Biden v. Trump, and the battle for the heart of the nation
Firstly, I don’t normally pay much attention to presidential elections, especially of a foreign country far far away from where I live. However, this time, I was glued to the screen, refreshing the live result page every few minutes, enduring a rollercoaster ride of emotion, from almost lost hope to some distant light to outright happiness. That sudden change of perspective can only be brought about because of the names on the ballot: Biden against Trump. Order against chaos. Predictability against unpredictability. Normalcy against mess. Thank God, the former has triumphed over the latter. And hopefully things will get back to normal again soon.
Four years ago, Americans made a choice, an unconventional, controversial one, and led the whole world to an experiment, into the unknown. Four years passed, and the experiment has failed. What is Trump’s legacy? What is his contribution as the commander in chief? What will history say about him? Time will tell. But I really cannot see many positive notes. Rise of nationalism, populism, racism, and division. America first becomes America alone. Deletion of Obama’s achievements and efforts to build a better future and save the Earth. Climate change denial. Withdrawal from long run agreements and allies. Embrace of overseas autocrats. And 200k+ American deaths can still counting.
It’s unfathomable that, after all those things, more than 70 million Americans still voted for him and trusted him to lead them for another 4 years. I don’t know what will happen if that really becomes true, and I really don’t want to know. And it’s even more incredible that a major party in America is still standing behind him and supporting him, even kowtowing to him and entertaining the thought of him coming back in 2024. I hope that will not come true either, and Biden should do whatever he can to change the minds of those voters and make sure that dark future will not come true.
There are lots of work waiting for Biden come January 20th, 2021, and Trump, in his last days in office, is making it harder for Biden to succeed. He is tearing his own administration apart by his own hands. He is planting seeds of doubts, division and more chaos in the country, in hope that Biden fails to clean up the mess and he can then use that against him if he ever runs for presidency again. Biden’s on the other hand, seems to have his first tasks already cut out clearly for him: Bring America back to where it was 4 years ago, and clean up the path along the way. However, some damages might have been long done, and it will take a lot of time, talk, actions and negotiations to get back what has been lost and win back the trust that is no longer there.
I want to remember this photo as the character or Trump’s presidency: Defensive, arrogant, ignorant and against allies. No one can do everything, and no one can do it alone, even if you are the most powerful country on Earth. COVID-19 is the living proof of that. America cannot singlehandedly stop the virus or invent and product the vaccines alone.
As Biden has made clear in his recent speech, he wants to bring America back in the game. To build bridges, not walls. To unite the people and mend the severed bond. To be the leader of the free world again. And to set the right course for the world to follow. Those are monumental tasks, but he has experience, and he sounds like he has the plan. So, good luck to him and good luck to America. It will be a tough time ahead, but I really hope that he will succeed, America will be truly great again, America style, not Trump style, and at the end of the term he will groom a worthy successor, who will be ready to battle Trump once more should he manage to rise again.
