Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential election. He was defeated by the same Electoral College margin he won by in 2016, but is on track to lose the popular vote by around 7 million votes. The election was a referendum on Donald Trump and he was roundly rejected. He is a loser.

But because the GOP is little more than a cult of personality at this point, 70% of Donald Trump’s supporters refuse to believe he lost. In other words, roughly 49 million Americans are raving lunatics who think that some conspiracy has robbed Trump of his rightful victory. There is no evidence for this. In fact, all evidence points to the contrary. Election security experts all agree that this was a secure and fair election. Trump’s attempts to claim fraud in court have all failed– most of them spectacularly. Yet, Trump and his hard core supporters remain convinced of their righteousness.

Like most things in the Trump era, this is both unsurprising and totally shocking. Everyone knew Trump would never lose gracefully. Like all losers, he refuses to take any responsibility, shuffles blame onto others, and cries that things are not fair when he doesn’t get his way. That’s how loser act in pre-school and Trump has carried that attitude with him through his adulthood and into his twilight. Nor is it surprising that the GOP establishment is going along for the ride. The party is full of opportunistic clowns like Jim Jordan who have latched their future to that of Donald Trump and spineless toadies like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Lindsay Graham who parrot whatever Trump says in hopes that they won’t lose the support of his base. What is surprising to me is the number of regular Americans who have decided that they’d rather turn their back on hundreds of years of American political tradition, any notion of personal pride and dignity, and publicly make fools of themselves in support of such a nakedly stupid and hopeless crusade. I had no idea that so many of the “real men” I knew were simps for Donald Trump.

To be clear, this goes way beyond the election. Trump is a loser to his core. He cheats, preferring to file bankruptcy and cheat his creditors, contractors, and business partners out of what they are owed. He lies, like paying off porn stars to stay quiet about their affairs while promising the public that nothing of the sort happened. He avoids responsibility for any of his actions– everything is always someone else’s fault. The Deep State! The Lying or Failing New York Times! RINOS! CHEATING LIBS! UKRAINIAN MACHINES! That is how losers behave.

Like all losers, Donald Trump folds when confronted with adversity. The COVID-19 crisis punched America in the face. Trump wasn’t just staggered, like most leaders were, he was rendered absolutely impotent. He froze, like all losers do. And ever since that moment he has been denying that there was ever a threat at all. COVID didn’t scare him into inaction– he just didn’t do anything because it wasn’t a big deal. Or there was nothing that could be done. Or he actually did do a bunch of stuff he just came out and said the opposite of what he was really doing. Whatever he has to say in the moment to cover for his on the record cowardice.

This moment is a great example of what a stonecold loser Donald Trump is. Not only can he not admit he was defeated, he cannot man up and continue to do his job in the face of this result. Take a look at Donald Trump’s daily schedule since the election. Yesterday (11/18) Donald Trump had a completely empty schedule. No major policy briefings. No meetings with GOP or Democrat reps or Senators to pass important legislation. Nothing. Trump did nothing on Tuesday either. On Monday he had lunch with Mike Pence. He golfed all weekend. Last week he poked his head out in the Rose Garden to erroneously claim credit for the COVID vaccines in development and showed up to a Veterans Day ceremony. He won’t give interviews. He won’t answer questions at a press conference. Like a child who lost a game, Trump has taken his ball and gone home to sulk. A total loser.

As I am writing this, the COVID crisis continues to rage out of control. Things were so bad in Ohio yesterday that the state couldn’t release full numbers on those who tested positive, hospitalized, or dead because their own workforce was short manpower due to COVID. The nation is over 150000 cases a day for the last week or two, trending up. Hospitals are short healthcare workers. Free testing takes days to schedule out in many major cities (it was three days out here in central Ohio last week). Communities are shutting down, either by government decree or by the people simply choosing not to go out (several restaurant and bar owners I’ve spoken to say they cannot come close to the 50% capacity they are allowed most of the time– people simply are not going out in those numbers). Businesses are failing. People are in real financial trouble. This is a genuine crisis and the President is nowhere to be found. Instead, Donald Trump is camped out at the White House, watching his favorite TV shows promise him that he didn’t lose, tweeting about how unfair everything is to him, and demanding that everyone in the GOP cater to his wounded ego.

While the President whines on social media about how unfair it all is, he hasn’t bothered to attend a White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting in months, according to Anthony Fauci. Trump appears to be doing nothing to coordinate the vaccine deployment nor is he allowing the Biden administration to be privy to any plans, preferring to play make-believe that he will somehow still be President when the vaccines are rolled out in the spring of 2021. A grown man who accepts responsibility and fulfills the duties of their office would be working on persuading Congress to pass a relief bill to mitigate the economic damage caused by the virus. Businesses– small and large– are failing. Local governments are running out of money to provide essential services and states are going to have drastic shortfalls that harm education, infrastructure, and workers retirement funds for years to come. Entire industries, like food services, hospitality, and travel have been decimated. Helping these hard working Americans and business owners should be one of the most important things to both parties. Donald Trump does not care. He did not spend any time trying to broker a deal during the election and he has spent even less time thinking about this issue now. Donald Trump only has time for his election excuses. He is the real victim here.

Donald Trump had time to call Monica Palmer, one of the Wayne County, Michigan Board of Canvassers, to urge her to reverse her vote to approve the election there, but he hasn’t had time in months to meet with Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell about COIVD relief legislation? What kind of person would abandon his voters in a time of real crisis to play to his own injured pride? A loser.

How little does Donald Trump care about you, his voter? He doesn’t even bother to appoint someone else from his team to handle these major crisis. Mike Pence, supposed adult in the room, could be tapped to work with his former colleagues in Congress to pass legislation. Surely one of his top strategists could spend a little of the time they use whining on Fox News about the election to help explain how they plan to get the nation through this dangerous holiday season, to provide suggestions on what the safest path forward for schools, businesses, and communities is from now until the vaccines can be deployed, or to explain where, how, and in what time frame vaccine deployment will take place. Instead, they just show up on Tucker to spread wild conspiracy theories and complain about how everyone is against them. Losers, every one of them.

Then again, this has always been Trump’s style. He cannot cede the spotlight. Instead, he holds power back for himself, using it sparingly. Like the healthcare plan that was always just two weeks away, Trump storms in and proclaims that he has everything under control, you’ll see soon, and then drops the issue. There is no wall. There is no replacement for Obamacare. There is nothing but a tax cut Paul Ryan passed years ago and a bunch of judges Trump rubber stamped for Mitch McConnel and the Federalist Society. Trump cannot give up power but he also cannot abide doing real work. He only wants to appear to have done something big without any of the sacrifice or effort that goes with it. Trump demands that his participation trophy say MVP on it.

He is a world class loser.

And now he is making all of you losers too. Donald Trump sacrifices your dignity and self-respect, demanding that you beclown yourself by indulging in baseless conspiracies that undermine the very fabric of democracy in defense of his ego. Trump demands that you sacrifice yourselves, your loved ones, your business, and your relationships with family and friends in order to cover for him abdicating his responsibility to provide policies and plans to protect you. Donald Trump asks you to believe that everyone else– the media, the experts, public servants, government institutions, US intelligence, tech companies, the pharmaceutical industry, foreign leaders, “leftists,” and the like are to blame for everything he has failed to do. The truth is simple. Donald Trump failed because he was unwilling and unable to put anything above himself. He is a loser. And if you are still following him at this point you are too.

No doubt the Trump supporters I have written for have not enjoyed reading this piece. I am sorry about how harsh this all seems. No one wants to be a loser. The truth can sting like that. But truth also has a liberating effect. It really can set you free. You do not have to continue down this path. Rejecting Trump does not mean you have to become a liberal. It doesn’t mean that you and I will agree on what the best policies are moving forward. It only requires that you reject the dark fantasy you have been indulging in for the last four years and begin to return to something that could be described as objective reality. Hell, I’d settle for reality adjacent at this point.

I hold no illusions that I will change your minds. After all, anyone who felt that the entire American experiment in self-rule was worth risking to re-elect a reality television personality who had failed in every real business venture he ever pursued and thought the best way to manage a pandemic was to do nothing at all is beyond the reach of persuasion. Let the record state I gave you one last off ramp from the Trump disaster. From here on out, you get to wear the L right along with him.