View from America
By M.R. Josse
GAITHERSBURG, MD: Three weeks after the fiercely contested presidential election that climaxed on 3 November, 2020 it would appear that America is still one country but now transparently, and embarrassingly, divided into two very different, even hostile, political universes.
On the face of it – and by all reasonable and traditional metrics – Joe Biden of the Democratic Party has plainly emerged as president-elect and his running mate Kamala Harris as vice-president-elect of the United States, both of whom will assume their powerful, prestigious offices come noon, 20 January 2021.
ONE COUNTRY, TWO UNIVERSES
Indeed, that political reality could not be made more evident on the ground than it obviously is. Not only did Biden traduce his rival incumbent Republican president Donald J. Trump by securing 306 electoral college votes to the former’s score of 232 seats, but his tally is, coincidentally, the exact number that Trump himself secured in his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton, the then Democratic nominee, which he described as a “landslide” win. A majority is reached at 270.
That aside, with 98 percent of all votes now counted, as per CNN, Biden has secured 51% of them while Trump grabbed 47.2 percent. In absolute terms, Biden’s margin of the popular vote differential is a whopping 6 million-plus!
Yet, despite such a stellar Biden triumph, President Trump, and his slowly shrinking band of acolytes, continues to absurdly maintain that the recent election across this vast continent-sized nation – covered blow-by-blow for months on end by a vast plurality of media outlets and its army of reporters and expert analysts – was “stolen”.
Indeed, the world has been variously taken aback, puzzled, amused and horrified that such a weird political mess should presently obtain, of all places, in America, hitherto perceived by many as the world’s greatest democracy.
I thought this anonymous quote on the Internet particularly noteworthy, if not enormously illuminating: “Americans recently found out that it’s much easier for them to change presidents in other countries than they can do in their own country.”
As I pen this, the final certification of election results in Michigan and Pennsylvania – which provided an abundant harvest of votes for Biden – is due later today and, by all accounts, will reconfirm earlier announced results. That was necessitated by Trump’s legal team’s assiduous, but so far futile, attempt to prove there had been widespread electoral or voter fraud.
At this time, 28 of Trump’s legal cases have been rejected outright by the concerned courts – with even Republican election officials, in states, openly resisting attempts by Trump and his allies to reject votes cast for Biden. As the BBC recently reported, Judge Matthew Brann said of one of Trump’s latest legal suits, which rested on allegations of irregularities: it was “without merit.”
Outrageous as Trump and Company’s seemingly futile attempts to overturn Biden’s decisive electoral success may appear to most following America’s post-election 2020 political scene, it has thus far obstructed the Biden’s transition team in obtaining vital briefings from the present administration, including those dealing with national intelligence/security issues and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden and his team have maintained a remarkable cool over such outrageous shenanigans, no doubt influenced (a) by a desire not to expend valuable time and resources on it; (b) to give time to Trump to gradually come to his senses; and (c) to allow the entire panoply of the democratic process, including allowing for appeals and legal interventions, to play out.
INCREDIBLY DAMAGING
The president-elect has rightly acknowledged that Trump’s “incredibly damaging messages are being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions” – which is, of course, putting things very mildly indeed.
Notably, however, while most Republican leaders maintain an eloquent and disturbing silence over the petulant, disruptive antics of Trump and his flock – causing one to wonder whether this is the United States of America and not the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – there is a slowly growing groundswell of anti-Trump Republican opinion developing.
Apart from former Republican president George W. Bush’s prompt congratulations to Biden and Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney publicly lashing out against Trump for trying to “subvert the will of the people”, Maryland’s Republican governor Larry Hogan also publicly weighed in against Trump’s effort to pressure electoral officials to throw out or invalidate Biden votes, wholesale.
More and more, but still, just a handful, Republicans leaders such as Hogan are trying to get Trump to concede Biden’s victory. On television recently, Hogan not only called Biden ‘president-elect’ but bluntly added that Trump needs to concede without further ado.
Former U.S. Ambassador and former National Security Adviser John Bolton came on national television to declare that Trump’s actions during the transition is “dangerous” and “against America’s national interest”, adding that Trump’s election claims of fraud vary from the baseless, to the laughable, to the insane.
Former New Jersey Governor, Christ Christie – who was one of two cronies who prepped Trump for his final debate against Biden – recently told CNN that the Trump’s legal team was a “national embarrassment” urging Trump to concede to Biden, as did Republican senator Fred Upton of Michigan who reminded that the country is more important than the party.
All in all, senior Republican politicos are losing their patience – albeit very slowly – with Trump’s efforts to overturn election results.
Incidentally, not a few redoubtable commentators viewed Trump’s actions, vis-à-vis the recent Group of 20’s virtual summit, 21 November, as the height of irresponsibility and arrogance.
While making a most perfunctory, pro forma appearance at the said summit, he chose to willfully skip what was one of the summit’s most important segments: a side meeting on the raging pandemic. He chose instead to drive off for a game of golf in neighbouring Virginia when the U.S. has now over 12 million individuals affected by the Covid-19 virus and with more than a quarter of a million fatalities, the highest in the world!
FUTURE OF TRUMP/TRUMPISM
So, what is the future of Trump – and Trumpism? Whether he concedes soon or not, Trump will, post 20 January 2012, become history.
That he has consciously and tenaciously attempted to project himself as a victim of an alleged humungous electoral scam, overshadowing the fact that he lost to “Sleepy Joe”, big time, clearly provides a clue as to what his plans are for the future.
As much as can be made out at this stage he is expected at some point in the not too distant future to concede – and simultaneously announce his decision to contest the presidential election of 2024 as Republican Party candidate – a position fortified by the fact that he did receive nearly 74 million votes. That is, of course, a huge figure; unfortunately for him, Biden did even better than that securing nearly 80 million which is more votes than any presidential candidate in history by a considerable margin.
In other words, soon he will have to give up his hopeless legal battle and initiate a political campaign, geared to delegitimizing Biden’s victory and making him a one-term president. Since he has ample monetary resources and a large and loyal voter base, he will in all probability embark on such a trajectory, according to one school of thought.
Trumpism, fortified by support from his ultra-rightist base, may thus flourish, continuing their disruptive politics and attacks on the Biden administration, among other priorities.
However, another school of thought holds, first, since four years is a long time in politics, it is possible that Trump’s plans may go awry, in addition to the fact that political parties don’t generally take kindly to losers. Besides, even otherwise, it would be presumptuous to assume that Trump’s influence/sway within the Republican movement will remain strong for that period of time.
In addition, there is no guarantee that other Republican leaders – Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida come to mind – will not themselves seek the nomination of the Republican Party for 2024.
Finally, if as John Bolton has argued, there is no coherent philosophy behind ‘Trumpism’ but merely ad hoc decisions/whims catering promoting Trump’s political objectives, ‘Trumpism’ could well wither on the vine, over time.
BIDEN’S AGENDA
Though, as argued in a previous column, it is far too early to pronounce what exactly a Biden administration would or could achieve before the next presidential election, it is notable that he has reportedly moved rapidly to bring together a vast and diverse pool of talented and dedicated personnel to form the core of his administration.
Indeed, as reports go, he is at this point poised to announce his first cabinet posts, including those related to climate, the treasury, homeland security, and national intelligence.
Although Biden has vast political experience in both the legislative as well as executive branches, he will have a difficult time to govern, given the ‘one country, two political universes’ reality of today – not to mention that the Republicans, especially those faithful to Trump, will lose no sleep in attempting to obstruct Biden’s domestic and foreign/security policy agenda.
That apart, given his repeated promise, to be a president for all Americans – including those who voted for Trump – he will need to balance his gestures towards the Republicans, without antagonizing the ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party which played such an instrumental role in engineering the recent Biden/Harris electoral spectacular.
The world will be watching how things pan out, before and after 20 January 2021.
The writer can be reached at: manajosse@gmail.com
Login to add a comment