It is abundantly clear that the United States has entered a fractured period in its history. As I write this, it looks like Biden will win the 2020 presidential contest by a nose, more or less. It shouldn’t have ended up like this given how corrupt, inept and bungling the Trump regime has conducted itself. But alas, here we are.
With A Biden presidency looking most likely, where do we go from here? Practically speaking, the Senate will most likely stay in GOP hands, meaning any of the measures required to counteract the unfair advantages the Republicans enjoy in our electoral / governmental system will remain unaddressed. No DC / Puerto Rico statehood, no impeachment of unqualified judges, no reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, etc. We will remain at an impasse with the GOP for 2 years if not 4. McConnell might find it harder to keep packing the courts for a while, but he certainly knows how to play the long game.
And looking at that long game, we are probably in store for another 4 years that will be eerily similar to the last 4 years of the Obama presidency. Don’t be disheartened or think that I’m trying to be a downer here. 4 years of what we might call “Obama’s 3rd Term” are infinitely preferable to 4 years of Trump continuing to rip this country apart. But let’s at least try to look at what this might mean objectively.
Biden’s first priority should be to get another round of stimulus passed. McConnell and the rest of the GOP will most likely repeat their strategy from 2009 and fight to make the stimulus inadequate to the moment in history we find ourselves in. Hopefully, the Dems have learned from their mistakes and realize how to better fight these battles in the court of public opinion. Here’s hoping.
Whatever happens, the Dems will need to fight for everything they can get, bring “guns to a gun fight” so to speak and build a case for why the GOP needs to be ousted from control of the Senate in the 2022 elections. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
If another Supreme Court seat opens up in the next 2 years, then things get even more interesting, especially if the Republicans come up with even more made-up rules as to why Biden doesn’t get to fill the vacancy. Regardless, with all due respect to Michelle Obama, there can’t be anymore “When they go low, we go high” mentality when dealing with the GOP. If they try that stunt again, Biden should do a recess appointment and dare those clowns to do something about it.
You see, the GOP has a huge advantage in that they can get their way by just sitting on their hands and gumming up the works. When they actually have to get something done, it’s clear to anybody who cares to pay attention that they are unfit to govern. Just look at how budgets have been handled in recent years. The Dems need to FORCE the GOP to screw up or shut up. Trying to get GOP politicians to adhere to proven processes or shame them into doing the right thing will never work. After all the water they’ve carried for Trump, they have no shame and no respect for process.
The Dem-controlled House should send bills to McConnell every week, or every damn day if necessary, to show the stark contrast between the priorities, philosophy and effectiveness between the parties. The GOP might wine about how this is “playing politics” and you know what, they’re damn right! Democrats and Republicans are politicians after all. After 4 years of Trump, the Dems need to realize that being outrageous from time to time carries a lot of benefits and attention from the media. There truly is no downside to “playing politics” like this in the face of how polarized this country is and how McConnell & pals are going to play hardball right back at us.
That’s what’s probably going to happen in D.C. over the next few years. More importantly to the longer-term health and prosperity of this nation is the (as of this writing) 67 million people who voted for Trump and how the 70 million of us who voted Biden are going to get along with them. Lots of ink has been spilled about how they are trapped in their own information bubble, they are never interested in good-faith debate, they have no idea how government actually works and they hold or tolerate an alarmingly large number of odious views, to put it nicely. We are going to have to drag these people through the 21st Century kicking and screaming all the way.
Lots of 2016 Trump voters were repulsed by his performance in office and switched to Biden in 2020, but it looks like a lot more people were attracted to Trump and brought into the MAGA fold. This is after all the lies, impeachable offenses, a shattered economy, human rights abuses and a pandemic spreading basically unchecked that has been one of the worst-managed public health crises since the Black Death. These Trump voters saw all of this and were fine with it. They wanted even more of it. Or they just didn’t care and want a president who says all those nasty things they wish they could say to all those people they don’t like. Whether through blind party allegiance to the GOP, Trump specifically and any number / combination of issues where these people think Trump is doing a heckuva job, 48-ish percent of voters think the last 4 years have been fine and dandy.
Going forward, we are going to have live with the MAGA hat-wearers for years to come. The polls were off by 5% — 7% in most of the country according to the latest numbers. Especially in Florida and the Midwest where Trump seems to have an unfathomable ability to radicalize previously apathetic or non-political voters and get them to pull the lever for the GOP. Pollsters will have to revamp their models yet again.
A small ray of hope comes from the fact that in 2018 when Trump wasn’t on the ballot, an energized Democratic coalition was able to overwhelm a more traditional GOP cohort of voters to bring sweeping change to the House and down-ballot elections. Maybe we can see a repeat in the 2022 elections that could be the first midterm GAIN for the president’s party in many decades. For that to happen, the Democratic Coalition will need to keep up the energy we saw this year and never forget that there actually is a sleeping giant of resentful voters that can prop up the GOP if they are fed enough bile and hatred.
It goes without saying that we will need swift investigations and prosecutions of anyone and everyone involved in the Trump Crime Family including the Orange One himself. We need to at least keep him tied up defending his own hide and supply a lot of encouragement to pull up stakes and finally move to Russia to avoid extradition. This will rile up the MAGA crowd a great deal and will definitely ruffle the feathers of those who maintain that we need to start bridging the gap with these people. If the last 4 years (hell the last 20 years at least) really are any indication of how much reconciliation is actually possible with these people, then we need to realize very quickly how futile this effort will be. Better to “peel off that band-aid” early on in Biden’s term so by the time 2022 rolls around, Trump’s miraculous escape from federal prison and subsequent journey to Putin’s side makes what Carlos Ghosn (allegedly) did look like child’s play.
We will just have to keep peeling off the small percentage of Trump voters that become disillusioned with the movement and want to come to our side. But make no mistake, these people will only amount to a vanishingly small number in the grand scheme of things. If they haven’t become sickened by what Trump and his Republican enablers have done to this point, I don’t know what else could change their mind. Democrats should never judge an action by how it will be received by the MAGA crowd or potential defectors. The good of the country and keeping the GOP as far from the levers of power take precedence.