Regardless of the US presidential election
outcome, Trumpism lives on
Trump proved resilient and increased his vote in
Florida, Texas and other states – in 2020, his sexism, racism and lie-telling
have been legitimised and emboldened
David Smith
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Wed 4 Nov
2020 19.38 GMTLast modified on Thu 5 Nov 2020 00.00 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/04/trumpism-us-presidential-election
When all
the votes are counted, the presidential election may deliver defeat for Donald
Trump. But it did not deliver defeat for Trumpism.
Democrats
had hoped that four years of turmoil, attacks on norms and institutions and
mendacity – plus a pandemic that cost 230,000 lives – would result in a quick,
clean and overwhelming repudiation of the 45th president.
That would
have been clarifying about the direction of the country, a warning to the
Republican party that it must take its 2013 “autopsy” report off the shelf and
reinvent itself.
But on
another miserable night for pollsters, it did not turn out that way. Trump
proved resilient and increased his vote in Florida, Texas and other states. He
found even more white working-class voters than last time and chipped away at
Democratic support among Latinos. His cult-of-personality campaign rallies were
as enthusiastic and rambunctious as ever.
His victory
in 2016, it turns out, was no fluke attributable to Vladimir Putin or James
Comey. In 2020 his sexism, racism and lie-telling have been legitimised and
emboldened.
When some
Americans protested “This is not who we are”, Trump voters replied: “This is
exactly who we are – and we’re not going anywhere.”
“The
so-called moral outrage around Trump’s presidency did not produce any
substantive shift in his Republican support,” tweeted Eddie Glaude, a professor
at Princeton University and author of Democracy in Black. “In fact, he expanded
his base among white voters. Trump continues to flourish in the intersection of
greed, selfishness and racism.”
Now, if
Trump wins the election, Trumpism wins. But if Trump loses the election,
Trumpism wins too.
A sense of
grievance over a narrow defeat, fuelled by the president’s bogus claims of
fraud and amplified by conservative media, will thrive again a Democratic
president. The “Make America Great Again” movement – with its nostalgia for a
country that never was – was built for opposition rather than incumbency.
There’s
more, Republicans appear to be on course to hold their Senate majority and may
end up gaining seats in the House of Representatives. Mitch McConnell, the
Senate majority leader, and Lindsey Graham were rewarded, not punished, for
normalising Trump and enforcing his will. The message to other Republican
aspirants is clear. This is Trump’s party now.
Furthermore,
McConnell would prove an implacable foe to a President Biden. The majority
leader memorably declared that his top priority was to make sure Barack Obama
was a one-term president. He failed in that but proved a master of obstruction.
Now he is
likely to repeat the formula with the man who served as Obama’s vice-president
for eight years. It is precisely the opposite of what America needs right now:
a White House, Senate and House working together and thinking big like Franklin
Roosevelt to tackle the pandemic, rebuild the economy and reform healthcare.
Instead,
expect more gridlock as a Democratic White House is parried at every turn by a
Trump-fuelled Republican Senate majority. It is frustration with that type of
dysfunction that fed the forces of Trumpism in the first place. The president
continues to present himself as an outsider intent on shaking up the system and
draining the swamp.
Expect also
a fusillade of attacks on Biden and scaremongering about what it would mean if
he is succeeded by his running mate, Kamala Harris, a woman of colour. That
will fire up the base even more.
There was a
school of thought that a crushing defeat for the Republican party, perhaps even
in Texas, would be the best thing that could happen to it, the mother of all
wake-up calls.
But there
was also a theory that – whatever the outcome – Trumpism was deep in the
Republican party’s bones, and it would take two or three elections to purge it.
Now, indeed, the party is clearly committed to his strain of raw populist
nationalism, overthrowing the old consensus on trade, immigration and other
issues.
Likely
candidates for 2024? Don’t rule out Donald Trump Jr. Or, for that matter,
Donald Trump himself.
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