Donald Trump’s term wasn’t expected to end in typical fashion, like all other presidential terms end. Trump wasn’t a typical president, neither in his political behavior nor in the way he had governed as president. He dealt with this position as though it were his personal property, granted to him by the American people to rectify the “imbalances” in the manner in which the political class had been running the country from their “Washington swamp.” This “imbalance,” as he used to call it, went back two centuries, as he said in his inaugural speech four years ago.
For this reason, it was difficult for Trump to accept that the American people had made the “mistake” of removing from the White House. In the past, he has said, earnestly, that it would be impossible for him to lose unless the election is rigged. And here he is now, fulfilling his promise and taking the electoral battle to the courtrooms in the hopes of retrieving some of the votes he had lost in the ballot box.
Many American and Western pundits, as well as others from around the world, made the mistake of underestimating the extent of Trump’s influence on American political life and downplaying the breadth of his popularity. This mistake was made by pollsters, who failed to assess this popularity accurately. But the Democratic Party’s top-brass made this mistake as well. They reckoned that the Trump phenomenon was fleeting a wind that had passed through American life four years ago, and they were betting on the American people ending that phenomenon in this election by voting against him in massive numbers. Thus, the Democrats thought they had done enough with their campaigns against Trump, which were focused on his incompetent management of the epidemic and the ensuing economic downturn, as well as the accusations that the US President pandered to white racists and the campaigns launched against him by African Americans, all while he was being attacked by the majority of American media networks and the press. They expected a sweeping victory, a so-called “blue wave” to sweep through states across the countries.
The election results came to demonstrate that things weren’t so simple. True, the turnout, around 70 percent of the electorate, was exceptionally high, and Joe Biden did receive that highest ever number of votes in a presidential election, 71 million, 3 million more votes than Trump received. But it is also true Trump garnered votes from groups that hadn’t supported him four years ago and that many states were closely contested. Biden won razor-thin majorities in most of them. The African American vote, which the Democratic candidate had been betting on because of the accusations that Trump is prejudiced against them, were not all in his favor. The same is true for Americans of Spanish or Latino origin, whom Trump had been accused of marginalizing because of the wall on the border with Mexico. On top of that, Trump garnered support from the Midwest’s working class and its farmers, traditionally the Democratic Party’s base. Finally, he also got votes from white voters who were drawn to his slogan, “protecting law and order,” which he raised in the face of the protests that erupted in several American cities.
The results indicate that the war on the coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd’s murder are not these constituents’ central concerns. Instead, they are concerned with the economy, improving their living conditions, and avoiding an economic collapse similar to the one that hit in 2008.
Slogans that appeal to the public on security, the economy, and living conditions struck a chord with many Americans and prevented the Democrats from making the massive gains that they had been dreaming about. It secured the support of a broad class of Americans who rallied around Trump in greater numbers than they had four years ago in some states. It is no longer tenable to accuse Russia of playing a role in his victory, just as it is no longer possible to consider Trump’s emergence to have been a fleeting phenomenon. Media outlets now unreluctantly use the term “Turmpism” to describe a movement that can be compared to “Obamanism,” a unique and historical phenomenon in US politics.
Rallying behind Trump has led to the emergence of a deep schism in American society, which is split approximately in half between his supporters and those of Joe Biden, who announced that he expects to win the election. This split will be the result and the real “legacy” of Trump’s term, which Biden has to carry on his shoulders at seventy-seven years of age. This split also reflects on congress, where the Democrats failed to regain control of the Senate and lost seats in the House. This will constrain Biden’s hand and prevent him from passing the legislation that could nullify some of Trump’s decrees.
Of course, Biden promised to be the president of all Americans, that there would be no “Blue America” and “Red America,” but the United States of America. But promises are one thing, and fulfilling them is another. The bruises that will stay on the US’s face after the legal battles to determine the elections’ results are resolved will not be easily overcome. Nor will it be easy for the Republican Party to get rid of the legacy left by “Trumpsim,” even if they wanted to. It is an extraordinary page in American history written by Donal Trump.
