Donald Trump made himself a model of endless entitlement
President Donald Trump is tossed a golf ball Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Back in September, President Donald Trump absurdly suggested more than once that he might spend three terms in office, saying he was "probably entitled" to them. Since losing his bid for a second term, however, Trump has been saying he's entitled to four more years anyway. His silliest camp followers in the GOP are still falling for this mania.
His surreal court challenges to a legitimate election kept imploding in the form of bland legal language. On Friday, a Wisconsin judge declared: "The certification of the results of the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election, after the Dane County and Milwaukee County recounts, is affirmed."
Translation: Get this litter out this courtroom. Just as predictably, the U.S. Supreme Court matter-of-factly rejected another Trump-backed election challenge in which the Republican attorney general of Texas put forward the bizarre idea that he could void the certified vote results of other states.
Bottomless claims of entitlement can make someone look like he's in the throes of a mental or spiritual virus. Trump told at least one person privately that the coronavirus was a deadly threat while he fed the public the twisted lie that it would miraculously disappear. Once he caught COVID-19 himself, he still scoffed at precautions such as masks, but he was entitled to the world's most advanced treatments, which few others could access.
Now the U.S. deaths from the coronavirus are nearing 300,000, and the president feels entitled to give the false impression that he created vaccines.
On Wednesday, the sense of entitlement extended to gathering colleagues for a holiday celebration as if there were no pandemic. The State Department held a 200-person evening affair at the presidential guesthouse. Why not? They felt like it.
From time to time, we read about corporate executives who drive companies into the equivalent of a brick wall and then collect massive buyouts. Trump has never had to explain the rationale by which he and his adult children, while advising him on governance, promoted their private business for four years without clear restrictions.
Still, Trump felt entitled to make up stories about how Joe Biden, who defeated him, was the more corrupt of the two candidates. This, as the current president contemplates handing out pardons for himself and his favorite insiders as if they are party favors. Trump feels entitled to smear other Republicans and risk votes for Georgia's U.S. Senate runoffs. After all, the GOP is his to play with, at least for now.
Trump clearly feels entitled to act amorally and be rewarded with idolization from certain men and women of the cloth. Only last week televangelist Jim Bakker claimed that God told him that failure to reelect Trump would result in the Antichrist taking over America. He said this with a straight face.
Many of the current president's fans, handlers and enablers are like overindulgent permissive parents. They know his behavior is inappropriate but reward him out of guilt or fear. "Trump's going to do what Trump is going to do," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last week, acknowledging Biden would win the Electoral College vote Monday. In 2020, that's Washington talk for "boys will be boys."
This level of political privilege runs counter to democracy. When his term ends Jan. 20, Trump will lose clout and some of the indulgences rewarded him. Still, his fans will go so far as to keep repeating the mindless assertion that he allowed America to say "Merry Christmas" again.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
