As I write this, at noon on 4th November, 41 of the 50 states have declared their results. In terms of the crucial Electoral College representatives neither Biden nor Trump has yet achieved the necessary 270 electors, but Biden is ahead with 224 places, Trump behind with 213.
Yet Trump has used all the panoply of the White House - rows and rows of Stars and Stripes, a band (or recording) playing "Hail to the Chief," - and declared that he has won.
This is surely fake new to the to the power of n.
On the strength of this totally false claim Trump has called on the Supreme Court to order all further counting of votes to be discontinued. How far from the ideals of liberal democracy (as brilliantly explained in Ian Dunt's highly readable "How to be a Liberal," published by Canbury a few weeks ago) can you get?
I think most of the rest of what used to be called the Western World were hoping for an overwhelming victory for Biden and the Democrats. However imperfect they may be, they would represent a return to normalcy and decency. The worst possible outcome from liberal democrats' (lower case deliberate) of view would have been an overwhelming victory for Trump.
Instead we have the second worst outcome: Biden comfortably ahead on the total vote but only neck and neck on Electoral College places, and challenges to the validity of the election which could go on for weeks and possibly involve the Supreme Court with its 6:3 Republican majority.
We should not be surprised.
This has been predicted as the most probable outcome for months. Clearly Trump anticipated it as he has spent those months drip-feeding totally unsubstantiated doubts about the reliability of the election into the public discourse. The mighty Fox News is on his side.
Biden and the Democrats will doubtless put up a doughty fight, but they are on the back foot, (cf Gore in 2020 and the hanging chads) as Trump will use all the trappings of his office, which he retains until next January whatever the outcome, to subvert the democratic will of the people.
Whether we like it or not the US is the world's leading and by far the most powerful liberal democracy. We can hope and urge that reason prevails
'It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.' — Jumpers
ReplyDeleteThough it is funny to see the people who have spent from June 2016 trying to ignore or overturn the result of a democratic vote now decrying doing exactly that as an affront to democracy. It's almost like they only care about the legitimacy of the democratic process when it delivers the results they like…
Sorry, don't understand "Jumpers." Google gives only pullovers or a game of goal-scoring.
DeleteIt's not a mater of agreeing or not agreeing with the apparent result. Both the Brexit Campaign and the Trump Campaign relied on lies, unsubstantiated assertions, voter suppression, exaggerated claims and probably illegalities. That's what they have in common and what distorts democracy.
No, what the Trump campaign is doing is challenging the legitimacy of a democratic vote because they don't like the result.
DeleteWhich is exactly what they Remainers have been doing for the last four years: challenging the legitimacy of a democratic vote on spurious grounds because they don't like the result.
What a curious comment from Anonymous - the one thing he or she cannot justify is a claim that people ignored the vote - it was up there clear as day that many people knew it was a crap idea, and so many lies had been told (e.g. "the easiest trade deal of all time" from the fantastic Mr Fox).
ReplyDeleteThe other thing he can't seem to get his head around is that democracy includes the right for a country to change its mind. We tried to get it to do that, but failed. That is normal in a democracy and it is vital he/she understands it.
Democracies have the right to make decisions be they crap or great, because the process is the most legitimate we have in an imperfect world.
One other thing. Please. please don't use the awful americaisation word "normalcy." There is a much better word which many more people use and understand - "normality". It has always been a fad of senior managers fad to adopt obscure jargon words to avoid clarity and scrutiny of their ideas. It is a way to exclude those who are not up to date with the latest trends and buzz words.
Don't give it credence in the UK, it just leads to confusion and exclusion.
Thanks for your clarification of what democracy entails.
DeleteI agree with your final paragraph, especially on not using a neologism when a perfectly good word already exists. Apologies for "normalcy" and I'll use "normality" in future. I too am irritated by "management speak" and dismiss any argument that involves the phrase "going forward", which usually means "forget the mess I've made in the past, don't blame me and let me get on with more mistakes in the future."
The Americans can, however, come up with some very vivid phrases. "Credit crunch" is a good one and I love "the hot potato theory of money."
The other thing he can't seem to get his head around is that democracy includes the right for a country to change its mind. We tried to get it to do that, but failed. That is normal in a democracy and it is vital he/she understands it.
DeleteIf by 'we' you mean 'Remainers', then no, you didn't. You tried to claim that the result of the vote should be ignored on various spurious grounds ('The Leave campaign lied!' well, the Remain campaign did too. 'Leave broke spending limits!' Maybe, but the Remain campaign still spent more overall. 'There should have been a supermajority requirement!' You can't move the goalposts after the game. Etc, etc, etc).
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