Trump’s Sudden Interest in a Smooth and Peaceful Transfer of Power*
“A little more than a week until Trump swears an oath to ‘faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,’ and ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ and slithers his way back into the Oval Office”
“The wave of self-congratulation that followed the certification of the 2024 presidential election on Monday was premature in the extreme,” according to Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times. Of course it was. The true test for a peaceful transfer of power will be the next time the Republican candidate loses the presidential election. Every thinking person knows that had Trump lost in 2024, we would have experienced a repeat of his Big Lie and Stop the Steal and their direct and collateral consequences, including political violence. One can fantasize that a President Harris would have appointed an Attorney General who would not twist him or herself into such a pretzel that s/he undermines the rule of law and its equal application to avoid the appearance of partisanship.
Friday’s sentencing of Trump for his 34 felony convictions in New York was dispiriting to the convicted felons in the United States who are held to account and punished well beyond the “felon” label. “If Trump escaping punishment feels inconsistent, unfair or even unjust, that’s because it is. Nobody else who faces what Trump has would emerge virtually unscathed,” Charles F. Coleman, Jr. explains. “Trump’s elusiveness illustrates how privilege, power and resources can help a defendant navigate America’s legal system.
“Even though he’s now officially a convicted felon, Friday’s sentencing ensures that the effect on Trump is nil. It is a meaningless bark from a system that has otherwise licked Trump’s hand. A sentence that makes Trump a felon without punishing him is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who don’t have his power, privilege or resources. Some of them have been wrongfully convicted and must now navigate everyday life with the difficulties of securing employment, housing, education and credit.
“Perhaps the most sobering reflection is what this historic moment means for Americans’ view of our legal system. The judiciary is designed to be an independent, apolitical system that serves to maintain the integrity of the other two branches of government. We pride ourselves on being a nation of laws, and yet we’ve watched a man brazenly circumvent real accountability repeatedly.
“Yet, despite all of this, a majority of American voters decided to send Trump back to the highest office in the land. One could argue that Judge Juan Merchan’s hands were tied when it came to sentencing Trump, but the voters, who spoke in November, made a clear choice. This brings us to a rather scary proposition: that not only is the system flawed in ways that protect the wealthy and powerful, but also that tens of millions of Americans are OK with that.”
The incredible privilege of convicted felon Donald Trump (emphasis added).
I have read Trump’s brief in which he petitioned the Supreme Court to halt the sentencing. He asked the high court to dismiss the 34 New York state felony convictions altogether, on constitutional and prudential grounds — and because he’s Trump. As president-elect in the critical “transition” period, Trump argued, he should not be distracted by the politically-driven New York case so he can devote his full attention to his duties in the “compelling national interest.”
And golf, of course.
It almost worked. As for an “independent, apolitical system that serves to maintain the integrity of the other two branches of government,” Trump’s sentencing came within one corrupt vote of not going forward, with four justices, including still and most-recently compromised Justice Alito, ready to rubber stamp Trump’s argument and finish the coronation.
Trump (“First Felon,” according to George Conway) also joined the argument advanced by his former co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents and obstruction of justice case to prevent the Special Counsel and Attorney General from releasing the Final Report, Volume 1 centering on Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and volume 2 on the stolen documents case. As expected, Judge Ailene Cannon temporarily blocked release of both volumes, even though the case before her concerned only what is contained in Volume 2, Trump’s “hoarding of classified documents” at his Florida estate. Jack Smith immediately appealed her injunction to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
His criminal defense lawyers, loyalists whom Trump announced will be appointed to top positions in HIS Department of Justice, filed an Amicus Brief to the Eleventh Circuit. They claimed on Trump’s behalf, “[a]s the President-Elect and soon to be 47th President, [he] has an interest in a smooth transition and efficacious vesting of executive power,” and release of the Final Report would undermine “‘the orderly transfer of the executive power in connection with the expiration of the term of office of a President and the inauguration of a new President.’ . . . ‘Any disruption’ of the transition ‘could produce results detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States and its people.’” (Emphasis added.)
“Yes, you read that correctly. Irony is dead right there,” legal commentator Joyce Vance said. “Jimmy Carter seems to have timed his death to send the country a much needed message. . . .
“The artifice employed to make the argument that release of the report would stigmatize Trump with evidence of unproven crimes and interfere with the transition between administrations has the power to stun, even coming from a man of such character that there is virtually nothing he does that is surprising any longer. But there you have it. Donald Trump doesn’t think Joe Biden’s administration should interfere with the smooth transition of power to his presidency. . . .
“Jimmy Carter, I’m certain, would have had something to say about that.”
“We’re in this together.” Saying Goodbye.
We’re in This Together
Taking Joyce Vance’s statement to heart and with a little more than a week until Trump swears an oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and . . . preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” and slithers his way back into the Oval Office, I have struggled to understand what were the measures that succeeded in Trump’s re-election and how a majority of voters who lived through his disastrous presidency could support him on policy or, more importantly in this circumstance, character. Shortly after the 2024 election, I wrote a postmortem that focused, in part, on the ubiquitous right-wing media from unlimited platforms setting the agenda in the United States which enables, amplifies, and transcends other influences including repeated false attacks and narratives. See Michael Tomasky, Fighting Words, The New Republic.
Pay walls are a significant hindrance to the people interested in accurate information. I eliminated mine on Medium.
Heather Cox Richardson, a sound and steady voice of clarity, helps identify and define the problems, with current events sprinkled in her January 10, 2025 Letters from an American:
“MAGA was never an ideological movement so much as a vehicle to pull together different constituencies in order to get Trump elected president. Since members of those constituencies have little in common, that effort centers around creating a false world that demonizes Democrats and insists they have created a dangerous world that is biased against MAGA. The only one who can stand against them, the story goes, is Trump, who is being persecuted for his defense of his supporters. That narrative has helped MAGAs to find common ground in their defense of Trump and his cronies and their support for Trump’s vows to retaliate against those he considers his enemies. . . .
“MAGA supporters have embraced Trump’s attacks on Democrats and on the government, most notably with their fact-free attacks on the Biden administration’s handling of natural disasters — first the terrible flooding in North Carolina, when the right wing spread the lie that government officials were stealing people’s land, and now the terrible fires in Los Angeles that have been fueled in large part by the climate change that cut rainfall since last May and brought an unusually hot summer. . . .
“Trump’s false version of reality has been a potent weapon against the Democrats, and he is promising to continue constructing that false reality: this week he has said he would replace the head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), who is responsible for collecting the documents that establish the historical record of the actions of the national government. The archivist’s predecessor was the person who pursued the classified documents Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, and Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt he would make sure that he had a loyalist in that position.”
The Republican Party historically claimed to be a party of principle, the party of the Constitution; was once an uncompromising adherent to the rule of law; recognized and sought to preserve the constitutional separation of powers and checks and balances, and to keep executive power in check; opposed executive orders to enact national policies in areas it claimed were constitutionally reserved solely to Congress; boasted of America’s moral leadership throughout the world; prided itself as a strident defender, guardian and proponent of human rights here and throughout the world; claimed to be a stalwart enemy of regimes that commit atrocities and crimes against humanity; recognized the country as a refuge, and a defender and exemplar of liberty; saw the United States as a beacon for good, where its enemies feared us and our friends and allies trusted us, a country worthy of that trust; claimed to be the fiscally responsible steward; advocated for elected officials to be accountable to its citizens; insisted its country must have fair and free elections, strictly prohibiting foreign influence and interference; refused to accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force — in Ukraine, Georgia, or elsewhere; opposed administrations that sought to divide America into groups and turn citizen against citizen.
With Trump’s authoritarian posturing and threats, the guardrails are falling away as the media, tech, and other corporations interested in access and preserving shareholder value cower, pander, and appease. Yes, Republican “morality” has become co-extensive with raw political expedience and self-interest. Republicans now disavow their belief in American exceptionalism. Standing with Trump, party members endorse and affirm loyalty and devotion to a person which stands in sharp contrast to the party’s history of devotion and loyalty to the Constitution.
I’m reminded of Jeff Daniel’s character in The Newsroom responding to the question, “Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?,” which takes on added meaning as January 20, 2025 approaches:
“With a straight face you’re going to tell students that America is so Star Spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom. Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom, so 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom and yeah . . . there’s some things you should know and one of them is there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world.
“We’re seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in export. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of which are allies. . . .
“So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Sure, used to be we stood up for what was right, we fought for moral reasons, we passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons, we waged wars on poverty, not poor people, we sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. . . .
“We aspired to intelligence. We didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t’ identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.”
While Trump flexes the country’s military might in claiming the United States disproportionately funds NATO and demands more from NATO allies as a pretext for appeasing Putin, America, which has 4% of the world’s population, currently — and disproportionately — contributes 13.5% of the carbon dioxide to the world’s incremental and fast approaching destruction, but since 1959 has emitted 21.5% of the global total. The EU contributes 7.5%. Pew Research: Climate Change; Who are the big emitters? Trump, with his environmentally irresponsible “drill baby drill” mantra, promises to unravel Biden’s unprecedented climate policies, revealing that American hubris under his “leadership” is one more thing that outmatches the rest of the world.
Speaking of NATO, Trump, who is posturing to acquire Greenland — which is not for sale — refuses to commit avoiding use of military force to satisfy his imperialist urges. Greenland is owned by Denmark, a member of NATO. So, what happens if the United States attacks a member of the NATO alliance?
“Article 5 states that an attack on one member of NATO is considered an attack against all members, and all members are required to assist the member who was attacked. This means that as soon as US troops land, we would immediately be at war with not just Denmark, but also Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.”
I have no answers, but I won’t go away. I’ll continue trying to identify and point out the lies, the corruption, and false narratives, the despotism, hypocrisy, and violations of the law and the Constitution with the hope that it might resonate somewhere.
R.VanWagoner https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner publishes. https://richardvanwagoner.medium.com/subscribe
**My brother the very talented fiction writer and novelist, Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner, deserves considerable credit for offering both substantive and technical suggestions to https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner. Rob’s second novel is a beautifully written suspense drama that takes place in Utah, Wyoming, and Norway. This novel, The Contortionists, which Rob himself narrates for the audio version, is a psychological page-turner about a missing child in a predominantly Mormon community. I have read the novel and listened to the audio version twice. It is a literary masterpiece. The Contortionists is not, however, for the faint of heart.
***Richard J Van Wagoner is my father. His list of honors, awards, and professional associations is extensive. He was Professor Emeritus (Painting and Drawing), Weber State University, having served three Appointments as Chair of the Department of Visual Arts there. He guest-lectured and instructed at many universities and juried numerous shows and exhibitions. He was invited to submit his work as part of many shows and exhibitions, and his work was exhibited in many traveling shows domestically and internationally. My daughter Angela Van Wagoner, a professional photographer, photographed more than 500 pieces of my father’s work. The photographs of my father’s art reproduced in https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner are hers.