Finally, finally, FINALLY. The Donald has admitted what is now a matter of constitutional certainty, Joe Biden is the next President of the United States.
The ‘concession’ that he accepts there will be an orderly transition came via the social media account of a spokesperson. Twitter blocked his feed, no doubt concerned that having incited an insurrection that has led to four deaths, he was still insisting the election was stolen from him.
For Trump, The Big Lie shall never die. For a time yesterday afternoon, Washington looked like a scene from a banana republic.
The stampede of the mob, some of them armed, was encouraged by the Commander-in-Chief, who had addressed them earlier.
This was a day out for many of them. They giggled and high-fived one another as they deliberately sought to frustrate the will of the people.
They offered angry words, violent acts and an unsavoury gang mentality.
That it came on the day when Joe Biden was being confirmed as the 46th President of the United States showed they had little regard for their country or its constitution.
The irony of their grotesque spectacle was lost on them. The self-styled patriots in attempting to frustrate the democratic will were guilty of an act of treachery against their very system of government.
The Donald appealed for them to go home after being shamed into making a statement by the president-elect. Even then, he spoke of his love for them. Trump is a man brainwashed by his own narcissism which sees truth as lies when it offends his self-interest.
In the long and shameful catalogue of events of this unreality TV president, the weeks since the election last November plough new depths of deplorable behaviour.
More than 60 lawsuits alleging voter fraud or irregularity have been shredded by the simple act of judicial examination. The strategy of lie big and keep repeating it has failed in the courts but gripped parts of his base.
Any sense of rational thought by them was long ago killed by the hero worship of their false god, offering slogans rather than policies, lies rather than truth and a world of easy solutions which inhabits another universe.
When news of this broke last night in the UK, I switched to CNN. My jaw continually hit the floor. Words like treason, sedition, insurrection, coup fell from the lips of seasoned commentators. Correspondents who have been in the Trump bubble these last four years had to dig deep for new words and phrases to describe the significance of all of this.
For once, even hyperbole would fail. David Axelrod, a commentator who worked in the Obama administration, was close to tears, trembling at the sheer horror of scenes which said that votes don’t count unless they are for your man.
Jake Tapper’s open contempt propelled him to even higher heights of opprobrium. With his customary articulacy he put it into an historical context. Yes, there had been protests on the Hill before, most notably over the war in Vietnam, but they were about protesting against the government, not questioning its democratic legitimacy.
He reminded his audience of a saying from Ulysses S Grant, the 18th president who had led the Union army in the civil war. “There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party.”
In two weeks, Trump will be gone. That is bound to then rage a civil war for the heart of the GOP. Will Trump’s populist American nationalism win over a more traditional agenda of fiscal and social conservatism?
The madness of the last four years has been legitimised by Republicans who have fallen silent. Those people who have not realised that Trump isn’t even a Republican.
Their party is one that was hijacked and turned into a personality cult.
Yesterday, many realised that Joe Biden was right all along when he said that words matter in politics.
Those Republicans need words and actions to cut loose Trump and all he stands for.
The Big Lies will cast a long shadow. It will take more than a mood to repent for some Republicans in Congress to be electorally absolved for their sins in lending credibility to the most despicable presidency in the history of the United States.
