Trump became the party’s presumptive candidate in March, having gathered the minimum number of delegates required to clinch the nomination, despite facing no significant challenges in the Republican presidential primaries of 2020. In late August, he was officially nominated by the Republican Party at its national convention. The Republican National Committee, in an unusual move, decided not to write a platform for the 2020 election, instead opting to adopt the same platform it had issued in 2016 (despite its dated criticisms of the “current” president) along with a resolution declaring that “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” The Trump campaign released a list of Trump’s “core priorities” for a second term shortly before the Republican convention began, including “Create 10 Million New Jobs in 10 Months,” “Develop a [COVID-19] Vaccine by the End of 2020,” “Return to Normal in 2021,” “Protect Social Security and Medicare,” “Bring Violent Extremist Groups Like ANTIFA to Justice,” and “Require New Immigrants to Be Naturalized.” Throughout his campaign, Trump hurled insults and slurs at Biden, who was named the Democratic Party’s probable presidential candidate in April and officially selected at the party’s national convention in mid-August. As president, Biden promised to control the COVID-19 pandemic, reverse Trump’s immigration and environmental policies, mend the country’s frayed relations with foreign allies, repeal the 2017 corporate tax cut, strengthen voting rights, and expand access to health insurance under Obamacare, among other things.
Reason For Donald Trump Losing His Re-election for a Second Term
The COVID-19 epidemic was, unsurprisingly, a major campaign topic. Biden accused Trump of disregarding the disease’s early spread in the US, mismanaging the country’s pandemic response, and refusing to accept proper advice and guidance from government scientists and health officials. For his part, Trump first accused Democrats of creating a “hoax” by misrepresenting the scope of the infection and the severity of the disease. He proceeded to accuse Biden and other Democrats of exaggerating the severity of the health-care issue for political gain for the rest of his campaign. The adequacy of pandemic-related economic assistance for people, companies, and state and municipal governments was a separate issue.
As a result of the epidemic, governors and election authorities in many states have decided to postpone primary elections or make modifications to election protocols to ensure that voters may cast votes securely. Extending voter registration deadlines and early voting periods; loosening or eliminating requirements for obtaining or casting mail-in ballots, which millions of voters were expected to use as an alternative to in-person voting; authorizing the use of drop boxes for returning mail-in ballots; and extending post-election deadlines for receipt of mail-in ballots, whose delivery was expected to be delayed after the election. A smaller but still substantial number of states either refused to alter their election processes or did so in ways that made voting more difficult or dangerous than in other jurisdictions. For example, Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, issued an order in October 2020 limiting mail-in vote drop boxes to one per county.
Changes to state election processes as a result of the pandemic were hotly contested. Some were enacted in reaction to orders from federal or state courts, whose decisions were later affirmed or overturned on appeal; others were started by state officials and subsequently contested in court. Republican election and government officials, state Republican parties and the Republican National Committee, as well as the Trump campaign, all challenged the changes, claiming that they usurped state legislatures’ constitutional authority to establish electoral laws and procedures or that they encouraged voter fraud (none of the suits, however, presented any evidence of significant fraud). Democrats defended the changes as constitutional and necessary to ensure that people have the opportunity to vote in the midst of a public health emergency; they also claimed that Republican opposition to the changes amounted to voter suppression, which could unfairly tip the election in Trump’s favor in swing states. Prior to election day, both Democrats and Republicans filed more than 300 election-related lawsuits. Ultimately, the overwhelming majority of Republican objections were rejected.
The correct assumption that Democratic voters were more inclined to utilize mail-in votes than Republican voters was at the heart of both parties’ efforts. Trump’s oft-repeated but unfounded assertion that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud and misuse only heightened Democratic fears of Republican voter suppression. The appointment of a new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, a big Trump contributor, in May 2020, had the same effect, as he immediately initiated service cutbacks and other operational changes in the US postal system, slowing mail delivery throughout the nation.
Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting and the postal service were part of a larger accusation that he made during the 2016 presidential campaign and repeated throughout the 2020 campaign and beyond: that the November election would be “rigged” by Democrats, resulting in “the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in History,” as he stated in a July 2020 tweet. Trump claimed in dozens of other tweets and at numerous campaign rallies, interviews, and press appearances that foreign countries would steal or forge thousands of mail-in ballots, that Democratic election officials would fail to send mail-in ballots to Republicans, and that they would commit election fraud by intentionally miscounting mail-in ballots. In the summer and autumn of 2020, Trump made a point of refusing to commit to accepting a Biden win in November, which appeared probable given Biden’s persistent and large lead over Trump in national surveys. Trump, on the other hand, maintained that the only way the Democrats could win was via fraud, proposing in a tweet that the election be postponed “until people can vote correctly, securely, and safely???” He has also said that he should be allowed to prolong his first term to compensate for the distraction caused by the Russia probe.
Democrats and Trump’s conservative opponents, including a tiny but loud minority of Republican intellectuals and journalists, were outraged by Trump’s advocacy of what amounted to a conspiracy theory of Democratic vote fraud. Some speculated that Trump was simply setting the stage for a face-saving end to his presidency; others speculated that he would use election fraud lawsuits in a dubious strategy to invalidate mail-in votes in swing states or to delay state election certification long enough for Republican-controlled state legislatures to take the extreme (albeit constitutional) step of replacing the president. Others anticipated a situation in which Trump would simply refuse to resign, sparking a constitutional crisis in which the US military would get engaged (in the worst-case scenario). One long-held worry, especially among historians and political scientists, was that Trump’s alleged conspiracy theories would erode Americans’ faith in democratic institutions. They claimed that American democracy would be gravely harmed if a substantial section of either major party repeatedly refused to accept loss in presidential or other high-level elections. After amassing the necessary number of delegates, Trump was declared the party’s presumptive nominee in March. In late August, he was formally nominated by the Republican Party. Despite its antiquated criticisms of the “current” president, it decided not to write a platform for the 2020 election, which was followed by a resolution declaring that “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” “In ten months, create ten million new jobs,” “By the end of 2020, develop a [COVID-19] vaccine,” “Return to Normal in 2021,” Protect Social Security and Medicare, prosecute violent extremist groups like ANTIFA, and make new immigrants American citizens. Trump continued to throw insults and smears at Biden, who was named the Democratic Party’s likely nominee in April and was formally chosen at the party’s national convention in August. As president, Biden promised to address the COVID-19 outbreak, reverse Trump’s immigration and environmental policies, mend frayed relations with allies, repeal the 2017 corporate tax cut, strengthen voting rights, and expand access to Obamacare health insurance.
The COVID-19 pandemic, understandably, overshadowed the election. Biden accused Trump of ignoring the disease’s early spread in the United States, mismanaging the country’s pandemic response, and restricting the involvement and leadership of government scientists and health experts. Trump, for one, first accused Democrats of orchestrating a “hoax” by exaggerating the seriousness of the illness. He said throughout his campaign that Biden and other Democrats were exaggerating the health-care crisis for political advantage. The effectiveness of pandemic-related economic aid for individuals, businesses, and governments has also been called into doubt.
To protect voter safety, governors and election officials in several jurisdictions postponed or modified primary elections. The requirements for obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining or obtaining.
The huge number of people who voted in person, by mail, early voting, or on election day made the 2020 presidential election unique and historic. Biden earned over 81 million votes, the most ever for a presidential candidate, while Trump received over 74 million. In most swing states, Trump continued to behind Biden, although by lower margins than the previous summer. In fact, the vote totals in many states were far closer than polls projected. Due to the high amount of mail-in votes (over 65 million nationwide) that took longer to total than in-person ballots, the outcome remained uncertain for a few days after the election (November 3). Biden was proclaimed the victor on November 7 by the Associated Press and major US media networks, citing his 270 electoral votes, the necessary number to win the presidency. The electoral college voted 306 times for Biden and 232 times for Trump on December 14.
On November 4th, Trump declared himself the election winner, calling the mail-in ballot count a “fraud on the American people.” He accused Biden and the Democrats of stealing the election on a number of occasions, using strange conspiracy theories like as ballot stuffing, dead voters, and rogue voting-machine software that tampered with millions of Trump ballots. He also encouraged election authorities in Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania to postpone or cancel elections, and chastised those who refused.
Despite the rejection of nearly all Republican cases filed before the election, Trump and his allies have filed dozens more. After those failed, the Trump team planned a more aggressive legal strategy. A group of Trump supporters planned a complaint to be submitted directly to the Supreme Court in late November, invoking the court’s original jurisdiction in interstate disputes. According to the complaint, pandemic-related changes to voting procedures in four important states that voted for Biden—Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin—were illegal and unconstitutional, increasing the risk of voter fraud. The lawsuit was rejected on December 11 due to a lack of standing.
Trump’s legal efforts were unsuccessful, but his post-election narrative of electoral fraud and conspiracy, which was thematically connected to his months-long false accusations of vote manipulation, was accepted by his ardent supporters. Even Trump’s most ardent fans believed that Biden cheated his way to the presidency. Over half of Republicans felt Trump had “rightfully” won the election, according to a mid-November poll, while 77 percent of Republicans said there had been widespread election fraud, according to a December poll.
As the ballots were being tallied, many Trump supporters joined together to think that violent protests, if not direct action, were necessary to stop the counting of fraudulent votes and prevent Biden from being elected. In less than 24 hours, the “Stop the Steal” Facebook group grew to 320,000 members until Facebook took it down due to disinformation and threats of violence. Stop the Steal activists planned protests in a number of locations, including at voting booths where allegedly fraudulent vote counting was taking place.
Trump and his supporters, as well as leaders of Stop the Steal and other pro-Trump organizations throughout the nation, focused on the last, official stage in the presidential election process: the ceremonial opening and counting of the electora. Some Trump supporters reportedly persuaded Trump that Pence’s presence at the event indicated he had the constitutional authority to choose which state’s slate of electors to accept. A federal lawsuit seeking a similar judgment filed by Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert was dismissed due to a lack of standing.
Donald Trump encouraged supporters to attend a rally in Washington, D.C. on January 6 planned by a pro-Trump group, Women for America First, to oppose Congress’ confirmation of Biden’s victory. “Be there, it’s going to be wild!” Trump sent out a tweet. Thousands of protesters, including white racists and right-wing militia members, gathered outside the White House to protest. Trump rehashed old election-fraud conspiracy theories in his own comments to the crowd, urging Pence to block Congress’s ratification of the electoral college outcome, and threatening the rally crowd if Pence did not act. the crowd to “go down Pennsylvania Avenue” to the Capitol, warning them that if they didn’t “fight like hell,” “you won’t have a nation.” Although Trump did not explicitly urge those in attendance to violate the law, his customary venomous language suggested that some of his supporters would be justified in attacking Congress in order to prevent Biden from winning.
A brawl broke out outside the Capitol before Trump finished his address, as the House and Senate debated a futile Republican challenge to the Arizona electors who voted for Biden. As more people arrived after Trump’s address, the gathering became larger. The Capitol police were quickly overwhelmed, as rioters vandalized and looted the Senate chamber, as well as the offices of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others, for many hours. One rioter was shot and killed by police, while four others died as a result of their injuries, including a Capitol police officer. Congress started the confirmation process that evening after clearing the complex, and Biden was proclaimed the 2020 presidential election winner on January 7. On January 8, Trump was permanently banned from Twitter for posting about the assault before, during, and after it, which the company deemed to be a celebration of violence.
A week later, the House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump for “inciting rebellion,” making him the first president to be impeached twice. Some questioned whether the Senate could try a former president during his Senate trial in February, three weeks after he left office on January 20. When only 57 senators voted guilty, Trump was acquitted, falling short of the required two-thirds majority.
Trump’s personal style was unlike that of any previous US president in recent memory. Trump was extremely competitive and eager to show his success and accomplishments to others since he was a well-known figure in the New York real estate industry. To be sure, he has always cultivated and cherished his image as a savvy businessman, which he used in real estate deals and subsequently promoted as a brand in the 1990s. Aside from that, he had a high sensitivity to criticism and a proclivity for retaliating violently towards individuals who had misled or mistreated him in his view. As Trump put it in The Art of the Defensive, he was advised by his mentor, friend, and legal adviser Roy Cohn (who had aided Joseph McCarthy’s investigations into alleged communist subversion in the US government in the 1950s) to never apologize (because it is a sign of weakness) and to always hit back harder than you are hit. In 2012, he tweeted, “When someone assaults me, I always hit back…except 100x more.” This is a manner of life, not a rant!”
Trump’s commercial career was marked by harsh rhetoric used at competitors and opponents, particularly in the press, where he insulted or belittled them.
For more on politics and the people involved please visit POLITICIANS here!
