Restoring America’s Soul

Donald Trump’s shameless stubbornness to concede defeat, even when the Electoral College has confirmed Joe Biden’s victory and the Supreme Court has rejected Republican appeals, only reinforces the need to turn the page.

It’s the last nail in the coffin of Trump’s presidency. By endorsing Biden’s election on Monday, and moreover without any defections by electors, the United States Electoral College has confirmed the obvious: Come Jan. 20, Biden will be the 46th resident of the United States. There is only one small hurdle left to go, that of his congressional confirmation on Jan. 6. But this is purely a formality.

If there needed to be ultimate proof that a page has been turned, it would be this: Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell understands and has finally officially recognized Biden’s victory. In this context, Trump’s shameless obstinacy, as he still denounces a “stolen election,” only seems bigger and more absurd. It’s exasperating.

Like a jack-in-the-box which refuses to return to the box, the Republican president is in total denial of reality, even after he continues to reap a stream of failed lawsuits to contest the results in a number of states. Even the Supreme Court, with its majority of conservative justices, has rejected two Republican petitions.

Is this purely a political game, in order to keep the pressure on the crucial January runoff election in Georgia, which will determine whether or not the Republicans lose their majority in the Senate? Or is it a dress rehearsal to guarantee the support he’ll need if he runs again in 2024? Maybe. The fact remains that the tragic comedy unfolding before our eyes has gone on long enough.

But Biden won’t have it easy. He will need to unify a profoundly divided and polarized America, where 76 million Americans voted for the incumbent president. Trumpism isn’t dead. Trump’s problems, those of a man who fuels conspiracy theories and encourages hatred, will continue after Jan. 20. It is foolish to think that such a bitter president is capable of one last outburst of civility.

But after weeks of turbulence and conflict, during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the context of renewed racial tensions, these elections were able to demonstrate one thing: The American institution has held up, despite regular attacks by Trump. In what Biden called “the battle for the soul of America,” American democracy may have come out of it with a few bruises, but it’s still standing. It is now up to the Democratic president to prove he is able to keep the “flame of democracy” alive in order to definitively turn the page on a chaotic presidency.