Trump needs a long timeout
Every parent has seen the look in their child’s eyes that says, “I’m so mad I could sabotage the world’s oldest democracy.” But likening the president’s behavior to that of a tantruming child plays down the enormous destructiveness of his “hissy fit.” As one of the most powerful people in the world, a man revered by millions of Americans, he can do a lot more damage than even the most determined toddler.
In the past month, the Trump campaign has filed about 50 lawsuits, according to the Associated Press. Most have been dismissed or denied, but all of them have cost state and local officials time and taxpayers money. It seems as though there must be some other current issue that would be more beneficial to spend our money and energy on . . .
Trump’s refusal to concede the election also cost President-elect Joe Biden’s team weeks of classified intelligence briefings and access to agency briefing books. Biden’s covid-19 advisory board had to work without knowing “what the status is of mask supplies and glove supplies, what the threat assessments are, what the distribution plans for vaccines are,” according to Atul Gawande, a member of the board.
This isn’t just puzzling; it’s dangerous. Election officials in contested states have received death threats. Gabriel Sterling, an official with Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office, pleaded with the president and Georgia’s senators last Tuesday to step in and stop the misinformation campaign. “Someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get shot, someone’s going to get killed,” Sterling said.
And we are still more than six weeks away from the inauguration.
So, comparing this president to a child underestimates the damage he has done and could still do. But thinking of this problem in terms of parenting might be useful as we struggle to solve it.
The first thing, of course, is not to give in. As a parent, you simply cannot reward your child when he whines for an extra cookie, a later bedtime, another Georgia ballot recount.
Giving in would teach him that sort of behavior works. At least, that’s what I thought a month ago, and that’s what a lot of other people seemed to think: Let the courts rebuff him and the recounts disappoint him, and that would be that. State election officials, even Republican ones, have maintained their composure under Trump’s assault, and the Biden transition team has gone about its work. Two weeks ago, the General Services Administration finally allowed the official transition to begin. As of today, every state has certified its vote but three (two of which Biden won) — and even without them, he has enough pledged electors to become president.
But Trump’s misbehavior hasn’t stopped. Before a weekend rally in Georgia, he called Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and asked him to somehow persuade the state legislature to overturn Biden’s victory. Late last week, Trump released a 46-minute video meltdown from the White House complaining about the “rigged” election; Twitter labeled his video “disputed,” which is the parenting equivalent of apologizing to other shoppers while your child ransacks the cereal aisle.
So I now suggest a change in tactics. As every good parent eventually learns, it’s not enough to ignore the misbehavior, and it’s not enough to refuse to reward it. You have to punish it. Or it will never stop.
In our house, that meant putting whichever child was trying to overturn a free and fair election into a room by himself. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) has called for disbarment of Rudolph W. Giuliani and 22 other members of Trump’s legal enablers team. But what to do with the 74-year-old child himself? Clearly, someone’s got to take away his phone.
The only question is, which parent has to play the heavy while the other pretends to be deeply absorbed in washing the dishes?
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