“Wiener Zeitung”: You have been following US politics for decades. Is Joe Biden’s presidency particularly strained because the US is in an irritable mood unprecedented in recent history?
Christian Hacke: Yes, the situation is unprecedented and we are still unable to properly classify developments. If Trump continues to incite his fanatical supporters, even civil war-like scenes are possible. But it is also conceivable that in two months’ time he will be convicted in some way or gone underground, his people will be without guidance and the whole thing will become blurred again.
Biden also has the Republicans against him. Can we already see to what extent these will continue to follow the Trump line?
The party leader Ronna Romney McDaniel and her deputy are Trump confidants. The party apparatus continues to follow him. In Congress, on the other hand, there seem to be cautious withdrawals. After the storming of the Capitol and the reactions to it, one has to state that not only supporters of Trump, but also various MPs see the Republicans as an anti-democratic party. There is something completely new there.
How can the Democrats position themselves here?
I think they need to reform. Trump did not fall from the sky, he was also the product of the failure of the liberal elites, and that affects the Democrats above all. Under Bill Clinton, the Democrats became a party of the nouveau riche. He deregulated the banking sector so banks could do new business that ultimately led to the indebtedness of many US citizens. It made possible a lot more financial support for the political parties and a few other things. Biden must make the Democrats in the sense of Franklin D. Roosevelt – keyword: New Deal – the party of the common people again in economic, financial and tax policy.
But many workers and farmers, especially if they are white, have turned away from the democrats because they no longer saw themselves represented in terms of their ideology.
This is another crucial point: over the past ten to 20 years, the Democrats have understood the liberal idea as their unique selling point and their claim to sole representation. But they have to turn away from their arrogant liberalism, which claims to be the only yardstick for politics, economy and society. Rather, they should return to a liberalism, which is a roof under which the broad masses with all their various public spaces can gather. But that means that the Democrats have to tolerate other lifestyles, religious views and cultural lifestyles and thus also rural, conservative America.
But can that work? The worlds at many universities of the liberal elite, where white men are sometimes deprived of their say because they are privileged anyway, and a white conservative farmer are already very far apart.
These concerns are justified. Another factor will be decisive here: Biden only has a chance if he stimulates the economy again after the Corona crisis. When this gets going again and the middle class and the lower classes – be it white, black or anyone else – are given greater consideration. If people are better again and there are more jobs, then that could mean that many poorer whites, because they have more social hope again, will be able to agree to liberalism again. But if the containment of the corona crisis and the economy do not work, then I see gloomy times approaching the USA.
Will Trump’s ghost then reappear?
That is to be feared. The attractiveness of Trump is not what is un-American, but what is originally American about him, and that is an America that has always existed and we in Europe may not have noticed for a long time. This selfish, protectionist, racist and isolated America already existed in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the interwar period. It was only pushed back by the history of the rise of the USA in the 20th century. Thanks to President Trump and all his lies, these prejudices were reactivated and unfortunately found fertile ground. This has consequences and cannot be eradicated by an appeal to healing – as important as Biden’s completely different demeanor is for the self-image of US democracy.
“America First” was Trump’s principle, also in foreign policy. With Biden, a different tonality will return in this area as well.
But here, too, Biden has to reform the politics of many, including democratic predecessors. The legacy of Woodrow Wilson, who led the United States into World War I in defense of democracy, has been perverted in “humanitarian intervention”. In Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the USA believed that democracy can also be carried to other regions of the world by war of aggression. In doing so, they have overstretched their strengths, which is why the USA can no longer fulfill its international leadership role. With this in mind, Biden will be forced to adopt basic elements of Trump’s foreign policy. He, too, will repeatedly act protectionist or strongly urge allies to meet their obligations. He will appear friendlier towards the Europeans in style, but represent tough interest politics. When the Europeans propose a new founding pact to him, one has to say: Biden has completely different concerns. The key to understanding the US global situation is China.
Why is the People’s Republic so crucial?
The US is electrified when another power contests its claim to global leadership. And they have never had such a strong international competitor as China. China bashing will probably continue under Biden as well: more rational, smarter, but no less confrontational. I doubt whether that will make international politics safer. And it is up to the Europeans that the US will grind them even harder and, as an alliance partner, make the decision to be for or against China. At the same time, Biden and his administration must restore trust that was lost under Trump and win over the European and Asian US partners.
In China, the first voices fear that more unity will be restored in the United States through a common enemy image, and that is China.
This fear is justified. A great enemy from outside unites inside, and Biden will use that too. Opposition to China is also a unifying bond between Democrats and Republicans and can bind the population together.
Even war is warned in this context. Is that a realistic fear?
I do not believe that there will be a military conflict, but the economic war will continue with great severity. Regardless of how Trump behaved, the US will remember it and honor him for not having been a war president – unlike his predecessors. In its 20-year war on terrorism, the USA devastated entire regions and took over. Trump wanted to regulate this again and his basic tendency was: If we go into a confrontation, then with economic means. That’s why Biden won’t be able to start a war either, because as soon as he does that, his approval ratings will rapidly plummet.
–
