Ex-POTUS builds legacy of turmoil

(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The 45th president of the United States took office more than four years ago vowing to be an “unconventional” POTUS.

He didn’t deliver on many of his campaign promises, but he surely did on that one.

The man I refuse these days to ID by name on this blog has morphed into without question the most “unconventional” former president in U.S. history. He is building a legacy of mistrust, disbelief, deceit, self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement and, oh yes, all those lies — including the Big Lie about the outcome of the 2020 election.

Just as I refused to attach the term “President” directly to the former POTUS’s name while he occupied the nation’s highest office, I have taken to refusing even to type his name in any form. I cannot do it. The sight of his name — not to mention the sound of his voice — simply sickens me to the max.

I vowed not to dwell too much on POTUS 45 now that he has left office. I intend to look forward. I am doing so even as I bang out these few words about the former Insurrectionist in Chief.

This individual’s legacy is important to ponder as well. President Biden is seeking to craft a legacy of his own even this early in his term in office. He must do so against the backdrop of the legacy that his immediate predecessor left and which he is building now even as a private citizen.

I had harbored a hope that there might be a reckoning coming from POTUS 45, that he might decide to give up his idiotic pursuit of being “reinstated” as president. That he might call President Biden and say, “You know, Joe, I thought I had a shot at all this. It’s clear that I do not. Therefore, I am going to summon reporters tomorrow to my resort in Florida and tell them — and the world — that you are the legitimately elected president of the United States. I wish you success.” 

That won’t happen. His legacy will be built on the lies he’ll keep telling and on the idiocy that will continue to spew forth.

He still has a chance to turn the corner on an election he lost. Sadly, I fear he won’t take it.