My neighborhood in Pittsburgh erupted in celebration after the Associated Press announced Joe Biden’s victory on Saturday. Cars rolled slowly down the street throughout the afternoon honking their horns and triggering eruptions of cheers. A small procession marched by banging on pots and pans and waving a rainbow flag. I couldn’t resist grinning and laughing in the festival atmosphere. The eviction of Donald Trump from the Whitehouse was, for many Americans, one of the most emotionally meaningful public events of their lifetime. It was something many of us had been holding our breath for since the moment his win was announced on election night 2016. I felt that a burden which had been weighing me down was lifted, but I found myself less jubilant than I might have hoped.
I couldn’t stop wondering: where do we go from here? It’s a relief to know that the nation won’t be inflamed by another four years of President Trump, but how do we heal? The polarization, animosity, and negativity that made Trump possible is more deeply embedded in the American psyche now than ever before. President Elect Biden’s win leaves America intact, but hanging off the ledge of civic viability by its fingertips. Can we pull ourselves back up, or will the forces that embrace division and dissolution, which have never been stronger, find a way to finish the job?
The election results can be interpreted as a message from the middle: a modest victory for Biden, a narrowing house majority, possibly a divided government. I hope that our elected representatives can find a way to be responsive to that message.
The Democratic primaries showed a party apparatus that was nearer to the extreme than ever before. Opinions that would have been remarkable coming from mainstream candidates not long ago were commonplace in the field. Many on the left blamed Hillary Clinton’s loss against Trump in 2016 on her centrism. Similarly, some are blaming the closeness of this year’s outcome on the party’s choice of the most inoffensive establishment candidate. But the proportion of the population that turned out to vote was the highest in a hundred years. To think that there’s a sizable far left reserve who didn’t show up to vote Trump out, but who could be mobilized by a more radical candidate seems fantastical. Nonetheless, I fear that Biden’s administration will soon find itself beset with voices demanding uncompromising positions, because, they’ll say, that’s what the American people truly want, or, perhaps, because no other course of action would be consistent with basic morality.
Some on the left flank have taken the fact that an anti-Trump landslide failed to materialize as final proof that many Americans are beyond reproach—racist to the core. These thinkers believe that one of the great political fights of our lifetime lies ahead of us. We must find ways, they would argue, to corral and marginalize this incorrigibly regressive element. Dramatic action is required. Whether the call is to pursue Trump himself with aggressive legal action, fundamentally reshape the mechanisms of our democracy, or double down on racial identitarianism, many are eager to capitalize on this victory with the most zealous strategy they can muster.
On the other side of the aisle, Republicans in congress, who took Trump’s election as a signal from their base that lining up with confrontational populist messaging is the way to hold on to their seats, will take his narrow defeat as further confirmation of that message. Many are paying lip service to his legal challenges to the outcomes of state elections. Though they must understand his administration is a lost cause, they no doubt hope to earn future support from his disappointed followers.
And, of course, Trump and his most vocal supporters seem intent on fostering a new American conspiracy theory to the effect that, when he finally acknowledges defeat, it will be out of his great deference for the good of the nation rather than because he legitimately lost a free and fair election. I have no doubt that the rule of law will be upheld. Our public servants will do their duty to ensure a smooth transition of power. But I also have no doubt that President Trump’s public career is not over. He’s always been eager for the limelight and he’ll no doubt find ways to capitalize on his millions of fanatically devoted partisans.
Given all of the forces arrayed against cooperation, it’s conceivable that the Biden presidency could be the American center’s last stand. Centrists make up the bulk of the electorate, but the systemic factors favor the hardliners in both parties.
Pending the outcome of the senatorial runoff in Georgia, we may have a divided government, or the slimmest of Democratic majorities. In either case, I think the key measure of success will be if Biden’s government is able to produce a significant amount of useful non-ideologically driven legislation, ideally with bipartisan support. We’ll absolutely need a stimulus package to stem the economic bleeding resulting from COVID19 related disruptions. A carbon reducing energy policy and a bill to aid local governments in reforming police procedures and accountability are also opportunities. Both ought to be able to gain bipartisan support—they’re broadly popular with the American people.
I think the best possible scenario for America would be if the Republicans maintain the senate majority, and the Democrats respond by doing the hard political work to craft an inclusive center. The emergence of an effective bipartisan coalition would serve as a bulwark against future Trumps, and might have the power to breathe life back into American democracy. A handful of senators prepared to straddle the aisle and stitch together workable policies for all Americans could turn the tide of congressional polarization and dysfunction.
That might seem like a hopelessly optimistic scenario. I admit that I’m searching for a silver lining here. Republican congresses made some of President Obama’s years in office singularly unproductive. But Americans are sick of division and discord. This is an opportune moment for a realignment toward a functional, bipartisan, centrism. Biden is coming in with a mandate to be, basically, the opposite of the recklessly divisive Donald Trump. And he does have depth of experience and numerous connections in Congress. If not now, when?
We can only hope that it’s an experiment that a few patriotic and enterprising senators on both sides will be willing to consider. I think the future of our democracy depends on a small group of individuals risking their political careers, for the good of the country, and out of deference to the desperate desires of so many Americans.
It would be an uphill battle. The media love controversy and ignore cooperation. The most politically engaged Americans are also the most radicalized and prone to equating compromise with betrayal. But if the gambit were to succeed, these innovators might become some of America’s most eminent and influential leaders for years to come. If they were to fail, at least they would avoid the shame of following quietly along with a crowd of ideologues and cowards as they drive the American republic toward its pitiful demise.
Because that’s where we’re headed if we don’t recover the ability to work together. Democracy is a system that can only be sustained when we see one another as valued compatriots, and when we regard the outcome of the electoral process as sacrosanct, even when we’re not happy with the result. When we chafe under its constraints and begin plotting how we can get our way without any need to be accountable to our political opponents, we’ve already given up on representative government. And when we no longer accept the legitimacy of democracy in our hearts, it’s already dead in fact, regardless of whether its corpse shambles along for a few more election cycles.
I found this essay to be excellent, thought-provoking and a reasonable amount of hopeful. I'm afraid to be too optimistic when I remind myself that there are actually people who believe the crap that Q'anon spews. I think you're right about the basic centrism of the American people, but that centrism is under attack by media organizations such as Fox news, which has managed to dupe otherwise intelligent people into its web of lies. Similarly, there are progressives whose impatience I understand, who aren't willing to give an inch or to consider compromise. Unfortunately, without compromise, as you point out, we will all be totally fucked in the end.
This is one of your best, Henry. It really nails it as to where we are and what path to success might yet be available to us. It is clearly going to take at least a handful of Republican senators. Right away, Biden ought to invite whatever Republicans are willing to meet and talk over proposals for infrastructure funding. I think that a fair number would respond, and then they could build on that success as they took up additional topics such as the pandemic, minimum wage, police training, the environment and health care. It is hard to imagine all Republican senators just sitting on their hands for the next 4 years when people are crying out for help.