What Next After an Era of ‘Demonisation’?

“Let this grim era of demonisation in America begin to end, here and now” – The President-elect, Joe Biden, was very hopeful when he gave this speech. In fact, despite the incumbent still unwilling to concede defeat or congratulate his opponent on an appreciable win, Biden has gone ahead and announced what he plans for the next administration. This includes re-joining both the Paris Agreement and the Nuclear Deal with Iran. While the election has determined who gets the Presidency – there isn’t much worry about legal contests from Trump, considering how his words clearly read as a gimmick now – the task of governance surely will be tricky for the Biden administration. It’s the Senate-majority the GOP bagged with Mitch McConnell to lead which will end up locking horns with the President and his plans. The Democrats will have to get their ideas across this room for opposition.

We will also have to take into account the considerable amount of support that Trump’s brand of Presidency holds – breaking away from norms did not make the voters completely scorn him. This is why if Trump thinks he can make his way back in the next Presidential elections (by when he would be a little older than Biden is now), he wouldn’t be entirely wrong. The popular mandate is a strange set of expressions that can go in any direction. However, the Republican party would be looking to deviate from the four-year domination of what one may call ‘Trump-ism’. This rhetoric that narrows down its appeal to a strain of radical or fundamentalist thinking – which almost always translates into white nationalism – is not going to work every time it is deployed for use. So, rethinking who represents the party and who goes on to actually get hold of popular votes along with sufficient backing from the electoral college, would benefit the GOP and aid the resurrection of its image. If the Republican party gets back on course and prioritizes their policies in accordance with what people actually want, the last thing that the Democrats should have in mind is a laid-back attitude. Ultimately, everything boils down to whether there’s a good leader on the other side or not – that gives solidity to the opposition and makes the democratic choice offered to voters even more sensible.

The Democrats must also realize that a major part of the inoculum for the support they’ve bagged this year had to do with the inefficiency of Donald Trump as President – and not necessarily because Joe Biden is the perfect candidate who just couldn’t be disregarded. With that aspect out of the way, they will have to work hard on staying true to what they say they’re going to do.

The health sector, social security, gun safety, discrimination, and economic improvements will measure more in value when compared with an overall revamping of America’s international image – people will be looking to see actual tangible benefits reach them. If a failure pops up in this respect, the clocks will begin ticking. There really is no excuse to not be doing what you’re meant to do as elected representatives.