Thoughts on the Change in the Presidency

Trump’s ignominious departure, slinking out of Washington without ever acknowledging the election results or his successor, is a fitting end to his fractious and angry reign.  It seems highly likely that his presidency will be viewed as one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation’s history. 

Trump’s decision not to participate in the inauguration of Joe Biden is just another example of his astounding pettiness and immaturity.  His insistence that he won the election and that it was stolen from him is ludicrous, yet it had enough resonance with his cult following to launch an invasion of the capitol and establish a ‘backstab’ myth that will no doubt endure for years and cause as yet unforeseen havoc in the future.

The election lie is particularly heinous and absurd for the following reasons:

1.  Every pre-election poll, including many from conservative pollsters (Fox, WSJ, etc.) indicated a likely win for Biden, some by as many as 10-12 percent.
2. Every post-election legal challenge was either dismissed or ruled against, mostly for lack of evidence.  Many were ruled frivolous. 
3. Republican election officials, most notably in Georgia, refuted Trump’s claims, and in one case literally point by point, even though they supported Trump.
4. The popular vote differential was over 7 million votes.

I still find it difficult to comprehend that almost 70 million people voted for the man.  Clearly, there are some profound problems in our country that have somehow found expression in one of the most flawed political personalities in our republic’s history.

As many have pointed out in recent days, the US has a long history of paranoid right-wing and nativist reaction.  Large numbers of Americans, many with deep pockets, have seen enemies lurking in every phase of America’s evolution – Masons, French revolutionaries, Irish, Catholics, Labor Unions, Suffragettes, Jews, Marxists, Socialists, Hispanics and so on.  Throw in the decline in middle class opportunity and the loss of industrial jobs and you have a very volatile mix.

The Trump phenomenon also harnessed the power of the Christian evangelical movement and its hysterical fear that the US is losing its religious compass.  Somehow misconstruing the loss of interest and participation in formal Christian religion as an ill-defined assault on religious liberty, the religious right ironically fell prey to an idolatrous worship of Trump, rapturously rationalizing away every moral and ethical flaw of the least Christian man one can imagine.

What does the future hold for a nation so divided?  There will be no smooth sailing.  The conditions for further conflict are legion – a continuing pandemic, an economic piper that must be paid, racial issues that can no longer be swept under the rug, global warming, ascendant authoritarian thugs or movements in many countries, an increasingly belligerent Russia and China.

But there is also hope.  I suspect Biden will be the best man for this time – strong but also conciliatory and sincere.  He will not court controversy or deliberately fan the flames as his predecessor was so eager to do.  The pandemic has to some extent alerted the world to a whole spectrum of issues that we must all face together.  In some respects, it has engendered global cooperation on a level previously unseen.  If Biden and other leaders of similar inclination are able to rally us to a higher calling, perhaps the immediate challenges of this time will be the necessary crucible to forge a spirit of global unity and common purpose.

Let us all commit ourselves to making that future come true.