It was November 8, 2016.

Pundits proclaimed with certitude that Hillary Clinton was about to become the first female president.  Hillary herself was quite certain.  On her birthday, a fortnight before Election Day, her official Twitter account proclaimed, “Happy birthday to this future president!”

The media never took Donald Trump seriously during the initial phases of the primaries.  But when it was clear that he would clinch the nomination, they launched a campaign to destroy Trump’s candidacy and legacy. 

Election Day began with gleeful smiles but ended with frowns and tears.  Trump astonished everyone with a stunning and emphatic triumph, and not just against Hillary. 

How did the Democrats react?

Hillary didn’t address her distraught supporters on the night of her defeat, but she did formally concede a day later.

A day after the election, Obama pledged a successful transition, adding that a peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of American democracy.  Obama also said he and everyone else were rooting for Trump’s success in uniting and leading the country.

But gradually, things began to get ugly.

On Trump’s inauguration day, left-wing rioters destroyed property across Washington, and “pussy hat”–wearing women engaged in “protests” while inciting violence.

The Democrats relentlessly placed impediments during Trump’s first term.

The first impediment was the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which caused the appointment of a special counsel.  The Obama administration was behind Russiagate, which hung like a sword over the Trump administration for over two years.

The second impediment was the impeachment by Democrats in the House over the baseless claims about Trump’s call with Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

The media smear campaign continued in parallel.  On odd days, Trump was branded a bloviating ignoramus.  On even days, he was called an evil genius.  But on all days, he was called a bigot.  

Hillary Clinton called Trump an illegitimate president without basis, and other Democrats and pundits joined her.

Trump must be saluted for delivering so much during his first term, despite the constant storms.

The attacks on Trump continued even after he departed office in January 2021.  There were a second impeachment, a show trial, a raid, and multiple indictments.

We now focus on the 2020 elections.

The mainstream media and social media giants colluded to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that revealed the shady business dealings of Hunter enabled by Joe Biden.  A poll revealed that 16% of Biden voters would have voted differently had they known of this scandal.

Zuckerbucks enabled mail-in ballots to become the norm in many states.  Unsupervised private drop boxes were used to carry these mail-in ballots making them vulnerable to manipulation.  Zuckerbucks also caused sacrosanct electoral infrastructure to be infiltrated by Democrat activists.

More than 158 million votes were cast during the 2020 election, out of which more than 100 million were cast before Election Day by early voting or mail ballot due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Despite claims of malpractice, particularly in swing states, Joe Biden was declared the winner.

Trump rightly did not concede defeat and skipped Biden’s inauguration. 

Yet the transition between the Trump administration and the Biden administration was smooth.

In time, Biden undid all progress made by Trump, resulting in a fragile economy, an open border, high inflation, and high fuel prices — and worst, the state machinery was misused to target dissenting citizens, including citizen Trump.  Globally, Biden caused chaos following the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.  There are two hot wars, and Biden continues to pour gas on the fire.

All through Biden’s presidency and during his “campaign,” it was obvious that Biden was showing signs of dementia. 

But despite the misgovernance, the abuse of power, and the obvious fact that Biden wasn’t the decision-maker, the Republicans co-operated with him.

Republicans didn’t call Biden illegitimate.  Few Republicans demanded Biden submit himself to cognitive tests.  Republicans made no attempts to impeach Biden despite there being solid ground due to the border situation and his decline.

When the special counsel report concluded that Biden willfully retained classified information but concluded that no criminal charges were warranted, Republicans whined but did nothing.

We see a stark contrast.

In 2017, the Democrats conceded defeat, but those words were meaningless.  All through the Trump administration, the Democrats misused government agencies to prevent Trump from implementing the MAGA agenda and to undo the public mandate by ousting him from office.

The Republicans in Congress, despite controlling the House and the Senate, remained silent while the Democrats misused state machinery to persecute President Trump during his first term and beyond.  They abdicated the role of an effective opposition.

In 2021, President Trump didn’t concede defeat, but this lack of that formality didn’t place any impediment on Biden, whose administration proceeded to wreak havoc both in the U.S. and around the world.

The Republicans in Congress also remained silent and even worked with Biden despite misgovernance, abuse of power, and targeting of dissenters.

President Trump had to fend for himself during his first term and subsequently, when the Biden administration targeted him. 

Democrats still call Trump anti-democratic for not conceding but purposefully overlook their anti-democratic ploys.

Both in 2017 and 2021, the Democrats were in the driver’s seat while the Republicans remained unpardonably mute.

An unreliable and incompetent ally is much worse than a sworn enemy.  The enemy is doing what is expected by attempting to destroy you.  But the real betrayal is when an ally turns into a bystander or cooperates with the adversary.

Following Trump’s recent victory, the Democrats have formally and grudgingly conceded defeat, while Biden has committed to a smooth transition.  But this could be another charade.

We know that the confirmation of Biden’s judges is being hurried.  We know that Biden is arming Ukraine, which is provoking Russia. 

Perhaps there is more going on behind the scenes.

Matt Gaetz’s nomination withdrawal was the first attack by the Democrats and a sign of things to come.  Trump’s other nominees are already being viciously smeared.

We now have a situation identical to 2017.  The GOP will control the House and the Senate, while Trump controls the White House.

There is hope.

Trump’s core team, both during the election and for the presidency, and also his Cabinet picks are a vast improvement from 2017.  It proves that he has learned from his past mistakes and experiences.

The question is, will the GOP be in control of the narrative and the state machinery, or will history repeat itself?

We remain cautiously optimistic, in the expectation that the GOP in Congress will develop a fighting spirit, too.

Image via Picryl.