Updated: November 5, 2020 11:23:33 am
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks to supporters Nov. 4 in Wilmington, alongside his wife Jill Biden. (Photo: AP)
The 2020 U.S. presidential election has yet to yield a winner. It is a watershed moment in the political life of the United States. It has seen the highest voter turnout in a century. Both candidates are in their 70s. The campaign has been marked by bitterness and acrimony.
“Whoever wins this race, one thing is clear. Going forward, America will not be defined by Democrats or Republicans. It will be defined by Trump’s Americans, “writes Vijay Gokhale, a former Foreign Secretary.
If President Donald Trump wins reelection, he will end the presumption that his election in 2016 was an aberration or a momentary lapse on the part of the American population. If Trump loses, can the new president-elect afford to forget or ignore that nearly half of all Americans who voted this time supported Trump with their eyes wide open? Either way, America will wake up to a new era tomorrow or the day after.
Also in Explained | US election results: what’s left in the seven states that will decide the race
If Joe Biden wins, the United States may recommit with dignity and restore mutual respect in its relationships with allies and partners, beginning with the transatlantic alliance. The new administration can begin to look as it used to, with properly staffed State and Defense departments, and policy coordination through established presidential processes. However, these are optical.
“Beyond optics, Trump’s Americans, who are the new political base, will continue to shape American politics regardless of who the president is,” he writes.
“America First is here to stay. The American people believe that their education, employment, and retirement have been affected by the immigration, outsourcing, and liberal trade policies of previous administrations. Trump America does not want more migrants, legal or otherwise, in the United States. Trump America will not support outsourcing jobs at the expense of his own. Trump America wants a fair trade agreement that does not allow cheaper imports to put American small businesses out of business, ”Gokhale writes.
📣 Express explained is now in Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@ieexplained) and stay updated with the latest
Even a Biden administration cannot return America to the days of open borders and free trade. It could end the travel ban, but it cannot reverse immigration policy. You could relax some categories of work visas, but you can’t go back to the days when outsourcing was the preferred option for American companies. It could re-commit to the World Trade Organization, but it cannot tear down the trade barriers that Trump has erected in the name of Make in America. Biden’s own trade agenda looks a lot like Trump’s, if he omits the tactics that are so offensive to others.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
.
