It only takes a look at what prompted him to run for president to understand where his first priorities have to be.
On 11 August 2017, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and neo-Confederates marched through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting anti-Semitic and racist slogans, carrying torches and displaying swastikas and Confederate flags. The organisers claimed that the attendees protested the removal of Confederate monuments, but their true aim was a brute show of force. Racism and bigotry were socially acceptable again after the election of Donald Trump – a horrifying manifestation in of itself.
The following day, the neo-fascist mob ran into a large counter-protest made up of mostly young, liberal, white and black protestors. During the clash, a self-confessed white supremacist drove a car into the crowds, killing one and injuring 19 others. President Trump addressed the nation and condemned the “hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides”. What shocked the nation and one Joe Biden was Trump’s later remark that there “were very fine people on both sides”. The President of the United States put neo-Nazis, and all the vile ideologies they endorse, on the same footing as their exact counterexample.
Biden heard the alarm bells ringing. He personally said it was at that very moment that he decided to run, for the sake of the nation. Throughout his campaign he stressed that the election would determine what country the US would be. Biden knows that Trump’s presidency did not create the bigotry, anger and hatred that many of his followers exhibit. Trump simply aired and legitimised views that were once only held in private. Trump is a symptom and cause at the same time.
The social fabric of the United States has indeed been at a breaking point for years. Systemic racism and inequality have plagued the country for decades, but Trump actively stoked the flames for his own gain. The culmination of his political pyromancy – as Luxembourg’s foreign minister put it - was the storming of the very heart of American democracy. Incited by Trump’s Big Lie that he won an election he lost, a mob of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists ransacked the Capitol. Some even tried to lynch the Vice-President and Democratic leaders. They all sought to subvert democracy.
When you listen to Biden’s inauguration speech, it is impossible to miss just what mark the last four years had left on the country. Biden knows that it is impossible, foolish even, to ignore the division that Trump has nurtured and to pretend that the clocks can simply be turned back to 2016 or 2008.
Biden knows that expectations abroad for his administration are high. America’s allies await a return to normalcy and everything this entails from unequivocal support to NATO (which guarantees Europe’s security), the abolishment of trade tariffs, cooperation on climate change, to the promotion of democracy and human rights. These items are definitely on Biden’s agenda. “We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.” In order to do that, Biden needs to heal the division at home first.
In his speech he left no one guessing that his priority is to heal the division in the United States. Biden vowed to be a president for both people who voted for him and for those who did not. “I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did”. A mere platitude that is recycled every four years you might think. But not in 2021. “My whole soul is in this – bringing Americans together, uniting our people, uniting our nation.” He will not indulge the division that Trump exacerbated for his own political fortunes. Biden wants to be a president for everyone and he means it - he has to.
The rift in America is deep. Throughout his presidency, Trump saw the country as an assemblage of states that either voted for him or did not. During the first wave of the pandemic, his administration delayed the delivery of ventilators to Covid-stricken New York – a reliably Democratic state - and only reluctantly agreed to federal aid for California – another blue state - after wildfires caused devastation. When asked about America’s horrific death toll, Trump said that it would be low if you excluded “blue states”.
Americans themselves have internalised that dichotomy. 70% of voters believe members of the other party are “a threat to the United States and its people”. Some 80% of Republicans believe the election was stolen by the Democrats. These are frightening statistics. For the first time ever, the Eurasia group, a political consulting firm, ranked American domestic politics as the world’s top risk of 2021.
Biden’s tone was therefore reconciliatory. He specifically stressed the shared experiences of his countrymen and women throughout the pandemic - the fear of losing their job, their home, their health insurance, the fear of not knowing what comes next and ultimately the fear of losing someone to Covid-19. It was a first attempt to remind Americans that they are bound by more than geography and convenience.
Accordingly, Biden’s top priority will be to tame the pandemic that had cost 400,000 on the eve of his inauguration and will likely claim another 100,000 lives in his first 100 days in office. His administration is seeking to pass a new Covid relief bill worth $1.9 trillion, which will include $160 billion for the vaccine campaign and increased testing and tracing. Each American should also receive a one-off check of $1,400.
To achieve this, Biden is also aiming to mend the bridges in Congress that hyper partisanship has burned ever since Sen. Mitch McConnell set out to “make Obama a one-term president” in 2010. In a series of partisan crusades – at least the opposing side perceived them as such - Republicans confirmed a Supreme Court nominee 8 days before the election, when only 4 years prior the same Republican leaders refused an Obama nominee a hearing 9 months before the polls. Democrats in return impeached Trump in 2019 strictly along party lines in the House, with only Republican Mitt Romney breaking ranks in the senate vote.
There is, of course, an argument to be made that Republicans started this process and Biden should enact revenge now that Democrats hold the trifecta of White House, House of Representatives and Senate. But this could not be further away from Biden’s instincts to govern as a centrist. In his inaugural address he said that “politics does not have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path”. Trump’s second impeachment trial will put this to the test.
Biden did, however, demand that Americans need to return to a state in which they share basic values, and above all the truth. “We must reject the culture where facts are manipulated and manufactured”. The new president also addressed lawmakers, and Republicans in particular, who gave credence to Trump’s baseless fraud allegations. “Each of us have a duty and responsibility as citizens and especially elected leaders to defend the truth and defeat the lies”. He is yet to say how he wants to achieve this monumental task.
The success of Biden’s presidency should therefore not be measured in his ability to deliver electoral wins for Democrats, passing ambitious legislation in an obstinate Congress or rekindling international alliances, although he very much aims to do that. It should be his success or failure in bringing Americans together, to get them to agree on basic facts and stop the moral decay that Trump so eagerly fostered.
All of this may sound like wishful thinking. Biden admitted as much himself: “I know speaking of unity can sound like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real”. But it was necessary to spell it out, to make people aware that a divided America will not succeed. His speech did resonate with some already. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said it was “the best inaugural address” he had ever heard.
For European onlookers this may be frustrating to read, but we should not expect the US to return to the early Obama years, at least not for the time being. Nor should we expect the Biden-Harris administration to be able to do away entirely with Trump’s legacy. Biden will need time to right the ship at home. Our vested interests rest on his success. We should wish him luck.
