By Mushtak Parker
“History has its eyes on you,” goes the 19th lyric in the hit musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, arguably America’s most influential founding father. The words allegedly uttered by George Washington during the American civil war in 1861 are as relevant today as they were then.
The 2020 US presidential election last week was the most polarised in history judging by the sheer vitriol and invective thrown at his opponents by incumbent President Donald Trump, who has shown a disconcerting lack of respect for the constitution, a lack of dignity for the office and disdain for the democratic process.
The fact that over 74 million people voted for the Democratic candidate Joseph Robinette Biden jr and 70 million for Trump shows the deep division in US politics. Is the US sleepwalking into a 2020 civil war?
I must confess, when CNN projected Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Devi Harris as the winners of the 2020 presidential election at 11.20am eastern time last Saturday, following their projected victory in Pennsylvania taking them over the crucial winning 270 threshold in the electoral college, I had a tear or two in my eyes.
But no sooner had Biden been declared the 46th president of the US and Harris the first woman vice president in US history, than Trump predictably refused to concede. He instead declared himself the winner even before all the votes were in, alleging the election was stolen from him “because of widespread fraud and irregularities” and threatening legal challenges against the result. This without providing any evidence to support his claims.
Over the last few days, Trump’s tantrums and the antics of his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have descended into political farce. Behind Trump’s obfuscation is an agenda of disruption of the transition to president-elect Biden’s swearing-in on January 20, 2021, as if the opening salvo in this 2020 civil war has already been fired.
Trump may have lost the election, but Trump-ism is very much alive and kicking. Biden has lost no time in stressing that “this is the time to heal in America”.
For a person who boasts to have pioneered the “Art of the Deal”, Donald Trump should urgently ponder also mastering the “Art of the Dealt With”. As the mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, retorted, it is time to “put his big boy pants on” and accept the election defeat.
Prominent Republicans, including ex-president George W Bush and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, have congratulated Biden on his victory. So have leaders from all over the world.
Bush reiterated that the election was “fundamentally fair and the outcome clear”. Romney was more to the point: “Trump has a relaxed relationship with the truth. I haven’t seen evidence of widespread fraud. It is destructive to the cause of democracy to suggest widespread fraud and corruption,” he told CNN.
Trump has every right to ask for a recount where the vote is very close. But to claim that the election was rigged, is malicious.
For mainstream politicians everywhere the lesson is clear – if you take your voters for granted and become consumed by cronyism, cadre patronage and self-serving ideology, you run the risk of marginalising and leaving them behind. Centrist politics become distrusted, and the shoots of populism and authoritarianism thrive.
For a man who wanted to be president from the third grade onwards, Biden is as close as you can get to an American national treasure! When he was elected the youngest senator at the age of 29, he was already defined by the qualities required to make a decent politician – character, knowing your limitations, confidence and vision. Above all, he knows that democracy is bigger than any one person!
* Parker is an economist and writer based in London.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.