Any idea that the Democratic Party and democratic coalition should turn into a warring camps now that Trump has been repudiated at the polls is misguided. First, what Trump can’t win fairly, he will attempt to secure by foul and anti-democratic means. Thus a firm and timely rebuff by a broad cross section of the people is imperative. Second, even if he does concede defeat at some point, he will still occupy the White House another 3 months and he can do a lot of harm during that time unless prevented by the very forces who defeated him at the ballot box. Third, the white nationalist extremist coalition supporting Trump and Trumpism has no plans of exiting the political stage. It will likely adjust its tactics, shifting from frontal attack to obstruction and gridlock, but its strategic aim of full spectrum dominance of our political structures and society will remain unchanged. Finally, periods of transformative change are the handiwork of tens of millions. It takes more than the left to restructure the political and economic landscape. To think otherwise as some do, is belied by history and a conceit that will come back to bite its proponents (as well as the rest of us), if persisted in.
The outcome of the elections wasn’t a realignment (maybe we saw the beginnings of one) like some of us had hoped, but the removal of Trump from the White House makes it historic and of great consequence to our country’s present and future. The significance of Trump’s defeat can’t be overstated. We halted a slide, engineered by Trump and his coalition, towards entrenched illiberalism and white nationalist rule. Bravo to the American people,
Wow! Georgia could turn Blue as the votes for Biden and Trump are counted and in January this old redoubt of slavery, Jim Crow, and right wing extremist rule could find itself the site of not one, but two Senate seat runoffs. One of the Democratic candidates would be an African American and in the event that he and his fellow Democrat both win, control of the Senate would pass into the hands of the Democrats. How sweet, historic, and promising would that be!
I didn’t see this coming. If I was a betting man and laid out some money on the outcome of this election, I would have lost some money last night. The main bright spot is that the numbers favor Biden winning the presidency as the vote comes in from a handful of states.
If that happens and if Biden withstands legal challenges from Trump lawyers and becomes the next president, that would be a major victory.
To say that we are on a fast track to fascism if Trump wins is problematic in my view. We won’t be in a good place for sure, but between where we are now and a fascist state are a number of landing spots, depending on concrete circumstances.
