I remember clearly from one of my Political Science courses the professor asking the class, “When is a government Legitimate?” The answer is when people accept it as legitimate. There is no objective test, rule, or criteria that can be applied to determine legitimacy it is something acquired through consensus often an unspoken and intuitive attitude.

Donald Trump and worse yet major elements of the Republican Party have gravely and perhaps irreparably damaged the legitimacy of the U.S. Government.

Andrew Jackson, a president many hold in contempt, still recognized the legitimacy of the government even after losing in what he considered by way of ‘a corrupt bargain,’ in 1824.

Richard Nixon after losing a closely fought campaign in 1960 to Kennedy, a campaign that many felt had been influenced by potential corruption from Chicago, recognized the new Administration’s legitimacy.

Al Gore, after losing critical court battles but winning the nation’s popular vote, conceded the election to Bush and did not challenge the process as illegitimate.

In each of these cases there were some who refused to accept the outcome as legitimate. There always are but critically not the principals involved. Not the candidate themselves and not the leaders of the parties, this is not the case for the 2020 Presidential contest.

Trump is a lying narcissist, a damaged emotional wreck of a human being immature and unable to act in any manner other than greedy self-interest. (An Objectivist hero you might say.) His refusal to accept that he actually lost the election was not only predictable but heavily predicted. Because he occupies the office of POTUS that alone is enough to damage faith in the government’s legitimacy but when his refusal became a litmus test for national Republicans the damage to our nation grew.

Cowed, subjugated, and terrified of the base that they had spent decades cultivating GOP politicians refused to acknowledge the truth that Trump had lost. They filed laughable suits, they implored state government to overturn the election and made motions to disenfranchise millions of voters. And those that did not participate in these direct assaults on the very nature of our government turned a blind eye to the carnage, implored that this was simply ‘the process’ and coddled the mad child-king as he shredded faith in our system, as he destroyed legitimacy.

Foolishly they believe that once the administration has passed, they will be able to return to a pre-Trump state, but time flows in only one direction and it can never be rewound. The bell has been struck, millions of people now believe that this election was illegitimate, and that the new administration is inherently criminal.

I fear that McConnel, Fox News, and all the rest have given birth to many more Cesar Sayocs.