Monday, Nov. 9, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Third row back, third seat in.
That was my perch, assigned to me by the White House Correspondents Association, from which I participated in many briefings, often twice a day, for many hours over five years of covering the George W. Bush administration.
At times, through a series of White House press secretaries, aides and a rare appearance by Bush, we sometimes were spun, misled and outright lied to, which meant the people of American were being spun, misled and outright lied to.
Sometimes it was about serious topics, up to and including war.
But never did I witness in person anything as troubling as what we all witnessed in the James S. Brady Briefing Room for 16 minutes Thursday night when President Donald Trump took to the podium to further rile an already-roiled nation sorely in need of a deep breath.
It would be naive to say presidents shouldn’t play politics in the White House. Everything a president does has political overtones. But what Trump did was beyond the pale.
“Good evening,” he began. “I’d like to provide the American people with an update on our efforts to protect the integrity of our very important 2020 election. If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”
This wasn’t an update. It was an outrage, perhaps as dangerous to democracy a speech as any president has ever given.
“As you know, I’ve claimed certain states and he’s claiming states,” Trump said in closing. “So we can both claim the states, but ultimately I have a feeling judges are going to have to rule. But there’s been a lot of shenanigans, and we can’t stand for that in our country. Thank you very much.”
There is a process under which Trump, a man of constant grievance, can bring his gripes about this election. Did anything go wrong? I don’t know. Has Trump offered solid evidence of shenanigans? No. Are there courthouses in which to try to figure it out? Yes.
And those courts are where it should happen, not in the court of public opinion. (This feels like a good spot to note that several million more Americans voted for Joe Biden than for the incumbent.)
For Trump, a fragile man, I’m sure it was drip-drip-drip torture last week as ongoing vote counts showed the presidency slipping from his hands. He flailed through it all, characteristically lashing out at all. I took a personal interest in his campaign’s vitriol against Fox News for putting Arizona in the Biden column early on.
“A Clinton-voting, Biden-deciding Democrat runs the Fox News Decision Desk,” said the headline on a Trump-Pence campaign statement that went after Arnon Mishkin, the director of the Fox News decision desk.
As expected, there will be no limit to Trump’s in-defeat deceit. He’s many years beyond self-help. CNN’s Dana Bash used a good word in the immediate aftermath of the 16-minute diatribe against democracy: Intervention.
Indeed. But by whom? Families often are a good source. Not so much in this case. So who can talk to this deeply flawed man? Who can tell him that there are processes and courthouses in place if indeed there is evidence of electoral malfeasance? And who can tell him that lobbing evidence-free, damning allegations about our electoral system does great potential harm to our nation?
We need a Barry Goldwater, who was among the Republicans who told Richard Nixon it was time to give it up and move on. In this case, for this president, it means someone who can tell Trump to take his complaints to the courthouse but let’s try not to take the nation down along the way.
Now let’s all have a good laugh. Sen. Ted Cruz could intervene. But, as he showed in immediately going all-in with Trump’s nonsense, that’s not going to happen.
“I am angry,” Cruz tweeted, “The American people are right to be angry.”
I imagine that Cruz, who’s from the same school of self-service as Trump, perceives future return on political investment from loudly siding with Trump in hopes of attracting Trump supporters for a 2024 presidential bid. The problem there, of course, is the dark probability that Trump will run again in 2024.
Texas’ other U.S. senator was re-elected by a healthy margin. In the old days, John Cornyn, though perhaps not your political cup of tea, was a responsible Republican. He made it clear in the past he didn’t appreciate the Trump style. And he’s said he’s privately expressed concerns to Trump.
It’s now time for Cornyn to be the adult in the Oval Office and tell Trump to tone it down. This would go a long way to restoring respect for Cornyn that he’s lost by putting up with Trump’s excesses.
“As everybody saw,” Trump said Thursday, “we won by historic numbers.”
Yes, the public has spoken. And though it’s not how the game is decided, those considering potential intervention would be wise to take note of the popular vote. It’s a fact Cornyn and others should take into consideration in deciding how far off the deep end they want to go with the dangerous nonsense Trump spewed in the Briefing Room.
Got a complaint, Mr. President? Tell it to a judge. And bring evidence.
Third row back, third seat in.
It wasn’t mine. Just a chair I got to sit in for a few years, just like that room in that building is just a place in which a president gets to live and work for a few years.
As many presidents have called it, it’s the people’s house, one that’s defiled when a president so dangerously, defiantly and deceitfully holes up and lies like a fifth-world dictator.
Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman.
