The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and won by Joe Biden. Central issues of the election included the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has left more than 230,000 Americans dead; dealing with the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US; protests in reaction to the police killing of George Floyd and others; the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court during the election after the death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement; and Biden arguing for protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare in the US), with Trump pushing for its repeal.
Trump–like most demagogues, pandered to this class — and the final results show that his reach extended to beyond that. He managed to convince certain sections of the American people that he was a Messiah — their last hope, if you will, to stop the ‘socialists, bolsheviks and those who he claimed would ruin the US. So astonishing was his power over them that he was said by his supporters to have ‘God-like genes’ after he was infected with Covid-19. The American people have not historically hustled to spontaneous outdoor dance parties for an elected president.
They have not clanged spoons against frying pans in celebration for him, formed triumphant honk-parades along Fifth Avenue for him, made Champagne toasts with strangers in his honor through chants and tears. But they did all this for seeing the back of Trump as President.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. addressed the nation for the first time as president-elect on Saturday night. In his victory speech he emphasised on a message of unity and said the time has now come to “heal and restore the soul of America.” “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but to unify. For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. Now let’s give each other a chance.” His speech could not have been more of a contrast to that of Trump, who has vowed to carry out legal challenges to the elections without conceding defeat.
The challenge of repair from all the wreckage left by Trumpism may be the work of not merely a political season, but of a generation. According to a columnist of New York Times, this task requires an awareness of how long the Trump disaster was in the making and how many people and forces enabled it. And second, it requires a forthright confrontation with the fact that to rebuild a society and a political system, we must admit that they are broken. Institutionally, America is broken.
The challenge of repair from all the wreckage left by Trumpism may be the work of not merely a political season, but of a generation. According to a columnist of New York Times, this task requires an awareness of how long the Trump disaster was in the making and how many people and forces enabled it. And second, it requires a forthright confrontation with the fact that to rebuild a society and a political system, we must admit that they are broken. Institutionally, America is broken.
It is a relief to know that the US electorate — in their collective wisdom, elected a decent man who respects the America’s core values and believes in America’s greatness. President Biden is the antithesis of Trump. Not only the American people but the whole world can breathe a sigh of relief that the unstable and impulsive megalomania Trump is no longer at the head of the most powerful country.
