I actually held off publishing my opinion on the most recent American election because I had a sinking suspicion that even after November, things would get worse before they got better. Oh boy was I right about that! So let's just try and unpack this. I've got bits in here I wrote between November and now so this took some editing, but here's my thoughts.
In 2020 the United States probably had its most nerve wracking election in the last fifty years, if not the last century. Two septuagenarian white men went toe to toe for the position of the most powerful man in the United States, possibly the world. It was, frankly, an election which felt like it would never end. I can tell you that beforehand everyone felt some great anticipation for how it turned out, and now in the aftermath, I personally only feel a sense of anticlimax.
There does not need to be a divide so deep before this upcoming election. As I wrote back in 2016, Americans can still come together. They have more in common than many suppose. In the following paragraphs though, after the events of January 6th, I realize some of what I previously wrote might ring hollow, but here it is.
I grow sad when I watch members of the left reach out and attack anyone who supports Trump. Not just his rabid supporters who flock to rallies, but even people who identify as Republican or who say they voted for Trump. There does not need to be this kind of divide, and it is a divide which only benefits Donald Trump. It is the sort of rhetoric that he, and demagogues like him, thrive on. You are either with him or against him, there is no middle ground. It breeds division and disunion, something which Trump needs to even survive.
I'm not saying this because I condone the actions of Trump, or even think his supporters are right for supporting him. I merely say this because I believe two things. One is that I think very few people stop to take a moment to realize how dangerous and isolating the current American political divide is. So many people create, intentionally or not, echo chambers for themselves on social media and in the news they choose to consume. Speaking as someone who grew up consuming a lot from both the left and the right (watching John Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the evening and checking the Conservapedia and Fox News trackers afterwards) it's very easy for me to understand how the messaging gets mixed and right wing propaganda is shoved down people's throats. This meant that many people who voted for him did so because they really didn't know another opportunity existed, and that's been the danger of media bubbles and propaganda - people who might otherwise make another decision simply did not. There's more to that, but I'll address that in a moment.
Like I said in 2016, yes there's racism, populism, and white supremacy, but in 2020-21 it's important to acknowledge that there are people on the right side of the aisle who aren't complete monsters. There were those who were conservative who condemned Trump, and whether you believe that the Lincoln Project accomplished anything or not it did show that members of the Republican Party are not a monolithic bloc bound to vote for the orange maniac. Even after the disturbing events of early January, a majority of Republicans polled did not support those actions.
The second reason I'm hopeful people can reach out is because solidarity is an extremely important aspect in making democracy work. People who want a New Green Deal don't want miners to lose their jobs and have no alternatives, they want them to have other options, not be forced to stay put in dying towns. People who want Medicare for all want everyone regardless of political party to have access to affordable healthcare and not be driven to poverty over medical expenses. At a certain level, most people realize that we're all human beings.
All that said, this election brought out a far, far darker side of American politics too.
I confess it shouldn't be surprising. The signs were there in 2015, with people being assaulted at Trump rallies, Trump creating divisive rhetoric, he began to call the media the enemy of the people, he proposed 'alternative facts' and made a marching cry out of fake news. It only got worse from 2017 onwards. His erratic behavior, wannabe authoritarianism, and his gradual laying of the groundwork to undermine the democratic process and people's faith in it. It all led to the mass conspiracy theories in 2020 that were being spread before the election, and all the desperate, flailing and almost comedic actions afterwards. From spreading lies about voting fraud all the way to the courts, to the tragicomedy of his desperate calls to the Georgia secretary of state.
The counting process though was scrupulously and painstakingly carried out. A record number of Americans turned out to vote (which in the middle of a Pandemic killing over 1,000 a day by that point, no mean feat). It took a long time to crunch the numbers right, and many made comparisons to Bush v. Gore in 2000. In the end though, despite a less than stellar performance, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party won the election. There was a concerted effort to create a feeling that the system was rigged, or that it was unfair for Trump though. A narrative was spun almost from day one to suggest that if Trump didn't win it was because there was fraud.
I remember where I was though when the election was finally called for Biden. Someone told me they'd called Georgia, and Biden had won. I was briefly ecstatic, then suddenly nervous. I had seen the reports of disbelief from Trump voters, just as I saw the jubilation from millions who felt a great fear lifted from their shoulders. For others though, a great weight had been fraudulently placed upon it as Trump's insidious narrative wormed it's way through their brains. Between 50-70% of Republican voters believed the narrative that Biden had cheated and they protested, or demanded to see the ballot counting. Trump launched a blizzard of ineffectual lawsuits to overturn the results, and there were fears he might command enough clout to get state electors to simply make up voting fraud and cast their electoral votes for him.
President Joe Biden (from wikimedia)
Tragically though, it all came together in the dramatic and terrifying scenes of January 6th 2021. While holding a "stop the steal" rally in Washington exhorting his supporters over his lost election and the voting fraud, he and his sycophants egged on a crowd of people who genuinely believed that the election had been stolen. They had been lead to believe, as early as 2019 that the Democratic Party would be plotting to steal the election through rigging. Hell, even as early as 2016 when Trump claimed he only lost the popular vote by millions of fraudulent votes cast for Hillary Clinton. They had been primed to believe that democracy was in peril, and the election was being stolen from them!
So being exhorted to go to the Capitol to cheer on some lawmakers (but not others) with a farcical cry of "trial by combat" ringing in their ears, a crowd of thousands marched on Capitol Hill. After screaming at police for being traitors and demanding that they be let in, they overran the pitiful police presence and smashed their way into the Capitol building, causing Senators and Congressmen to shelter in place or flee for their lives as they were preparing to count the electoral votes. After a few hours of wandering, brawling with security and petty vandalism, the rioters were forced out.
It was a sad day for American democracy. The untarnished dream and peaceful transition of power had been shattered in the most offensive way possible.
Worryingly though, after the fact 45% of Republicans polled said they supported the actions of the rioters. Many said they'd be back. Many other people praised the act, and when I went trawling through the right wing internet, you had people either saying it was a "false flag", supporting it wholeheartedly, or suddenly being very quiet. There was rage from his adherents, but he gave them hope again. Until he was banned from Twitter.
There's no doubt Trump relished the riot though. He was tardy in calling in the National Guard, there had been no plans for any sort of security from the rally. He told his supporters they were special, and they loved them. The backlash though, was swift, his sycophants began tripping over each other to either resign from his administration or disown him. We shouldn't let them. There were calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked and another push for impeachment, which succeeded, and is bringing on a second trial, making Trump the only President in history (so far) to be impeached twice.
In spite of all this though, I still believe that people in the US should try to embrace solidarity. It's so easy to get caught up in social media bubbles, and far too many Americans are! It breeds division, dissent, and terrifying alternate realities. It creates an overwhelming sense of alienation and hostility, whether on Twitter or in the work place. I know it does sound naive, or a tall order from people who are hostile to your existence, but one reason I hope is because the only other outcome is a further decline into political dysfunction and violence.
However, Trump's lies may make that inevitable. There is now a core of Republican voters who simply believe the 2020 election was stolen, and Biden is not a legitimately elected president of the United States. Here is a ready made narrative for the far-right to milk for years to come.
This all said, Biden is hardly something to write home about. I'd hazard a wager the Democratic Party could have run a dead mule and still won this election. Despite getting a truly enormous share of the popular vote, he still underperformed compared to Hillary Clinton on certain demographics. His campaign was largely uninspiring and perfunctory, and his victory belongs far more to grassroots organizers who got people out to vote in a time of pandemic and political repression for poor voters and people of color. These organizers also flipped Arizona for the first time in 20 years, secured Georgia, and enabled the Democrats to (barely) control the Senate.
Add that to his goal to pander to rich donors and a promise that "nothing will fundamentally change" and you have a bog standard Democrat whose only real selling point is that he isn't Donald Trump. While he did deliver a beautiful speech on the 20th, and there was a truly heartwarming ceremony to bring him in, it had many reminders that the US stands on the brink as a nation that is, at a more than one level, divided. Whether Biden can alter the trajectory of American politics remains to be seen. Personally, I wouldn't bet on it. However, we can all maintain some hope that the US will not slip further into dysfunction and there will be some way to bind up the nation.
Otherwise, things get crazy.
That's all my thoughts on the craziest race for American democracy I've ever known, but I'm still not done talking about 2020! Stay tuned for my thoughts on a very crazy year.
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