Will Biden be Allowed to Govern?

Let’s say a new coach is brought in to help a floundering and divided team.  The coach brings a message of team unity, along with new ideas for the team to succeed.  But half the team refuses to support him, backing instead the fired old coach.  Can the team win?

Joe Biden won the Presidential election, yet more than a week later Donald Trump still has not conceded defeat.  Trump continues to cry “election fraud”, and has thrown up every conceivable roadblock toward any type of transition of power.

Four years ago, Barack Obama shook Trump’s hand at the White House in a symbol of transfer of power to the incoming administration.  It couldn’t have been easy for Obama, seeing someone like Trump take over the Presidency.  But he did what he had to do.

The transition period is more than just ceremonial.  There are matters of great importance, like national security issues, that rely on a smooth, effective, timely transition.  It is for the good of the country, a fact seemingly lost on the defeated President.

President-elect Biden eloquently spoke about unity in his speech last Saturday night, a concept that must seem as foreign to many of Trump’s followers as a speech in Chinese.  For four years, Trump has stoked the flames of division and hatred.  After four years, these attitudes get baked into the minds of many of his supporters.

Trump fans will claim it was the Democrats and the media who began the divisiveness four years ago when Trump became President.  While they are not blameless, it cannot be denied that from Day One Trump has relished the position of “Us vs. Them.”  In one Biden speech, there was more talk about unifying the country than in all of President Trump’s speeches combined.

But let’s look forward.  Will Joe Biden be allowed to govern as President of the United States, without the constant, destructive influences of Trump and his followers, both in government and the general public?  Will Donald Trump remain in the sidelines, venting his anger and bruised ego at every single opportunity… calling for others to do the same?

Does Trump have the best interests of the country?  Can anyone guarantee that Trump does not want for the country to figuratively go down in flames?  His actions during this election period would certainly suggest otherwise.  For the first time in American history, the possibility of an evicted former President looms large.

This question begs asking: If Joe Biden is obstructed every step of the way by a former President and his followers, who are the winners and losers in the end?  Does the nation win?  Will the pro-Trump population get anything but a hollow victory?  Is this what we have to look forward to from now on?  An endless downward spiral of worsening campaigns, elections, and Presidencies?

There was nothing wrong with Trump wanting to fix “politics as usual” during his run for President in 2016.  There was nothing wrong with people supporting that.  But was it too much to ask for a decent human being to do this?  Someone who dignified the position of President of the United States instead of denigrating it?  Has the bar been permanently lowered for future Presidential candidates?

These are the concerns that will permeate the atmosphere as we move on from the last four years.