidency, last week, with about 10 million more votes than the winning Republican count four years ago. Two hundred and forty-four years of unitary tradition of democracy is threatened, as 70 million Republican voters cheer epithets, spewed without regard for decorum. The man wanted vote count stopped where he was losing, and the count to continue where he was winning. He went to court, even without evidence of electoral fraud. He needs to buy time to save face before Republican fanatics.
This is not the first time the White House may evict an incumbent. But unlike its precedent, Trumpian riot is live, thanks to ubiquitous communication technology.
John Adams, the second US president, refused to hand over office to his rival, Thomas Jefferson, after the 1800 election. After the inauguration of Jefferson, which Adams boycotted, staff removed the outgoing president’s belongings from the White House. Adams was the pioneer tenant.
Security and communication channels were cut off. Presidential staff stopped taking instructions from Adams. The White House had moved on.
After Adams' drama, incumbents have always prepared early exit to avoid humiliation. State organs — the military, the Secret Service, the Central Investigative Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and White House staff — serve one president at a time. They won't allow Trump to defile tradition.
There is another way out, as president-elect hinted: "The US Government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."
The US needs to rebuild is the message from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Covid-19 infections and related deaths of more than 250,000 Americans, racial unrest, judicial injustice, and pandemic-indicted economic regression need urgent redress.
Running against President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Hollywoodian Ronald Reagan said: "Recession is when your neighbour loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. Economic recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."
Paraphrased: Disappointment is when Trump refuses to wear his big boy pants. Shame is when Trump divides the Union along party, religious, and race lines. Anarchy is when Trump tells white supremacist militia to step aside and standby. Reconstruction begins when Trump leaves the White House.