What might a rocky transition of power in the United States look like in the weeks ahead? What can President Donald Trump do to harm the United States on his way out of the White House? Might he actually retire to his many golf resorts or lay the ground to run again for president in 2024? These are all questions Americans and people around the world are weighing as former Vice President Joseph Biden’s victory in the 2020 U.S. presidential election appears all but locked up.
But with no examples of a modern U.S. president refusing a smooth transition of power, it is instructive to look beyond the United States’ borders for answers. Argentina’s 2015 presidential transition from Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to Mauricio Macri offers some hints of what might be coming. From last-minute government spending to bitter court battles, the outcome isn’t pretty.
