What we saw the night of Nov. 3 was nothing short of an embarrassment for President Donald Trump, but nobody can say they were surprised. The Trump campaign’s issue over the last four years has been its obvious attempts to skew American perception, and this last charade proves that things said in the past were a plot for your vote and nothing more.

Understand that Trump would rather remove democracy all together if it meant he could parade around the White House for the rest of his life. But knowing his power doesn’t lie that deep, he recognizes that his only option is to destroy Americans’ belief in democracy.

The reason that Trump knew it would be possible for an early declaration would be because mail-in ballots would have to be counted after the polling ballots in some key battleground states. With the way studies had shown how the different parties planned to vote, opposing politicians began to worry about this exact situation.

Weeks before the election, people such as Sen. Bernie Sanders warned the American public about the possibility of an early declaration of victory by the Trump campaign on “The Tonight Show.”

“Studies have shown, for whatever reason, that Democrats are more likely to use mail-in ballots and republicans are more likely to walk into polling booths on election day,” Sanders said. “It could well be at ten o’clock on election night Trump gets on the television and says ‘thank you Americans for re-electing me, it’s all over have a good day.’”

But as we now know, Trump has lost the election, and it adds to the long list of lies the Trump campaign has spewed over the last four years. Whether it be the press conferences, Fox News appearances, or even the tweets; Trump has found many ways to confuse and mislead the American people.

The mindless rants of our former president may not be tolerated once Trump gets removed from office. Social media platforms such as Twitter have announced that on Jan. 20, the day Joe Biden will officially be inaugurated, Trump will lose his “world leader” title and can be subject to banning at that time.

According to Twitter, what world leaders have to say is in the public’s interest, whether they follow the social media platform’s guidelines or not. Though Trump over the last three days has had approximately 37 tweets or retweets tagged for inaccurate or misleading information, his account remains active due to his “world leader” position.

Most tags simply state that a claim is “disputed,” while others have been more direct by saying things such as “official sources called this election differently.” The latter, for example, was flagged in response to a tweet by Trump reading “I WON THE ELECTION!”

This all but true statement proves that what the Trump campaign has given us over the last four years has been nothing but lies. Though some of the things he said could be intriguing to a follower, the country must begin to understand that those delaractions were nothing more than a mirage for Trump to stay in office.

The week following the election was one we cannot forget as a country. Whether you support Trump or not, we need to realize that destroying our democracy is the last thing any president should attempt to do. A president is a temporary public servant, and with that responsibility should follow a smooth transition of power like all presidents before have offered.

As of Nov. 19, Trump has yet to concede this election even though the official election results have Biden winning the presidency by a score of 290 to 232 with Georgia being the only state left undecided. Even with Trump’s dispute of voter fraud which has been either overblown or completely false information, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Biden won most disputed states by a margin much larger than the claims the Trump campaign have made.

As a country, it is time we all stand for what is truly important. We need to understand no matter who we follow, soon enough Trump will be out of options to exploit and we will need to accept the results of the election. Though you may not like the results, tearing down democracy to get what you want is the absolute last answer and can lead to nothing but corruption.