If the trend continues, Joe Biden will achieve the narrowest victory imaginable in the Electoral College and all the elements will be in place for the consolidation of Trump’s grip on the Republican Party.
Despite garnering the most votes in U.S. presidential election history and a solid popular ballot majority, Joe Biden’s apparent electoral college victory is on track to be won by the slimmest of margins. .
This likely outcome will pave the way for a transfer of power that is unlikely to be very peaceful, and it suggests that Trumpism is here to stay.
In extremis for Biden
Last night only the official announcement of Biden’s virtually assured victories in Nevada and Arizona remained to seal the outcome of the most incredible presidential campaign in modern American history.
Democrats and those looking for the restoration of American democracy would arguably be more comfortable if Georgia and Pennsylvania swung to Biden, but an incredibly tight 270-268 end result is looming, which is nothing very reassuring.
Biden’s slim victory margins in several states will lead to recounts and court challenges that will keep hordes of lawyers busy for weeks.
Trump-sized unrest
President Trump has never hidden his intention to challenge any election result that would be unfavorable to him by any means imaginable.
Trump expects “his” Supreme Court justices to prove him right when he challenges the vote in several states, and Republican lawmakers in those states are prepared to back him by refusing to certify the results of the vote or even by giving him back. designating pro-Trump voters lists if uncertainty persists.
Trump’s hardline supporters groups are also sure to fuel the climate of instability through protests that could go wrong.
Trumpism is here to stay
These scenarios should not prevent the transition to a new administration in January and even if the secret service agents must extract him from the White House manu militari, Donald Trump will not fade away like a cowboy trotting towards the setting sun. . Trump will continue to satisfy his insatiable need for attention by monopolizing the conservative media space.
Whether or not he envisions a comeback in 2024, he will ensure that his legacy does not die out and that the transformation of the Republican Party into Trump’s Party materializes in the long term.
Above all, the ideas, attitudes and resentments that drive Trump’s partisan base and the conditions that fostered his political rise will not go away overnight.
The task of reviving the march towards Democratic and Republican ideals of the United States after the Trump presidency will not be easy.