In the end, the guardrails of democracy stayed in place. Trump lost — for the second time at the Supreme Court this week. But instead of helping the effort to curb a deadly pandemic that has claimed nearly 300,000 American lives by easing the transition for his successor, he is already scheming about his next political moves. Before the high court rejected his bid Friday, his campaign announced a cable ad buy to further his fraudulent claims about the election, and he clearly intends to try and meddle in Congress’ counting of the Electoral College results in January.
More broadly, the damage he has done to Americans’ faith and trust in democratic institutions will last long after he packs his bags and ends what will go down as one of the worst presidencies in history.