Election for President 2020
By Richard Helppie.
November 2, 2020
I am going to start this editorial by saying that no matter the outcome of the election, I will find a reason to be optimistic. If President Donald Trump is re-elected or if former Vice President Joe Biden is selected as the 46th President of the United States, I hope and pray that he will do a great job in the next four years.
The 2020 election will be a re-do of 2016, regardless of the outcome.
Should President Trump survive his personality, idiotic tweets and horrible crisis management, the message from voters is again clear – the establishment of both parties has not, and is not, delivering policy solutions. Electing the disruptive person from outside the political world will again be sending a message to the political establishment and a side telegram to the reporting industry formerly known as the news. And that message is simple – start doing your job. Trump’s re-election repeats the electorate’s desire from 2016.
Should Joe Biden win the electoral college and the presidency, it is again a re-do of 2016 when the deciding votes were cast against the losing major party candidate. Indeed, there are few making the case that Joe Biden would be a great president. Similarly, in 2016, there was not a popular demand for a president like Donald Trump, but there were votes cast against Hillary Clinton. In 2020, anti-Trump advocates are by default Biden supporters. Proof positive would be a decisive count of ballots with Republicans down ballot and POTUS blank – the pattern that sank Clinton in 2016.
Voters have looked aghast at the pandemic and the response to Coronavirus outbreak. Both Republican and Democratic campaigns have a fairy-tale like approach to dealing with COVID-19. One choice is the abracadabra magic disappearing pandemic and the other is the secret magic bean to return to normalcy. Looking forward, the plans for dealing with the virus are largely indistinguishable from each other.
There have been dozens of editorials written and untold numbers of emotionally distraught social media opinions blasting the very character of the millions of people who cast their vote for Donald Trump. Win or lose, the millions who voted for President Trump are not morally defective, deficient or bankrupt. Were these same pundits and posters actually listening, they would understand that virtually no one likes the conduct of our president, but that they like his policies and results.
And perhaps voters don’t like Joe Biden or the Democratic ticket. They have had four years to weigh what they see with a president Trump versus what they see with the Democratic alternative. The Democratic behavior in the Congress, the convention and campaign have been in full view of America. The Democratic ticket has been presented along with some policy ideas. Trump voters may simply conclude they will stay with what they have than switch. However, the Trump haters have concluded that the singular reason to vote for Trump is a case of bigotry, when it is easy enough to find both massive evidence to the contrary and hear Joe Biden’s racist statements.
Joe Biden’s election would be a lesser-of-the-evils result, and a welcome exit from the Trump era. Voters have had four years to experience the presidency of Donald Trump. There is no dispute that the period has been one of turmoil and anxiety. No one wanted or wants their president launching random tweets in the dead of night. No enterprise, organization or government can operate with random, seat-of-the-pants behavior. Time after time, Donald Trump has fired off a declaration without doing his homework and without vetting the program with those who will need to carry it through. At first it was exhausting but then the disconnect between the words and actions resulted in a group shrug from the public. As one seasoned pol told me, “I don’t like much of what he says, but I do like much of what he does.” For me, this punctuated the whipsawing excuse for leadership that exhausted the voters and would make it natural to just vote for change regardless of the alternative.
In case there was any doubt about who Donald Trump is or how he conducts himself, there was the first presidential debate. If you missed it, consider yourself fortunate. Should you dare to view it online, make sure plenty of your favorite libation is handy. So Biden voters are not embracing socialism, communism, corruption, or a fast path to a 1984-like dystopia – they are just willing to vote for anything that will exit the Trump era.
It will be interesting to see how the reporting industry plays the outcome. Would a Trump win conclude that policies prevail over personality? Or, as in 2016, conclude that the Democratic Party’s failure to put up a good ticket and run a smart campaign was its undoing? I think it predictable that in the event of a Biden win, there will be a sharp pivot in the reporting industry narrative from voters repudiating Donald Trump to a mandate for whatever the Democratic party comes up with.
In either case, the confidence in the integrity of the election itself has the makings of a crisis, as does the leadership of the winner and the loser in the general election. It will take both a forceful Joe Biden and a vocal Donald Trump to make sure that the country pulls back from the brink of civil war. Should Biden lose the electoral college and win the popular vote, I hope he will reject the counsel of radicals like the Transition Integrity Project and concede the election to Donald Trump. Should Trump lose the electoral college, I hope he will be grateful for the win provided in 2016 and work to make the next administration successful. For all Americans, I hope we all take steps to listen to each other, embrace our commonality, and reject the entire notion of revenge commissions as suggested by extremists like Robert Reich.
No matter the outcome of the election, it is high time we insist that both major parties deal with the issues of the day, especially equality, opportunity and racial harmony.