StoryOn the evening of November 3, the outgoing president launched into a headlong flight into denial, and violence shattered against reality.
For a long time, Donald Trump loved to revive the memory of the escalator that had led him, on June 16, 2015, from the heights of the tower that bears his name, in New York, to the atrium where his first desk was installed. of presidential candidate. Less than six years later, his political career could end with another descent, this time into hell, where his stubborn refusal to accept defeat has led him, in the bloody tumult of the assault. given by some of his supporters against Congress. Banned from Twitter and Facebook, pushed out into the Republican camp, Trump seems to have burned all his cards.
White House, night of November 3-4
Hail to the chief, the perky military march reserved for the President of the United States resonates in the East Room of the White House. It’s a little past 2:30 a.m. and the pageantry is Trumpist. Campaign panels have been placed on either side of the microphone facing the guests. When Donald Trump finally steps forward, he displays a mechanical smile on his tense features. To his right, his wife, Melania, offers the one she wears in all circumstances, for the visit of a statesman as for the forgiveness of the Thanksgiving turkey.
For weeks on end, election experts described how election night would unfold. An initial advance from the outgoing president, who advised his followers to vote in person on November 3 and whose ballots are immediately counted. Then one “Blue wave” Democrat, fueled by postal voting, privileged to protect themselves from the coronavirus and subsequently stripped in certain decisive states. Only the height of this wave remains to be defined.
Night sets in and Donald Trump clings to this advance which is only temporary. ” We won Georgia, they will not be able to catch up with us ”, he asserts. “We are winning in Pennsylvania with a huge gap”, he continues, before adding Michigan and Wisconsin to his list. “We don’t even need all that”, he assures between two rounds of applause.
The “Blue wave” Yet begins to materialize and Donald Trump is all the more upset that his favorite channel, Fox News, was the first to attribute a conservative stronghold, Arizona, a few hours earlier to Democrat Joe Biden. The Republican camp protested. The channel’s electoral expert, Arnon Mishkin, remained unmoved. “I’m sorry that we were not wrong in this particular case”, he replied to those in charge of the channel who questioned him. “He said it was pretty unlikely that we would catch up [Joe Biden] “, exasperated the president in front of his faithful, arms outstretched helplessly.
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