So much has already been written and said about the 2020 presidential election that I hesitate to add more.

I look at the issue a little differently, though.

Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign appears to be based on two platforms. The first is that the 2020 election was stolen from him, so the country should right this wrong and restore him to office.  The second is that he alone can solve all our country’s problems.

Let’s take a look at the power Trump had as president during the 2020 election. Our president leads the executive branch of our federal government. There are 16 federal agencies that play a part in election security and integrity that are led by presidential appointees. There are 11 other independent agencies that aren’t led by appointees but are part of the executive branch hierarchy managed by our president.

Basically, what Trump is saying is that an election was stolen from him while he held the most powerful position in the world and was leading 27 federal agencies that play a role in election integrity. I would call that total incompetence.

Trump signed the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. This act expanded a role within Homeland Security to focus on cyber and physical protection of U.S. election infrastructure.  He appointed Chris Krebs to lead this agency.

The CISA did its job and thwarted efforts to corrupt the election, mostly from foreign countries. They started a website to refute rumors and conspiracy theories that had no basis in fact. Their efforts and investigations concluded that the 2020 election was the most secure in modern American history. So then Trump fired Krebs.

The Justice Department, led by the U.S. Attorney General, is part of the executive branch. At the end of 2018, Trump replaced Jeff Sessions with William Barr as the Attorney General. Barr had previously served as AG for President George H.W. Bush and was a White House attorney for President Ronald Reagan.

Barr was a leading proponent of a theory that the president has almost unlimited authority over the executive branch of our government. After the 2020 election, he initially sowed doubt about the election’s integrity and launched a Justice Department investigation. A month later, he concluded there was no evidence of voter fraud.  So then Trump forced Barr to resign on Dec. 14, 2020.

Imagine you are the president. Your AG assures you that you have absolute control over the executive branch of your government. You control 27 federal agencies involved with election security and integrity – 16 of them led by your hand-picked people.  

Despite all this, you get cheated out of re-election.  How competent does that make you and the people you picked?

Trump argues in his campaigning that he alone can solve the world’s problems. Only he has the competence to make our country great again and restore world order. 

He can stop the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. He can subdue the nuclear weapon programs of Iran and North Korea. He can crush the economic dominance ambitions of China. He will get all countries to bend to the will of America.

He can finish his wall and get Mexico to pay for it. He can secure our borders in the face of unprecedented migration from collapsing countries. He can stop the flow of illegal drugs. He can eliminate gun violence and crime in our cities. He can vanquish lethal viruses. 

He can eliminate inflation and reduce the price of gasoline. He can reduce federal debt and at the same time reduce taxes and build up our military. He will resurrect morality and family values (when he isn’t cheating on his wife or stiffing business partners). He can reverse the decline of people going to church.

Only the most extraordinarily capable person in the world could do what Trump says he can do. And yet his re-election was stolen out from under his watchful eye and capable leadership of unfettered power.

Really?