Transition Trump is going to be a problem
Joe Biden has won the presidency. But our long national nightmare isn't quite over -- Donald Trump will be the president of the United States for two more months. And that's a problem.
It’s not just that America is mired in both a pandemic and an economic crisis while the country is being led by a lame duck president. It’s that this particular president is Trump, who no longer has much incentive to try to steer the country toward a safe harbor — and diminished power to do so — but still retains all his well-developed instincts for mischief and troublemaking. We’re at the mercy of a troll with not much left to lose.
It probably doesn’t have to be this way.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In Britain, an incoming prime minister and cabinet take office almost immediately after winning election. Which means the contending parties all have to arrive at Election Day ready to govern from the start. The obvious benefit of this system is that there is no lame duck period — no confusion in the country and the world about who really speaks for the country, no waiting to start getting stuff done. It just happens.
America’s government is bigger and more than a bit unwieldy. Given that staffing a presidential cabinet requires Senate confirmation, it seems impossible for our transitions to completely take place within 24 hours of election results. It is already the case that the General Services Administration — the human resources department of the federal government — already works with both major candidates during the campaign to prepare for a possible transition. It’s time to tighten up the timeline so the winner can move toward governance more quickly.
Trump has already started settling scores, on Friday firing several government officials for no apparent reason other than insufficient loyalty, with names like Defense Secretary Mark Esper and CIA Director Gina Haspel reportedly also on the chopping block. That will probably make the transition messier. In many companies, fired employees are immediately escorted from the premises rather than given a chance to make trouble. America deserves no less.
-
5 highly hypocritical cartoons about the Second AmendmentCartoons Artists take on Kyle Rittenhouse, the blame game, and more
-
‘Ghost students’ are stealing millions in student aidIn the Spotlight AI has enabled the scam to spread into community colleges around the country
-
A running list of everything Donald Trump’s administration, including the president, has said about his healthIn Depth Some in the White House have claimed Trump has near-superhuman abilities
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
