Democrats won the battle against Donald Trump. But the war against Trumpism rages on
November 8, 2020 in Blogs
By Salon
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won the 2020 presidential election. Biden will receive at least 290 votes in the Electoral College, with the final outcome in Georgia and North Carolina still unclear. Despite the howls of protest from Donald Trump’s supporters, his quest for re-election is effectively over. On Saturday afternoon, the American people exploded in celebration after several days of suspense as millions of mail-in votes were slowly counted in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona. (At this writing, it appears that Biden will win six of those seven states, and fall just short in North Carolina.)
More than 75 million votes were cast for Biden, with millions more remaining to be counted. That’s by far the most for any presidential candidate in American history.
But while the Biden-Harris ticket and the Democratic Party may have defeated Donald Trump the man, Trumpism — as a movement and a force in American society — has clearly not been vanquished.
Donald Trump has received nearly 71 million votes so far. If Biden has won the most votes in America’s electoral history, Trump has won the second most — at least 8 million more than he received while “winning” the 2016 election. Trumpism — understood as a neofascist, authoritarian and white supremacist force of destruction — will likely remain a fixture in American social and political life for years or decades to come. As a symbolic leader, Donald Trump will personally remain a guiding star for American neofascism, and the global right wing more generally.
Trump’s presidency, including the fact that he came so close to winning re-election, should make clear all over again that there is an immense public hunger for right-wing racial authoritarianism in America. In many ways, Trump is a proof of concept, or prototype, for the future of the Republican Party. How can it possibly remain a potent electoral force and hold power at the highest levels of government, given America’s rapidly changing demographics? The answer is clear: by fully and unapologetically embracing American fascism.
This weekend’s celebration is understandable. But Biden’s victory comes with defeat attached.
Contrary to predictions, the Democratic Party did not gain seats in the House of Representatives. In fact, they have lost four seats already, and will probably end up losing seven …read more
Source: ALTERNET
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