#BTColumn – After Trump, what?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Dr. Peter Laurie

Ah, what a relief it is.

Trump is gone… well, going. Most of the world and a majority of Americans can now breathe again. So what comes now?

Many still hope — and most fear — that Trump will stick around to stoke the worst impulses in Americans. They argue that Trump’s viral infection of the Republican Party is permanent; that he will be the dark force in American politics for years to come.

Indeed, some think he will run again in 2024.

Have no fear. Trump is finished. After being dragged kicking and screaming out of the White House, he will face an onslaught of civil litigation and criminal charges.

And all the presidential pardons in the world will not save him from legal action undertaken in the jurisdiction of states, where he is most liable. He will be lucky not to spend his remaining years in gaol. A sad chapter in American history is now closed.

But what about the virus of Trumpism that caused white supremacy to go mainstream? Fears of Trumpism are also overblown.

Trump didn’t create the ideology of white supremacy or racism. They are built into the structure of American society as a legacy of the enslavement of African Americans.

What he did was use the presidency to make such views respectable, normal; to ease any instinctive feelings of guilt whites might have felt; and to persuade them that instead of hoping for a society in which race did not matter, they should rightfully resent their perceived loss of ‘white’  status, because he was going to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

Four years of this incendiary rhetoric lured racists and white supremacists out of the shadows where they had dwelt under rocks like maggots.

To make matters worse, Trump became the leader of a widespread semi-religious cult encouraged by protestant evangelicals and a minority of American Catholics who vehemently oppose Pope Francis.

Like many a cult leader that is blindly followed, once he goes —  and the power goes with him — his support will melt away. Besides, the majority of Trump supporters were not white supremacists.

Most of the people who voted for him were ‘low information’ voters who were angry at the people who seemingly ran the government in their own interests and wanted a disrupter who would shake things up.

Little did they know they were getting a corrupt snake oil salesman.

Unfortunately, Biden and the Democrats did not win an overwhelming mandate for change.

Over 71 million people voted for Trump, so the process of healing and unifying the country will take time and patience. The new administration will face mind-boggling difficulties apart from the pandemic.

The Republicans may well retain control of the Senate, in which case the Biden-Harris administration will have to either whittle down or abandon many of its proposed transformational policies in such areas as climate change and green energy, expansion of health care, education and taxation.

One area Biden and Harris neglect at their peril is the rooting out of structural racism in the US. Structural racism differs from individual racism in that institutions produce racially disparate outcomes regardless of the individuals who work within them.

This is most obvious in the criminal justice system. Biden would not have been chosen as the candidate for the Democratic Party and would not have been elected without the overwhelming support of African-Americans  – especially women.

Structural racism, based as it is on grossly lopsided relations of power, is imperilling the social, economic and political health of the US.

Once it is uprooted, the transformation of America will be astounding.

Liberation will lead to an explosion of energy and innovation in all fields of endeavour. It will not only set free Black Americans from the economic, social and political constraints under which they have chafed, it will also liberate white Americans from the burden of delusion that has blinded them for so long.

The concept of ‘race’ has no scientific basis. It’s a social construct deliberately created and designed purely to justify exploitation and oppression of non-European peoples by Europeans.

Indeed, the terms ‘black’ and ‘white’ are themselves meaningless labels that only endure in situations of racial conflict. Remember, it took Irish Americans a long time to become ‘white’. Don’t get me wrong, social constructs have real consequences.

Yes, it will take many years to extirpate this disease that has corrupted American society for centuries, but a start has to be made.

It’s easy to underestimate Biden. He has a chequered past when it comes to socially progressive legislation; he’s both loquacious and gaffe-prone; and he’s… well… not overly charismatic.

But he has aged well, has endured more than his fair share of suffering, and is imbued with the profoundly humanitarian principles of Catholic Social Thought. And as a bonus, he has Kamala at his side, speaking truth to power all the time.

I suspect the Biden-Harris administration will not only heal and unify but also transform.

Dr. Peter Laurie is a retired permanent secretary and head of the Foreign Service who once served as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States.