Trump still center stage, shouting "Fraud!"

A government is forming and a contagious disease is spreading. That is serious news.

Instead, let's talk about Trump. 

      "Pardon the way that I stare
      There's nothin' else to compare. . .
      You're just too good to be true
      Can't take my eyes off of you."

                 Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, 1967

Americans are addicted to the Trump Show, even when it is being cancelled, even when there are more important things to observe.

Joe Biden is naming the officials who will shape the future of American government, announcing appointments to deal with America's national security, its economy, its justice system. The future of the country and the world is taking shape. By any standards, that is the important thing happening. Who is this Cecilia Rouse who will Chair the Council of Economic Advisors, and Janet Yellen at Treasury, and Anthony Blinken at State, and Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor? The policies and character of these people will shape our lives.

It is not the most interesting thing. Biden is C-SPAN incarnate. Serious. Flat. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is a whirling dervish sound and light show of fireworks, car crashes, and Elvis returned to life having given birth to an alien baby. Trump is a barking dog. Trump is a crying baby.

Joe Biden is not charismatic, neither on TV nor in person. He is lackluster even by the standards of sensible, responsible American politicians who we see grinding away in the Congress or at Statehouses. Among the Democratic candidates I saw up close in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden's crowds were among the smallest, and for good reason. He isn't new or bold. He isn't a curiosity, and he didn't create interest by saying something new. There is no "New Biden," the way there once was a "New Nixon." 

Biden's speeches were curious for what they were not, lacking applause lines or moments that roused emotions. All the other "major candidates," and some very minor ones, brought crowds to their feet. Their Town Halls were exciting events, with rousing music as people entered and got seated, one or two high-energy warm-up speakers, and an enthusiastic introduction. People jostled to get up close. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Marianne Williamson, Beto O'Rourke, and Tulsi Gabbard all had charisma. 

Biden does not. Biden was selling excitement's opposite: Calm, competence, reliability, people getting along and working together. He was also selling political moderation. Democrats--to the chagrin of many on the political left--chose the candidate of the center, the don't-rock-the-boat candidate who will try to push the heavy burden of change up a steep hill, impeded by Republicans and a skeptical public, so don't expect too much. 

Mostly what we got was what a majority of people thought they wanted--not Trump. Trump had become a problem, like a drink-a-day becoming six, then a DUI.  

American politics is a Trump addict, and we are in the withdrawal phase. Trump is making it difficult, maybe impossible, to clean up.  

We cannot go cold turkey. He won't let us and he has that power. Yesterday this blog referenced Gresham's Law, the economics observation that "bad money" replaces "good money" in circulation. People will hoard the more valuable money and circulate the less valuable, and shortly only "bad" money circulates. Yesterday I observed that mask and social distance scofflaws and virus-spreaders exercise a similar power to prevail. Even if the virus spreaders are a minority, their behavior trumps the efforts by the scrupulous to keep virus counts down, and so the virus circulates. 

We have yet another iteration of Gresham's Law. Trump can make the political environment angry and contentious by being Trump, that fountain of discord. The media environment values viewers, listeners, and readers. This blog mentions the Trump distraction problem, and is, of course, itself an example of it, aware that while the serious work of a government being formed is underway, Trump is shouting "Fire!" in the crowded theater. Trump is the more compelling spectacle. 

Actually, he shouted "Fraud!"

Trump made what he called "the most important speech of my life." He made the accusations Attorney General Barr, Republican Governors and Secretaries of State, and his own former election security head, all said were untrue, but he said them repeatedly and forcefully. Trump knows how to sell, with apparent conviction, and he is selling a product a lot of customers want to buy. In a 46-minute talk he used that word "fraud" 35 times. He said "corrupt" nine times; "illegal" 11 times; "steal" or "stole" six times. It was quite a show. It got 200,000 additional page views during the 46 minutes that I viewed it Wednesday evening.

Trump has the power to stay center stage, whether we want him to or not, because he is saying what a great many people want to believe. It's what they believe in their guts, that a majority of people surely--surely!--favored Trump over Biden and that only theft could explain Biden's win. Within their circle of news and friends there is simply no way Biden could have won honestly. That is Trump's story, and it fits the business model for talk radio and cable news to share it. It fits Trump's fundraising model. He is raking in money he is nearly free to use any way he wants.

It may also fit the mindset of Americans. Americans have become accustomed to something shocking every day, and the election did not bring bipartisan calm. Had one side or the other lost decisively there might have been a period of retreat and re-evaluation. One side would know they were out of touch with their fellow Americans. Instead, we fought to a kind of draw, and Trump is not going away, and bad money drives out good.