On Course for the White House

Joe Biden is edging past Donald Trump in key states. The sitting president’s camp is heating up the mood around the country.*

The closer the results shift toward a victory for Joe Biden, the more shameless an increasingly abandoned President Donald Trump’s lies become. Trump might be able to delay his defeat, but he cannot prevent it. That is becoming increasingly clear.

Many TV networks no longer want to cover his tales of alleged voter fraud or correct his lies as he speaks. Increasingly fewer Republicans support the populist; some even criticize him, a clear indication that Trump’s minions are about to abandon him.

That is because the much criticized American democracy appears to be surviving the stress test. The states at issue are simply continuing to count votes in spite of legal proceedings. There is no evidence of wrongdoing, which raises the question of what alleged crimes the courts should rule on.

So Trump is fighting nearly alone against everyone. Not only because he can’t or is unwilling to lose. He wants to evade the numerous indictments state attorneys are prepared to serve him with when he leaves office. Yet he can only delay these proceedings, not prevent them. He could also launch his campaign for the 2024 presidential election very soon in the hope of avoiding prosecution, and could continue to play a role in politics.

As the new president, which appears likely, Biden will clean up the damage that Trump has brought about. Biden’s administration will initially need to address the COVID-19 crisis to minimize its worst consequences. He will rejoin multilateral institutions and restore international agreements like the Paris Agreement and the nuclear deal with Iran.

He will revive relations with democratic allies, particularly France and Germany, and, in so doing, improve trans-Atlantic relations. In doing this, he should no longer insist that countries make the 2% contribution to NATO. And he may seek to forge an alliance with willing democracies to combat China’s aggression.

These are immense challenges, the Biden administration will come up against fierce resistance on many of them from Republicans who will renew attempts in the Senate to brace against too much change. Even if Biden does not initially succeed in reforming the country, his term offers possibilities that were previously inconceivable, like environmental protection, because China, the EU, Japan and South Korea are also making moves. And a Biden administration will be an opportunity to end four turbulent years. That is not as much as many hoped for, but it is also not insignificant.

*Editor’s note: Joe Biden won the presidential election on Nov. 7 after this article was originally published.