December 14, 2020 — a great day for American democracy. The Electoral College confirmed the election of Joe Biden on Monday. But it is not about Joe Biden or about the Democrats. It is about the capacity of our Constitution to withstand the dishonorable attempt by a dis-elected president to overturn the results of a national election.

And so this to Donald Trump. You probably would have won the election had you taken your job seriously and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with leadership and administrative mastery.

But in the end, for a number of reasons, you lost the 2020 election. In a nation of decency and mutual respect, it would have been nice to leave it at that. But you could not accept the fact that in fair election, someone wins and someone loses. We know from biographies of you that your father taught you that the worst thing in the world is to be a loser.

Here’s the thing, the issue that is beyond your moral imagination. You weren’t a loser on the day the election was called. Up till that moment, you merely lost the election as someone  every time. But you became a loser by not conceding, by not acknowledging the validity of the election. And as you continued to play that very dangerous game you graduated from a: someone who lost to b: a loser and then to c: a Loser!!

You are a Loser, or perhaps a LOSER, because you don’t have enough character integrity to accept reality or honor our 235-year tradition. Think about it: This is the first time in our entire constitutional history that the man who lost has refused to honor the will of the people. You are now writing your place in the history of the United States and you degrade yourself more with each passing day. No historian is going to be able to write well of you because you broke the sacred code and the part of American tradition that makes us a republic.

All that before Monday. Now, when the Electoral College has spoken, your unwillingness to concede like a mature adult pushes your designation beyond loser, Loser! and LOSER.

Now you are just an ass.

History will not reward you for this final piece of disruptive theater. Two hundred years from now historians will say that you brought American democracy to the brink of the abyss, and you didn’t even have enough character to honor the system you asked us to let you lead.

The country is moving on. Those who have been willing to give you some benefit of the doubt — we needed the disruption, the system was paralyzed, the Tweets are appalling but he has put forward some good policies, like him or not he has raised some important questions about our place in the world — are now increasingly just seeing you for what you are — a poor sport, a sore loser, a 74-year-old who never grew up, a very dangerous buffoon, a narcissistic nihilist.

Richard Nixon conceded gracefully in 1960. Hubert Humphrey conceded generously in 1968. McGovern conceded properly in 1972. Gerald Ford conceded graciously in 1976. Jimmy Carter did the same in 1980. Walter Mondale conceded in 1984. Michael Dukakis conceded in 1988. George H.W. Bush conceded in 1992. Bob Dole conceded in 1996. Al Gore — who had reason to be bitter and to deny the legitimacy of the winner — conceded with enormous dignity in 2000. John Kerry conceded in 2004. John McCain gave one of the greatest concession speeches in American history in 2008. Mitt Romney conceded with grace and dignity in 2012. Hillary Clinton, though she won the popular vote by 2.7 million, conceded in 2016.  Each of these individuals was deeply disappointed, and they had a hard time accepting that the other guy won more votes than they did. But they all stood up like men (one woman) and did the right and proper thing. That’s how our brilliant system works.

And now, in 2020, you, Donald J. Trump, have failed to do the right, the decent, the dignified, the responsible, the adult, the expected, the generous, and the small-r republican thing.

You have defined your place in American history.

This is the story of how the man who lost became a LOSER.