Midway through the day that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris clinched the election, both my wife and I were suddenly struck with a feeling of being utterly drained and almost physically debilitated. I thought it strange at a time when we should have felt jubilation. I realized that we were likely suffering symptoms of Trump Withdrawal Syndrome after four years of being assaulted, bludgeoned and insulted on a daily basis by the president’s toxic words and actions. As crowds were dancing in the streets, I lay comatose on the couch.
While overjoyed by Biden’s victory, I’m less ecstatic about the residue of the election. Like a cancer in remission, the poison of Trumpism will stay in the body politic long after Trump leaves the White House, even if escorted out under armed guard, a fitting end to a man who has disgraced the office over the past four years.
But to allay the fears of local conservatives, no, we liberals are not coming for your guns. I’ve heard that nonsense since 1972 and no Democratic administration since has ever threatened confiscation or abolition. A sensible ban on assault rifles might be reinstated but, frankly, if you want to play soldier, join the military. Hunters, gun collectors and those needing a gun for personal defense have nothing to fear. But I can’t help wondering where those NRA “Defend the Constitution” types were when Donald Trump was attacking the free press, tear-gassing peaceful assemblies and issuing threats against those exercising free speech. If you aren’t willing to defend the First Amendment, you aren’t qualified to defend the Second.
In truth, all the ludicrous scenarios offered by QAnon, Fox News and Donald Trump are not going to coming to pass. Antifa and Black Lives Matter aren’t going to burn down the town of Greenfield. Oprah and Hillary won’t be trafficking child sex-slaves in the basement of a pizza restaurant. Sharia Law will not force citizens of Franklin County to pray to Mecca. The Greenfield Police Department won’t be disbanded. Local residents terrified that Socialism will now take over the United States might reflect that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Workmen’s Comp, Unemployment benefits, Veterans benefits and the blessings of the GI Bill are all Socialist programs that have aided them and their ancestors for over eighty years. Surprisingly, all of these measures made America the most prosperous nation ever seen on the face of the earth.
If the Republican Party, however, wants to regain legitimacy in my eyes, it needs to cleanse itself of white racism with its armed militia thugs and repudiate the lunatic fringe inhabited by QAnon, Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. Republicans will have to renounce Trumpism, a perversion of both classic conservatism and even Republicanism. As of this writing Mitch McConnell and key Republicans have refused to accept Biden’s victory. Citing fake claims of voter fraud, they have brazenly shown their contempt for democracy and the majority of the American people.
There has been much talk about healing and coming together. I can do that on a personal level (and have) but wonder if collectively, there a common denominator that unites us all. If so, Biden should make that common denominator a national priority. Whether he can bring our warring tribes back into harmony might beyond the scope of one person, no matter how hopeful, compassionate or eloquent.
Even when they take office, Biden and Harris will not satisfy all the demands of the fractious American people. Democrats are already displaying their suicidal tendencies as moderates and progressives slug it out over how to proceed. Conservatives will continue to doubt the legitimacy of the election as Trump exerts his dark influence over the Republican Party. It will be a challenge to re-ignite sacrifice for national unity but hopefully, the new president will lead off with measures that appeal to all Americans, whatever their values.
One way or another, come January, we will once again have a grown-up in the White House with advisors and a cabinet comprised of intelligent men and women instead of party hacks, cowardly sycophants and petty crooks. With the election over, maybe Americans will regain a measure of sanity and forgo the craziness they read on social-media.
Will life now go back to normal? No, I’m afraid that ship has sailed. Like war, lethal pandemics irreversibly change the societal landscape. The United States of 1865 and 1945 bore little resemblance to that of 1861 and 1941. We are entering a new era with many challenges and possibilities.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and was a frequent contributor to the Recorder. He lives in Taos, New Mexico.