Political tradition has been tossed angrily into the crapper and, yes, this is a “both sides do it” argument.

I am going to discuss briefly one of those tradition. It’s the one in which the loser of the race places the call to the winner to concede and to pledge support for the new president’s massive undertaking.

Ten days from Election Day and we have heard some of the nastiest campaign stump rhetoric I’ve ever heard.

Who’s to blame for discarding this tradition? Why, it’s Donald John Trump, of course!

He called the 2020 election rigged. He didn’t attend President Biden’s inaugural. He has been steamed ever since at losing the Electoral College and the popular vote by 7 million ballots.

The stump-speech volume in 2024 has been even more harsh. Kamala Harris accuses Trump of being a fascist, echoing opinions expressed by many of Trump’s key military and national security advisers.

For his part, Trump calls Harris a dim bulb, “a nasty person,” and “the worst vice president in history.”

Obviously, one of these people is going to win. Will the loser be able to suck it up long enough to call the winner and resume the traditional concession call?

If Harris is the winner, don’t think for a moment that Trump will concede anything. If hell freezes over and Trump wins, I wouldn’t bet on Harris making the call, either.