America has decided: Mr President, you're fired!

 

For US President Donald Trump, his reality show has come back to haunt him: you are fired! The nation has assessed his performance in the White House for the last four years and found him lacking in the qualities needed to lead the country.

It must be a bitter pill for him to swallow after all the hard work he did, drawing big crowds to his rallies. But all those huge numbers out there did not reflect the grim truth - the people have grown tired of his leadership, with all his antics and eccentricities.

Trump ticked off many of his achievements to loud applause, but somehow these impressive records did not translate into winning numbers. There is something about the man that the people deeply distrust.

This is not to say that Americans do not love their leader and want him dumped. Trump did capture as many votes as his rival, Joe Biden, to the extent that the election went down to the wire. It was in some of the swing states that Trump eventually lost his high throne.

In the days and weeks to come, there will be a surge in analyses and comments about what went wrong with the Trump strategy. The searchlight will make a broad sweep of all the possible reasons for Trump's stunning defeat.

There are, however, some clearly defined contours which indicated that Trump and his Republican party were heading in the wrong direction.

The signs of early trouble came with all the opinions polls showing Biden and his Democratic party in the lead nationally. But Trump was not bothered by these depressing figures. Fake! That was his trademark reaction.

Dark storm clouds kept gathering as the campaign moved into high gear. The debates didn't go well with Trump, whose blustering ways only helped bolster the cool image of gentleman Joe, who exhibited grace under pressure.

Oozing confidence and bravado, the commander-in-chief stepped up his political - and personal - attacks, in the belief that the American voters would lap them all up. It was a misplaced belief and a costly one, too.

Then, there is the pandemic scourge which Trump treated rather lightly despite the fact that it has claimed tens of thousands of American lives. Biden played up this issue to the hilt, and this must have given him the edge.

It was too late for Trump to chase away the virus which has taken such a tremendous toll on the health of America. Life matters but Trump was more concerned with his own political world of wealth and power and personal glory.

If there is one issue that stands out in all this noise and excitement, it is the character of both candidates. Trump tried his level best to smear his rival and his family, but the character assassination did little damage.

In fact, Biden emerged as the gentleman in whom the Americans can place their full trust, while Trump is seen as a conniving master who always churns out unfounded allegations. In matters of governance, honesty is the best policy, but not for Trump.

In the final analysis, Americans want change and in Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris they see a refreshing narrative. An old experienced hand and an enthusiastic young woman are, perhaps, just the right tonic to heal a divided America.

And so Joe Biden will enter the Oval Office as the next president, Donald Trump will return home - and America will come down with high fever as the rampaging invisible enemy continues its inexorable death march.

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PHLIP RODRIGUES is a retired journalist. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.