Richard Hogan: 'You're fired!' Trump's catchphrase could come in handy

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Lancaster Airport, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Lititz, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Last week saw the second and final American presidential debate. 

Such has been the impact of the Trump era on political discourse in America that the moderators, like a darkly humourous scene from The Simpsons, had to install a mute button to prevent the president from shouting down his opponent. 

This measure was in response to the WWE-style debate we witnessed in the first outing. An embarrassing, chaotic spectacle, that illuminated just how coarsened and juvenile public debate has become in America. Like a garishly gaudy scene from the reality TV world from which he came, we have been forced to watch this president bulldoze through formality; his refusal to shake Angela Merkel’s hand in the oval office, his warm and loving embrace of Kim Jong Un, his pushing past the Montenegro PM at NATO, his refusal to denounce white supremacy groups, his sycophantic siding with Russia over FBI intelligence at Helsinki, his use of brute force to disperse protestors for a photo op, the list could go on and on and on. 

But when you wade through the nonsense, ignorance, filibustering and insane tweeting just what will the legacy of this president be? 

Like him or loathe him, President Trump has, without doubt, been among the most controversial presidents in US history. And if there is one thing this president knows, it’s how to sell. 

He is a master of marketing, but like a sleight of hand trickster, when you lift up the cup, maybe there's nothing there.

This president has been busy. And though it is not popular to say, he has had some impressive achievements. He has completely reshaped the federal judiciary. He has installed three Supreme Court justices, and 205 judges, all lifetime appointments. He has made up approximately 25% of all US circuit court judges. To put all of this in context, president Obama managed to appoint 55 circuit judges in 8 years while Trump has appointed 53 in under 4 years. As I said, he has been busy. But perhaps busy for all the wrong reasons. 

The court get the final say in US politics, which means that even if he is not re-elected his presidency will echo through the years due to the number of conservative federal judges he has put in place. 

That is quite an achievement. Some critics suggest that all of this judicial maneuvering is Trump gearing up and mobilising for a Bush v Gore mark 2. This might, in fact, be his greatest legacy, his greatest sleight of hand.

In 2000 The Florida Supreme Court ruled to extend the hand counting of votes until November 26 because the result was so close. The Republicans fought this ferociously in the US Supreme Court and overturned this decision on the grounds that it violated the equal protection law of the 14th Amendment. 

This legal fight ensured a Bush victory. Here we go again. The malignant cells of this controversial moment, when the Supreme Court decided the Presidency, have metastasised quite rapidly and a new more deadly cancer waits to be born on the 4 of November. The major difference this time around is that there is a very real sense that the outcome will not be accepted so easily. 

American democracy is teetering on the edge. We cannot underestimate how important the next few weeks are for the future of America. But if history teaches us anything, it often repeats. While the Bush v Gore case was rooted in Florida, many commentators foresee the potential of multiple lawsuits in several key states in November. This is why this week’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is a very worrying development for the Democrats. 

They are in a bare-knuckle fight, applying Queensbury rules. It is more than a little coincidence or a funny footnote on her CV that Barrett was involved in the Bush v Gore case back in 2000. 

The Republicans are looking for a replay of the handbook they wrote but this time the odds will be even further in their favour. And we are all watching, hoping democracy will hold.

When you’re a child you often wonder, what if? What if Hulk Hogan became president or what if Superman and Mighty Mouse got into a fight, or what if a reality TV star became the most important politician in the world, with absolutely no interest in the job or humanity? 

Well now we know, and it’s time the world takes a breath and utters the words that made him wealthy and famous: "You’re fired!"