With under a month to the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, it has become increasingly clear that the outgoing President Trump will not have had a humble defeat. It has been learnt from several top officials within the White House that in these final days of his, President Trump has begun to lash out on those who go against his rabid theories of election fraud.
The latest targets of this newfound fury seem to include his running mate and Vice President, Mike Pence, who has defended the President throughout his tenure and well into the days past the election being officially called for Biden. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff has also been victimised as of recent. White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, have, too, fallen victim to President Trump’s series of indignation against those closest to him.
This is a tough result for President Trump to handle. Ever since that faithful day in November, rapid-fire tweets have sprawled from his personal Twitter account non-stop.
It is no secret that Trump shows authoritarian qualities – from the way he handles his diplomatic practices, to the way he threatens other countries and their leaders, as well as his own parties’ members. However, now, President Trump has been subject to falling victim to appearing weak in the public eye, a feat no authoritarian nor fascist would ever deem appropriate for their public image. If he concedes the election, in his mind he could be considered weak. He considers those around him disloyal. He feels as though those around him are shying away from him as the inauguration date grows nearer. A feeling of betrayal could be felt by the President by allowing the VP to perform his constitutional duty of validating the election result.
However, the question of ‘where is Jared Kushner?’ can be raised amidst all of this – who was a beacon of reason during the President’s tenure as the 45th president. Right now, it is being widely reported that he is ‘focused on the Middle East’ for the time being, and is keeping himself away from D.C. for now.