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US President Donald Trump has mostly stayed out of the public eye in the two weeks since his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In nine of the 14 days since the November 3 elections, his daily schedule has been summed up in a single sentence: “The president has no public events scheduled,” the longest time he has been out of the public eye since took office in January 2017.
Yet behind the scenes, Trump has taken care of the job of the presidency.
As he continues to protest the election results, Trump has been holding meetings to consider ordering a military strike against Iran, cutting the number of military troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, selling oil leases in the Alaskan wilderness, reducing government regulations and take other actions designed in part. to push President-elect Biden. He also fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and top Pentagon leaders and National Security cyber chief Christopher Krebs, who called the elections safe. He is considering parting ways with FBI Director Chris Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel.
Trump spends most of his days behind closed doors – he’s only made two public statements since his angry election night speech at the White House – watching cable news and tweeting furiously about Biden. He follows television news reports on the election dispute, his aides said, but he also deals with the jobs at hand.
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“It really hasn’t changed operationally,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s actions in private.
In many respects, historians say, Trump’s actions are in line with what his predecessors did in the final weeks of his presidency.
Trump holds meetings in the Oval Office, his aides said, and often acts like he’s still waiting for a second term. He roams between the White House second-floor residence and the Oval Office in the west wing, talking to aides and friends on his ever-present phone (and tweeting).
Carolyn Kaster / AP
Trump has been mostly out of sight since Election Day, but he’s working: he’s purging staff and pursuing actions designed in part to upset Joe Biden.
He has spoken to staff about Covid vaccines and holds regular meetings with attendees, particularly his national security personnel. He met with national security advisers about the Afghanistan and Iraq downsizing plans announced Tuesday, an unusual event in which Trump did not appear in person to announce the pullout and did not issue any kind of written statement.
The Presidents’ Busy Last Days in Office
Other presidents who lost their runs for re-election or were nearing the end of their second term have found that the responsibilities of the presidency do not disappear just because they are about to leave office.
In that sense, Trump is no different from his predecessors, said Allan J. Lichtman, distinguished professor of history at American University in Washington.
Most of the initiatives Trump has taken since the election have been behind the scenes, “and we don’t know what will become of them,” Lichtman said.
So far, however, Trump has not taken any political action that is fundamentally different from what his predecessors did during his lame duck period, Lichtman said.
Steve Helber / AP
Trump appears to be taking a different approach than previous presidents who awaited the inauguration of his successor.
Past presidents have tried to use the period between elections and their successor’s inauguration to “go big” or pursue policies that will polish their legacy, said Ross Baker, a distinguished professor of political science at Rutgers University. New Brunswick.
Jimmy Carter, who lost his re-election bid in 1980 to Ronald Reagan, found his transition consumed by negotiations to return American hostages to Iran.
President George HW Bush, who lost to Bill Clinton in 1992, had an active period of inactivity. He authorized military action in Somalia, signed an arms treaty with Russia, and pardoned aides who had been caught up in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Even the nation’s first ever president, John Adams, appointed a series of “midnight judges” to the federal court during his last days in office. Adams saw the appointments as a way to preserve Federalist influence in the federal government during the tenure of his successor, Thomas Jefferson.
Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call / Getty Images
Trump also fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and top Pentagon leaders and Homeland Security cyber chief Christopher Krebs, who called the elections safe.
Refusal to transition
Trump, however, appears to be taking a different approach.
“It has been Trump’s decision to go a little small, and almost be secret,” Baker said.
Baker said Trump has been “incapacitated” by his loss to Biden and his refusal to accept the election results. “That is why they are doing so many things under the radar,” he said.
Historian Joanne Freeman said Trump’s refusal to accept defeat and obstacles to Biden’s transition are unprecedented.
“Other presidents, and their party, sometimes did some last minute damage to stack the deck against an incoming president and the opposing party,” he said. But, “not on the scale of what seems to be taking shape now, given that we are in the middle of a pandemic.”
Sorry to come?
Back in the White House, Trump has a number of other items on his to-do list for his final weeks in office.
He is considering the possibility of granting pardons to convicted former aides in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
One of his executive actions will be implemented next week. He’s scheduled to forgive this year’s Thanksgiving turkey on Tuesday.
– USA Today
