Politics: 2021 Presidential Transition

I must confess I'm not as in tune to current politics as I was in my college days and early 20s. The rise of Obama was especially an exciting time for me, and from about 2006 to 2014 I kept up-to-date with the ongoing affairs of politics. I wrote many blogs about political and international news topics for some time. I enjoyed the sport of politics, campaigns, debates, elections, international affairs, congressional affairs, and just the day-to-day news that came with it. 

But I suppose when I began a new job with Dow Agro in 2013, I shifted my news attention from politics to sports. I just found the topic of sports (especially the NFL and European soccer) to be more enjoyable and less controversial. To this day I consider myself more of a centrist then the leftist I use to be. I am more ignorant on the affairs of current topics that I cannot change, and instead put more emphasis on my job and the simple things in life. However on this historic day of Joseph Biden's inauguration I feel it is necessary to reflect on the past 4 years of our nation and the optimistic future. 

Donald Trump's Presidency

I remember thinking it a big joke when I first heard the news of Donald Trump's presidential bid. The guy was no doubt a successful business mogul and media personality, but he had absolutely no political experience. And yet he somehow was able to defeat all the other Republican nominees in the 2016 primaries. When watching a debate or two, I realized he was able to take control of the stage not thru political experience, but thru a passionate and direct approach. For once here was a guy who spoke plainly and was using his killer business instinct to take control of the party. And it was thru this fierce mentality that Trump was able to defeat the other Republican contenders and become the Republican candidate. 

Trump no doubt had a passionate and entertaining side about him, but he also had a divisive and unruly side. He downright bullied the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, thru his tweets, debates, and public speeches. And even though I felt Hillary was probably not the best candidate for the Democrats I felt she should easily defeat Trump. That was however shockingly not the case, and by some peculiar outcome Trump won the presidential election. I was quite shocked and very disappointed that our nation would select such an obvious racist and hateful person for their leader. Of course there can be questions pertaining to the legitimacy of the results (especially with Russia) however that is another topic entirely. The fact of the matter was that Trump would now be our president for the next four years. 

I felt all sorts of emotions the few days after Trump's victory. I felt anger, depression, and even fear that our nation could be on the brink of total war and collapse. If ever there was a leader to mimic the divisive hate of Adolf Hitler it was Donald Trump. From the get-go he intended to disrupt foreign relations, most notably with China and Mexico. His most atrocious of plans was to build a wall separating Mexico from the USA in an effort to control illegal immigration. This gave off a very strong message to the rest of the world, of his racist agenda. This agenda became all the more clear when he supported ultra-right-wing factions of white supremacy in various protests. 

There can be no question that if Trump had more power as president than the world may have indeed turned to chaos. However what was most encouraging during his divisive four years was the push back he got from Congress, the media, and especially major businesses. If ever there was a time to keep the president in check it was during Trump's presidency and the institution of America certainly did it's part. He was challenged on every front and thus was unable to truly enforce some of his more radical conservative projects. 

However despite his tyrannical approach, Trump somehow managed to survive many trials and tribulations and did keep the country afloat. The economy was doing well and after nearly four years it had not collapsed into chaos as we all feared when he was elected (much thanks to the checks-and-balance of Congress I'm sure). However that was all until the Covid Pandemic struct in March of 2019. From this point on, marked Trump's greatest downfall, especially his stubborn attitude towards the virus. From the get-go he gave it no relevance, blamed it on China, and stubbornly showed American's not to wear masks. As the rest of the world got control of the disease, deaths continued to rise in America, and thus his failure of management became most apparent. 

President Joe Biden

The election of 2020 could not have come at a better time, and there could be no question that former VP Joe Biden was the one guy who could lead the Democratic Party back to the White House. Unlike Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden actually had some fight to him and could stand up to Trump's bully tactics. And despite his somewhat sleepy demeanor, Joe had an unquestionable likable charm to him. Here was a guy who actually enjoyed people and seemed to have some moral goodness in him, far from Trump's hateful approach. Here was a guy who was ready to unite the nation, not just the people who voted for him but also the people who did not.

After an 7 hour early voting experience on Saturday, I felt quite optimistic about Joe Biden's chances to win it. However just like with Hillary this was not the case and it became an election unlike any I had experienced before. As the results came in that Tuesday night, it seemed as if Trump was somehow going to win reelection. I did not even watch the results that night and just followed everything on Twitter, and the messages from my dad and uncles in the Left Wing Sundberg club. By the time I decided to go to bed I had accepted that Trump was somehow going to win. I was so devastated once again that our nation would chose such a hateful person to lead them. 

However that night a strange force hit me, and awoke and felt a sudden glimmer of hope. This was thanks to a message from my dad stating the "angel has opened her eyes, and that Biden could win Arizona". This marked a sudden turning point in the electoral process and it appeared there were still the mail-in ballots to count. The next day at work I eagerly followed the results and picked up on the sudden optimistic tones from my dad and Uncle Larry. However it was still several days until the decision could be called. It went all the way until Saturday until it became official that Joe Biden had won the election. I felt such a jubilating feeling to know that Biden had reversed the results from Tuesday night to win the election in very dramatic come-from-behind fashion. The Trump regime had finally come to an end. 

The election results were of course contested by the right wing extremists who began to declare fraud instantly. I however gave this no credence, and saw it merely as a bunch of sore loser conspiracy theorists. It's quite normal to be upset and find excuses with defeat, and this was the case for Al Gore and John Kerry. However never did the democrats go as far as an outright insurrection of the government. The storming of the US Capitol on Jan 6th marked the first time in history that the US Capitol had been breached. Encouraged by Trump, the mob stormed the capitol with intentions to overthrow the election certification. The violent uprising resulted in the death of 5 people. This radical event demonstrated the foolish extremism of Trump's followers and ultimately divided the Republican party. Trump was banned from social media and impeached for a 2nd time, yet another historical first for a president.

So after much contention the transition was finally put in place and Biden successfully took the oath of president on this historic day. I watched his speech to be very optimistic, with a little bit of sleepiness. He is left with a very daunting project to salvage the Covid Pandemic and unite a very divided nation. There is certainly extremism and racial pockets that still need to be addressed and hopefully in time things can get back to some normalcy. I am quite confident in Biden's presidential approach and through this past 4 years I have been most encouraged by the institution of democracy. In the end democracy always seems to prevail.