Trump's contempt for how government works has rarely been so stark

Donald Trump’s time in the White House is ending as it began: with apparent disregard for the business of actually governing. As President-elect four years ago, he showed little interest in running a serious and thorough transition—and as outgoing President he has spent the last three weeks making his successor’s transition as difficult as possible. For all that Trump’s continued refusal to concede reflects his unwillingness to face defeat, it also symbolises his deeper aversion to the work of running the country.

A core part of American democracy is the peaceful transition of power—a partly symbolic issue, but also a practical one. Taking over the vast US federal government with just a few months’ notice is deeply challenging. Thousands of current staff will be replaced by those in the new administration, who must quickly begin work on implementing new policies while keeping government working smoothly. This requires as seamless a transition as possible—which is why, in recent decades, both Republicans and Democrats have tried to improve the process. The law now mandates that incoming administrations receive access to government officials and their extensive briefing materials, federal funding, and office space. To kickstart this process, the head of a small federal agency—the General Services Administration (GSA)—must formally acknowledge the election winner.

Usually, GSA acknowledgement happens within days. But only three weeks after election day has the GSA has finally acknowledged that Joe Biden is President-elect, allowing the formal transition to begin—though President Trump has emphasised that he is simply letting a process happen, not conceding the election. The refusal to concede doesn’t much matter. The GSA’s acknowledgement of Biden’s victory is far more important: the President-elect will now be able to access intelligence briefings, send his teams into government departments and speak to current officials about their work, and begin conducting background checks for key appointees. After operating in limbo since the election was called on 7^th November, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can fully begin to prepare for government.

It is easy to say this delay shows Trump’s inability to process his loss. The increasingly nonsensical claims he has made about the integrity of the US electoral system, the raft of legal challenges his team have brought, and his general lack of visibility over the last three weeks suggest he cannot face his own defeat. But the delayed transition also reflects something much greater: President Trump’s uninterest in what government is and how it works. That is all the more stark given the current national crisis.

Trump has not just made Biden’s transition harder, but he has done so in a worsening pandemic where over a million Americans have been infected in a week, and 1,500 people are dying a day. Frontline doctors in some states are warning that healthcare systems are near collapse. For the last three weeks, as the GSA refused to begin the transition, the Biden team has had to rely on briefings with former federal officials, governors, and business leaders. They have used what platform they have to announce vital public health measures, but have been refused detailed government information about the virus. While new vaccines give cause for optimism, distributing them will be a huge logistical challenge—one that Biden has been unable to discuss with the current administration. The delay has undoubtedly had practical consequences that will affect the American people.

Many of Trump’s recent predecessors have aimed to help their successors in in difficult times. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, amid the financial crisis, he found President George W Bush “doing all he could” to ensure an effective transition. Despite their political differences, the two discussed relief packages making their way through Congress, and just days before his inauguration, Obama asked his predecessor to formally request the release of $350bn in relief funds—which Bush did. Bush had learned the necessity of an easy transition the hard way: in 2000, his was delayed by legal wrangling over the result in Florida. In the interim, President Clinton ensured he had access to security briefings, but the delays still had a knock-on effect. By the time of the terrorist attacks of 11^th September, key national security officials had only been in post for a few months, something later highlighted by the 9/11 Commission as a problem.

Most modern presidents have recognised the seriousness of their role. This never appeared to burden President Trump. Months before his election in 2016, he reportedly tried to stop his staff from spending money on planning for a transition. In November 2016, as President-elect, he suddenly and completely reshuffled his transition team. As Michael Lewis has written, officials in several government departments seeking to brief the incoming administration were left waiting. Research by the Partnership for Public Service and the Washington Post has found that of the 757 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, 135 are still without nominees four years later. Trump displayed little interest in what it meant to enter government, or how to use the levers of government to pursue policy priorities and improve the lives of citizens.

This approach continued for the four years of the Trump presidency. “Terminating” officials by tweet, contacting world leaders outside of normal diplomatic channels, seeking to take action that he was not legally able to do, attacking judges, and conducting freewheeling, chaotic press conferences were all less about shaking up Washington than they were examples of an inability—or unwillingness—to grasp how government works. Now, in his defeat, he stubbornly clings on to the idea that he may yet win, even as he authorises the GSA to begin the transition, his legal cases are dismissed, and states certify their election results. Not only has Trump broken norms: he never understood nor sought to understand them in the first place.

In finally allowing the transition to begin, the President has done the right thing—though it is the bare minimum that could be expected. We will never know how much the delay has exacerbated the ongoing pandemic. But one thing is clear: President Trump’s prevarication is not just about his defeat. It is part of a pattern of behaviour rooted in indifference to what it means to govern.