On this November 3, 2020, America don’t just choose a president. She chooses who she is: a democracy proud of itself, still capable of making the world dream. Or a country that has sunk into division, violence, questioning and contempt for democratic legitimacy. In short, the “city on the hill” which remains a benchmark or an XXL-sized banana republic. How to resist populist forces, dictatorships if America re-elects a man who for four years has been a caricature of democracy?
Certainly the election of Donald Trump in 2016 was no accident. It was not a point of departure, but an end, the culmination of an existential crisis of democracy in America. Donald Trump comes to power from the ruins of a Republican party, which he has worked hard to control and then destroy, once elected. It was not difficult, the party caciques more than collaborated in this work of self-destruction. But America needs a Republican Party and a Democratic Party that know how to overcome their divisions and the rise within them of drifts to extremes. Trump defeated, especially in states associated with the Republican Party for decades, the Conservative Party would have no choice but to reinvent itself.
Conversely, the re-election of Donald Trump would not be simply a tragedy for America, but even more for the cause of democracy in the world. It would be the confirmation that America has changed for the worse, that it is ultimately not much different from China or Russia, that it is dominated by cynicism, brutality, selfishness. On the vote of a few key states from Florida to Pennsylvania, via Texas, depends the future of what was called “the Free World” yesterday.
A referendum on the person of Trump
Certainly the election of Joe Biden would not mean a simple step back into what yesterday America was like. But it would be the encouraging demonstration that one cannot play with racism with impunity, encourage violence and division between citizens, not recognize the difference between lies and truth, make fun of science, flirt with dictatorships, insult his allies. We could draw up a catalog à la Prévert, of the transgressions committed by the President of the United States. In fact Donald Trump has been his worst enemy. The candidate has never turned into President, neither on the form, nor what is more serious on the substance.
If he loses an election that has largely become a referendum on himself – Trump wanted it so – he will be the victim of the pandemic on the one hand and the changing demographics in some key states such as Texas. could switch to the Democratic side.
Joe Biden needs a clear win. Any other result would be contested by a man who – unlike Al Gore the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in 2000 – is not prepared to sacrifice himself for the cause of democracy, but would sacrifice American democracy for himself. The disaster scenario would be that of a questioning of institutions by the man who is responsible for embodying and protecting them. Donald Trump will not hesitate to weaken the democratic cause.
The pandemic, the economic crisis, terrorism and in addition a crisis of legitimacy in the United States: enough would be enough.
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