If you read Trump World often, it\u2019s probably a surprise that I am a steady\u00a0Fox News Sunday<\/em>\u00a0viewer.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s on my \u201cSunday List\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I start with Ali Velshi on\u00a0MSNBC<\/em>, move onto George Stephanopoulos on\u00a0ABC<\/em>, then Chris Wallace on\u00a0Fox<\/em>, and finish with Chuck Todd on\u00a0Meet the Press.\u00a0<\/em>But I don\u2019t just sit and watch four hours straight. I usually write a blog, balance the books, get a workout and have breakfast during that time too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fox News Sunday<\/em>\u00a0is well done, and reasonably dispassionate.\u00a0\u00a0And you can tell why regular\u00a0Fox<\/em>\u00a0viewers aren\u2019t all that fond of Chris Wallace.\u00a0\u00a0He lives up to the \u201cfair and balanced\u201d theme that\u00a0Fox<\/em>\u00a0so frequently fails to achieve.\u00a0\u00a0It helps to \u201cbalance\u201d my viewing, and I know what to expect from the\u00a0Fox<\/em>\u00a0commentators\u00a0\u00a0(Brit Hume being the worst).\u00a0\u00a0I need to hear what \u201cthe other side\u201d is hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On\u00a0Fox<\/em> this week, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams talked about the transition to the Biden Administration.\u00a0\u00a0He used a track \u201cpass the baton\u201d analogy, talking about how we need to have a \u201cclean\u201d exchange, particularly when it comes to the COVID pandemic response.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And on\u00a0Meet the Press\u00a0<\/em>Hugh Hewitt was on the panel.\u00a0\u00a0He is a conservative radio commentator on the\u00a0Salem Network<\/em> who was a \u201cNever Trumper\u201d until after the 2016 election. Then he swallowed the \u201cKool Aid\u201d and has been a Trump apologist ever since.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, he rattled off a Trump 2024 (that\u2019s right \u2013 2024) campaign spiel as justification for the President\u2019s failure to offer the common courtesy of a concession. Hewitt claimed that the future candidacy justified delegitimizing the incoming President. It\u2019s the first time in a while I\u2019ve wanted to throw something at Meet the Press.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And it dawned on me: I am an \u201cexpert\u201d in both of those areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s start with relay exchanges. I was a track coach (still one in my head) for forty years. One of our team\u2019s specialties was in taking solid but not great sprinters and teaching them amazing exchanges to beat more talented teams. I watched the alternative: the spectacle of the US Olympic 4×100 Relay team, the most talented in the world, disqualified year after year because they couldn\u2019t complete an exchange. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As my assistant coach for sprints would say: \u201cThey had one job \u2013 make the exchange\u201d. But they didn\u2019t, and we got to watch the agony of the fastest men in the world sobbing on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the trick was to set up a simple system that allowed the incoming runner to maintain his speed of almost twenty miles an hour, while the outgoing runner got up to that speed and seamlessly accepted the baton.\u00a0\u00a0The baton never slowed down as it moved from one to the other.\u00a0\u00a0It took a group of talented kids to sixth place in the state meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we know that the \u201cexchange\u201d between the outgoing and incoming President should be the same, because the United States cannot afford to \u201cslow down\u201d in the middle. The rest of the world won\u2019t wait for a \u201cbump and run\u201d or worse, a dropped baton. Think about what\u2019s happening now in Iran, or Afghanistan, or with the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a system designed to keep America moving.\u00a0\u00a0But it takes both the outgoing and incoming Presidents to agree to do it.\u00a0\u00a0George W. Bush did for Barack Obama.\u00a0\u00a0And Obama offered the same to Trump, though Trump decided it wasn\u2019t \u201ca thing\u201d for his team.\u00a0\u00a0They took over at a standstill, then managed to go backwards for the first few weeks.\u00a0\u00a0Remember the inauguration count, and the Muslim Ban?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have experience with \u201ctitles\u201d as well. How important is it for the outgoing President to recognize the legitimacy of the incoming President? It\u2019s all about the 72 million Americans who voted for Mr. Trump. If they follow his lead in denying the 2020 results, then Joe Biden will struggle to \u201cunite\u201d America \u2013 especially when it comes to ending the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was hired as the \u201cDean of Students\u201d at Watkins Memorial High School. My job was to be the primary \u201cdiscipline guy\u201d, the first person a kid in trouble would see. As that \u201cguy\u201d, I spent a lot of time on the phone with parents, who often weren\u2019t particularly glad to hear from the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years into the job, the Principal called me in and told me the District wanted to change my job title from Dean of Students to \u201cTeacher on Special Assignment\u201d. It was a contractual\/legal thing he said. I said no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s in a title?\u00a0\u00a0So let\u2019s say I caught a kid smoking dope in the locker room.\u00a0\u00a0I call the parent.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019re angry with their kid, angry with the school, and angry to be interrupted at work.\u00a0\u00a0And in all of that anger, I would have to explain what a \u201cteacher on special assignment\u201d was.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t going to work. The conversation went to the Superintendent, and included the possibility of me going back to my former life as a Government teacher.\u00a0\u00a0In the end we agreed that I would remain in my current assignment:\u00a0\u00a0as the Dean of Students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like it or not, Joe Biden is the next President of the United States. But it would be a whole lot easier for him to govern, and better for the country, if the current President simply acknowledged it. It would give Biden a fair shot. Barack Obama had Trump to the White House within days of the Clinton\u2019s defeat. And Secretary Clinton herself urged us to support the new President. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Presidential \u201cexchange\u201d looks like it\u2019s going to be a disaster. The future President is going to be hamstrung from the start. It\u2019s not good for Biden, but more importantly, it\u2019s not good for America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s not just dropping the baton. He\u2019s throwing it off the track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Week<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Track <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Our National Exchange<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Titles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Disqualified<\/h3>\n\n\n\n