Trump Is in the Trash Heap of History, or How Biden Is Destroying the Legacy of the 45th President of the United States

In recent months, we have witnessed a real American fever because the whole world’s attention has focused on the U.S. election. This is not surprising since America sets political trends for many democratic countries, including Ukraine.

While a month ago, the relevant material in the Ukrainian mass media concerned the question of which candidate for U.S. president would be more favorable for Ukraine, since yesterday this topic has been starting to fade away. Let me remind you that the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden, who became the oldest president in the history of the United States, took place on Jan. 20. Former President Donald Trump left the White House beforehand, thus explicitly showing his reluctance to welcome the new U.S. president. By the way, for the first time since the election of 1869,* the two presidents did not meet during the solemn inauguration. At that time, the presidents were Andrew Johnson, who had to leave office after being impeached,* and Ulysses S. Grant, who won that election. It is ironic that Trump had two chances to resign from the post of president because of impeachment (the first time because of being accused of putting pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to dig up some dirt on Joe Biden; the second time because of his call for supporters to storm the Capitol building).

Consequently, the already controversial politician also became the first American president to be impeached twice in one presidential term. Certainly, it was obvious that it would not come to impeachment because the final say in this case belongs to the Senate, which was controlled by the Republicans during Trump’s presidency. The second impeachment was announced a few days before the end of his presidential term, so the Senate would not have had time to vote and deliver a guilty verdict on Trump in any case. Nevertheless, the Senate has the authority to hold an impeachment trial after the inauguration of a new president as well, and can also declare a ban on Trump’s ability to hold any public office. Considering the fact that the 45th president of the United States has already been removed from social media, we may even assume his expulsion from the political community. However, this requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate, and the Democrats will have only half of it. It turns out that 17 Republicans would also have to vote for conviction.** This may be possible, since Trump’s actions ruined the reputation of the entire Republican Party.

Certainly, the Trump era has become a litmus test for global politics, showing that right-wing populism is not disappearing anywhere, and in contrast to it, the modern world can only offer the tools of cancel culture: removal from social media, public censure and cyberbullying. So far, we can only assume how powerful such opposition is, but we will be able to provide a specific assessment by the next election.

Therefore, returning to the newly elected American President Biden, can we already talk about any changes? It would seem that only one day of his tenure as president has passed, but the political world is already beginning its new transformation. Today, Biden has signed 17 executive orders revoking many of Trump’s decisions. In particular, he has suspended the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the Keystone XL oil pipeline construction. These decisions already indicate the strongly different viewpoint of the newly elected president on immigration and environmental issues. Biden focuses on solving environmental problems, which is manifested in his instruction to the U.S. government to [re]join the Paris climate agreement. Biden also considers it necessary to stop the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and to reconsider those decisions that might be related to racial inequality issues.

Ultimately, Biden’s basic policies are not surprising — the fight with Trump that we have witnessed over the past months could not have exactly resulted in a friendly handshake between the candidates during the election victory of one of them. It is obvious that Biden will reconsider all the controversial decisions of Trump and revoke them, and the former president himself will not concede his defeat. It is already clear that the Democrats’ pathway is based on the fight against discrimination, environmental protection and the restoration of many partnership agreements; that is, the vector of this party is obvious and logical. However, American society is now critically divided, and who knows what the post-Trump era will bring for America and the world?

The author, Tymur Chmeruk, is an entrepreneur and a partner of the Base Capital Management international investment company.

*Editor’s note: The election referred to here was held in November 1868. The inauguration was in 1869. Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour after President Andrew Johnson, who had been impeached, failed to win his party’s nomination. Johnson refused to attend Grant’s inauguration. Johnson did not have to leave office on being impeached, as he was not convicted.

**Editor's Note: To convict in the Senate, 17 Republicans would have to join all 50 Democrats to get a conviction, as 67 votes are required for an impeachment conviction.