As the days dwindle down to a precious few, to recall a line from the great American songbook, many Americans wish a faster pace for the clock and the calendar. Voting Trump out of office was the first phase of his removal, but the next steps—his concession and the transition—are dragging along, mainly because of the Oval Office occupant’s recalcitrance.

We knew once the numbers were against him he would fight that result to the point of exhaustion and absurdity, tactics in keeping with his four years of mismanagement.

Like the Confederate opposition and the enemy forces America defeated during World War II, when they were completely vanquished they made sure nothing was left behind for the victors. What they couldn’t salvage and take with them, they shredded, burned, buried or utterly obliterated.

Witness how he is removing those he once thought would do his bidding without complaint; see how he is continuing to chip away at every vestige of the Obama administration; and, most egregious, his total disregard for human life with his rapacious decisions as the coronavirus rages across our land and the globe.

It’s pointless to summon yet another terrible adjective to characterize his behavior, and it was good to see some portion of his psychiatric profile recently evoked on a television series where the guilty party was diagnosed as a narcissistic sociopath. That description may need amplification to capture the absolute repression Trump has administered to the American republic.

In a few days we will hit the 40 mark, which symbolically matches the number of days we’ve spent in the wilderness of the Trump administration, endured his mindless authoritarian rule.

Sadly, more bad news is on the way after the CDC releases its report on the number contracted with the virus from the Thanksgiving holiday and Trump’s rally in Georgia. And as terrible as it was to learn that Trump was responsible for delaying the vaccine distribution here, we are not surprised. Not being surprised about the misdeeds of Trump is par for the course.

Yes, the days are dwindling down for twiddle dumb and how we wish it was tomorrow.