We all know people who do not like losing. Let’s
face it, nobody likes losing. However, some accept losing more gracefully than
others. Throughout history some losers
have become infamous for their bitterness in defeat. The 2020 US
Presidential election looks like establishing Donald Trump one of the greatest sore
losers of all time. Bigly!
In Mid November, two weeks after the election day, Joe Biden is more than five million votes ahead of Trump. More importantly, he is well ahead in the Electoral College vote, where 270 is the critical number for victory. Biden already has 306 votes and counting. This is the same number of Electoral College votes that Donald Trump won with in 2016, when he quickly declared that he had thrashed Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton. He used words like Huge, Awesome and Bigly to describe the scope of his “massive” victory. In 2020 he is saying, without producing any evidence, that the election was rigged, that he “was cheated” and that he is the real winner.
Adolf Hitler was so cheesed off that his brutal 1000 Year Third Reich only lasted for 11 years, before the Russians stormed into Berlin, that he blew his brains out. However, killing yourself because of a loss is quite extreme. We can all remember the spoiled boy in our cricket playing childhood who threatened to take his bat and ball home if he was given out. Such sore losers act like petulant babies and are generally known as Dummy Spitters. Donald Trump is at present giving an Olympic Gold Medal performance in Dummy Spitting. He is also doing great harm to his country in the process.
Tennis player, John McEnroe, typified the sore loser, though he did not lose too often. Cranky Mac would berate umpires, ball boys or even his own racquet if an umpiring call went against him.
Another tennis great, Serena Williams, was so unused to losing that she went into vitriolic meltdown when beaten in the US Lady’s Championship by a teen aged girl named Naomi Osaka. Who can forget Williams, enraged and fuming, shouting at the umpire “I’m a mother,” as if that was reason enough for her to never, ever lose. Williams outburst was so brutal that the respected tennis referee she verbally abused took an early retirement. Naomi Ozaka just stood quietly by, weeping.
Of course not all losers are sore losers. The Washington Generals is a US basketball team. They started playing the Harlem Globetrotters in 1953. In 1971 they had graciously suffered 2495 straight losses to the Globetrotters before they won their first game, 100 to 99. I am unable to find out how the Globetrotters took this rare defeat the well practised losers. I assume they just shuffled of the court, smiling and whistling their theme song, “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
A gentleman named Norman Thomas ran for President of the USA as an independent in every presidential election from 1928 to 1948. He lost each time by very big margins. He always warmly congratulated the successful candidates, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (four times) and Harry Truman.
Bob Newhart is a popular comedian who starred in TV’s Bob Newhart Show from 1982 to 1990. The show was very popular and Newhart was nominated 25 times for an Emmy Award for his performances. Each year he attended the Emmy Awards with a winner’s speech in his pocket but, despite his 25 nominations, he never, ever won the coveted statuette. Of course, Bob Newhart was a gracious loser, at least in his public persona, and made jokes about the lack of Emmys on his mantelpiece.
Yes, everyone likes a gracious loser. In the 1950s, the best amateur male tennis player in the world was Australia’s Frank Sedgman. He won major tennis tournaments, including Grand Slam finals, all around the world. He also won Grand Slam doubles championships with his friend, Ken McGregor and helped Australia to several stirring victories over fierce rivals, the USA,lry for possession of the hotly contested Davis Cup.
One day, in a major tournament in Australia, Sedgman was defeated. He was interviewed after his shock defeat by an ABC radio commentator, who remarked that Sedgman was smiling even though he had lost. I was a young boy when I heard this radio interview.
“Why are you smiling? asked the radio man. “You just lost.”
Sedgman replied, “When I starting playing competition tennis, my mother told me that if I won I should look as if I’d just lost and if I lost I should look as if I’d won. It's not always easy, but that's what I try to do.”
At the time, Sedgman was coached by legendary, Harry Hopman, who instilled Sedgman’s winning/losing philosophy into the other Australian players of that era, Hoad, Rosewall, Newcombe, Emmerson, Cooper, Stolle, Hartwig, Laver and others. They all won humbly and they accepted their losses graciously. Handshakes and smiles all around.
In later life, Hopman moved to America and coached the emerging volatile star, John McEnroe. Unfortunately, McEnroe mother obviously did not dispense the same advice to her son as that that given to Frank Sedgman. McEnroe’s highly successful career, under Harry Hopman, was marred by many controversial harangues.
Some find it strange that Harry Hopman, who insisted on absolute sporting decorum on the court and a strict observance of tennis etiquette by his Australian players, was prepared to let McEnroe run rampart, trampling on tennis etiquette whenever he played.
The answer is probably money! In Australia, Hopman was employed by the Australian tennis authorities to coach our national team. In America he established his own very profitable tennis coaching business and he was dependent on McEnroe’s international tennis success for his own financial benefit.
Donald Trump is certain to lose the 2020 Presidential election. His constant criticism of the voting system and his refusal, as the first defeated president not to follow long established conventions regarding the peaceful transition to a new president, has thrown the US into turmoil. Armed groups of civilians are clashing in many American cities. One group arguing that Trump has been robbed and the other group celebrating Joe Biden’s victory. The country is in crisis. Donald Trump seems quite happy to let the situation bubble and boil away. He is doing nothing to aid Biden’s transition to the presidency, which could even threaten national security.
Another sore losing dummy spitter in American political life was famed businessman, Henry Ford, the man who put Americans into motor cars. In 1918, Ford decided to stand for the US Senate. He was nominated by President Grover Cleveland as the Democratic candidate. However, Ford was not content with that. He wanted to be the Republican candidate as well and put his name up at the Republican Convention.
The New York Times wrote quaintly of Ford’s inexperience for the senate candidacy, “Mr Ford is a successful businessman, but he has demonstrated convincingly on many occasions, not only his lack of acquaintance with basic international and national affairs, but a certain quality of mind which forbids the hope that he will ever be able to overcome-that lack of equipment-an altogether impressionable mind for public affairs.”
To Ford’s great surprise, the Republican’s nominated a rich, well educated and successful businessman, Truman H. Newberry. To Ford’s even greater surprise Newberry won the Senate seat for the state of Michigan. Ford immediately claimed that he had been cheated. For the next four years, Ford claimed the election was rigged and constantly petitioned for a recount.(Sounds familiar.) He said he was the victim of a Wall Street bankers in a “Jewish conspiracy.”
Not only that, Ford hired teams of lawyers and private investigators to dig up dirt on Truman H. Newberry and relentlessly pursued him. He made Newberry’s life a misery. Ford took the case to the Supreme Court and, after four years, he succeeded in having a the Senate recount the 1918 vote. Newberry won the recount. However, he decided to resign as he was tired of Ford’s unprincipled attacks.Ford did not seek to run for office ever again.
A similar thing happened in 1932 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt easily defeated Hoover. In those days the new president was not inaugurated until March 4. Roosevelt was voted in on a New Deal to provide government support to the starving, the poor and the vast army of unemployed. He also wanted to initiate government building projects to stimulate the economy and get people working again. Hoover saw this a a Bolshevik plot and staunchly opposed it. In stalling the New Deal Hoover prolonged the misery of the depression. Trump, in stalling the transition to Biden will continue to ignore covid-19 and thousands of Americans will suffer and die as a result. America needs to work out a federal election system that installs the newly elected president one week after the polls close. Most democratic countries manage to do this already.
In obstructing a smooth transition, Trumpis aided, of course, by the horse and buggy electoral procedures put in place by the US Constitution. The Constitution actually ignores the popular vote in favour of an Electoral College. Each state is allocated members of the Electoral College based on population. Members are appointed according to which party gains the most votes in each state.
Two states appoint college members from the two major parties on a proportional basis. The other 48 states give all of their electoral college votes to whichever party gets the most votes, even if it is just a small majority. In 2000, George Bush had a majority of about 500 votes over Al Gore in Florida. That was enough to give him all of Florida’s electoral college votes… and the presidency.
Trump is aided in his truculence by the fact that the US Constitution says that the Electoral College does not meet to elect the president until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Six weeks after the election. Unbelievable as it may seem, the US Constitution and state laws do not require the Electoral College members to vote for the party that won their state’s majority. They can vote for whichever candidate they please.
Indeed, there have been many Electoral College members who have voted against the candidate who won their state’s presidential vote. They are called Faithess Electors. Makes you wonder just how democratic America is?
Whatever way the electoral college votes, the new president is not actually inaugurated into the position of President until January 20 of the following year. That is another six weeks after the Electoral College votes. Plenty of time for Trump to stir up even more trouble.
No doubt, in future years, dummy spitting sore losers will be looked at scornfully and said to be “Doing a Trump!”
God bless America!
