I’ve spent a few hours yesterday and today reading through news reports following the 2020 Presidential Election.  We are now day 10 and 11 post election.  Joe Biden is the President Elect.  Donald Trump has lost.  I find it fascinating to see what words writers and reporters are using to describe what’s happening in our world today.  These words are just clips, as I found them, in no particular order taken from two days’ worth of various news reports.  I have not cited the sources.  Little words tell big stories.  Most describe Donald Trump and who he is.  Some refer to how he’s handled the COVID crisis.  All are reflective of what people think of the situation we find ourselves in right now.  Draw what conclusions you will.  (I did not intentionally skip over positive comments–there simply were none to be found.)  Here’s what I found:

One reason why Trump’s advisors are so worried he might not be able to win is because he lost.

Despite clinging to the job desperately, he’s not actually doing any of it.

Still asking supporters for donations.  Never misses a hustle.

scamming people out of their money by saying that is country wrongly kicked him out of power

continuing to fire off baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud

keeps fighting as a performance

the elephant in the room–his election loss

claims weren’t credible

disdain for the workings of government

Mr. President, pack your bags, and be gone.

grabbing headlines

justify measures

nefarious activity

cries voter fraud

lawsuits inadmissible or unreliable

incorrect and not credible

cheap talk on Twitter

claimed alleged fraud

obviously hearsay

refused to concede

sewing doubt

fanning the spectre of voter fraud

laying the foundation for questioning the legitimacy

blasting out inflammatory accusations of fraud

questions of US elections will linger

refused to acknowledge while launching legal challenges based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud

so many lawsuits have been filed in so many state and federal courts that no one has an exact number

they are throwing the kitchen sink against the wall to see what sticks

humoring him

continued to spread lies

beset with infighting

flimsy evidence

a slew of baseless lawsuits

corrosive to democracy

deplorable approach to life and politics

divisive language

stop the circus and get to work (House Speaker)

The election’s over. Stop delaying reality

long shot litigation

refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power

absolutely disgraceful, un-American

coddling and kowtowing despite his defeat

let the grim era of demonization in American begin to end here and now

relationships have been jeopardized

conservatives have been crowing

TX Lt. Gov. has offered $1mil for anyone who produces evidence of voter fraud

the long knives are out, and he’s a big score settler

making them serve a hitherto hidden agenda

“Pentagon Purge” to help him carry out irresponsible withdrawals

widespread concerns in national security community

something repugnant is brewing

fringe ideologues

to support his personal agenda

How is this going to end?

amplifying misleading messages

activity sits on hold

refusal to accept results

transition offices sit vacant

planning conversations are silent

awkwardly twiddling threats

playing into fantasies

so as not to leave a paper trail (no one’s talking about it)

officials growing anxious

I am worried they are going to open the hood, and it’s going to be a lot worse than they expected.

contacts have gone silent

anyone looking for another job would be fired

the silence is still deafening

a flurry of lawsuits

spreading false claims

refused to accept the outcome

transition still hypothetical

undermining urgent need

downplaying the significance

strategy lies in tatters

it’s not enough

remain stuck

claims fall apart in court

sinister, fraudulent motives

the crisis is accelerating

purely outlandish stuff

legal team grinds to a halt

panicked predictions

chaos and meddling

mysterical claims of fraud

rang mostly hollow

Trump with his grotesque character on full display:  the greed, the bullying, the mysogyny and flagrant sexual infidelity, the malignant narcissism.

“the most flawed man I’ve have ever met in my life” (Trump’s own Chief of Staff)

inability to even pretend empathy

bullying the press

casual subversion of justice system

moral cowardice toward dictators

4 chaotic years

semiliterate tweets

half-completed thoughts

wishful thinking

scientific illiteracy

inconsistent, dishonest, reckless policymaking

world-historical calamity that alters the course of civilization

habitual dismissal of logic and standards of proof

constructed his own narrative

eager participant whenever he sees some advantage for himself

flair for spectacle

racial grievances

tenuous relationship with and sometimes outright disdain for truth

casts doubt on legitimacy

extremely dangerous, extremely poisonous to our democracy

stay out of the fray (Republican aids)

increasingly unmoored

election stolen from him

potential to become violent

obtuse and perverse

refusal to acknowledge empirical facts that conflict with how he sees the world

callously insisting

reality-warping

belief based on nothing

fed his cynical promotion of blitherism–belief based on nothing

pressured newsmen to change forecasts to agree with his misstatements

cynical indifference

ludicrous assertions and irrelevant

damage done to American democracy

stirred up political currents

impulse toward authoritarianism

cheapened with tacky stunts

took advantage of and inflamed them into an absurd culture war

voter intimidation

humiliated rivals

reversed conventional wisdom

ignored party leaders

devisive personality

now-exposed insanity

defeat may trigger civil war

grievances and paranoias refusing to congratulate

allegations and irregularities

declined to concede

frivolous challenges

injunction rejected

unsubstantiated claims

calls Biden’s victory “an immaculate deception”

denying reality

lawsuits fizzle

peddles baseless claims of fraud

this will not help his legacy

contesting results

refuse to recognize

created a false image

publicly disengaged

fraud allegations based on extra-ordinary failure to understand how elections function

claims of cheating

lack of understanding

anti democratic

isolated speculation

debunked conspiracy theories

promoting a bizarre lie

election rigged

meritless statements

all claims refuted

implications plainly false

votes concocted out of thin air

claims dismissed

baseless claims refuted

allegations of coaching voters

Trump fumbled COVID, sabotaged his own election

baseless voter fraud claims

rejected, DRT has had a haphazard inattentive handling of the crisis (COVID)

grievously wrong

tirades on Twitter

unsubstantiated claims

obstruction of justice

bickering wings of the party

high political tension

long-shot lawsuits

fuel conspiracy theories

dawdling and denial of access

clogging things up

hotly speculated

arbitrary and illegal actions

no evidence the votes were compromised

gaining little traction

public relations nightmare

judges:  no evidence of fraud

stealing the election

keeping up a charade

spiraling out of control

rigged election

casting doubt

usually first the evidence, then the lawsuit

shifting narrative

chaotic caucuses

undermining officials

disillusion of reason

riding the crazy train

unhinged conspiracies

on an island of misfit toys

rabbit holes of unreality

conspiracy-theory cult

bizarre myths

insanity

radicalization

baseless conspiracy theories

an embarrassment

disinformation

norm-shattering behavior

a fractured nation

competitive scrum

baseless claims

undermining of democracy

seeded a lie before the event

corrosive to democracy

flimsy evidence

a slew of baseless lawsuits

sewing doubt

misleading messages

stop the steal rallies

undermining confidence

nefarious activity

grabbing headlines

inflammatory accusations

unsupported evidence

messy and nasty

preservation of power above all else

obstructions

DRT’s disastrous response (to COVID)

tried to spin coronavirus out of existence

Trump presidency marked by errors in judgement

strange overtures to foreign dictators

appointments that deviated wildly

tried to minimize the impact of COVID

no shows of empathy or compassion

political aids have unflagging loyalty to DRT

steered into treacherous waters

failed attempts to convince

He tweeted, shouted, heckled, interrupted, mocked, lamented and filibustered his way through crisis after crisis.

Top scientists, policy makers and experts driven out by Trump’s political appointees intent on ferreting out adherents of a fictitious “deep state.”

The kind of attention he has always sought required conflict as its oxygen.

statements not occasioned by reality

inflated incremental victories into victories

“invincible superman”

a show of energy and force

destructive

disregard for facts

boundless self-confidence

combative attitude

downplays virus

impatient

numbers inflated

accusations grossly untrue

mistakes of judgement

Fake News Media

destructive instincts

drowning out wiser counsel

fake assurances

entirely unprepared

no patience or attention to detail

personal and petty

settling scores

worst fears played out

it became a kind of withering exit music to DRT’s brief attempt to act like an ordinary president

hectoring Democrats while praising Republicans

badly mishandling virus

sullen, graceless exit

threatened the rule of law

threatened to arrest rivals

cheapened the presidency

crude tweets

clownish rallies

looted the Treasury

norms bent to accommodate his whims

seemingly unending Trump show

incorrect and not credible

bogus claims and invalid arguments

questionable affidavits

accusing people of fraud

legal strategy looks amateurish and disjointed

Judge called claims of widespread voter fraud “fiction”

inadmissible hearsay within hearsay

misled

keeping multiple balls in the air that we know are not going to land in a good place

groundless lawsuits

ignore the will of the voters

rules of evidence don’t apply

spurious claims

widely mocked press conference

stuck in his own election time warp

specious voter fraud claims

he has to worry about criminal investigations

spreading lies and insults

might satisfy his titanic ego

This is not a political party.  It’s a cult.

boasts he won

tantrums over losing

loves the bottom line

hates to be a loser

He will never admit that he lost.

He’s going to fight to the end.