Norris McDonald | US Elections: Black power on show as Biden shocks Trump!

Detroit Pastor Rev Steve Bland says Black people have gone from “picking cotton to picking presidents”.

We saw this with the election of President Barack Obama.

Now the electoral might of Black power is once again on show as, with their backing, Senator Joe Biden is set to become the 46th president of the United States.

Final vote counting is still taking place but each one seems to be a hammered nail, burying the abysmal presidency of Donald Trump.

It was clearly a nail-biting November 3, 2020 US general election. Barack Obama strongly helped mobilise the Black vote for a Democratic Party ticket. On this ticket was the vice-presidential pick, Senator Kamala Harris, with her strong Jamaican roots.

BIDEN-HARRIS COALITION

Of the 160 million who voted in the 2020 election, Joe Biden made history by receiving over 70 million votes – a number that was greater than Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or any other president.

It was truly a high-velocity election as the coronavirus-stricken Trump hit the road to mobilise his loyal Republican political base.

Trump’s political strategy almost worked.

Those pundits bemoaning the absence of a so-called ‘blue wave’ are missing the point that if Biden had not outperformed all other Democrats, then, perhaps, he would not be on the cusp of the presidency.

The full impact of the Black vote was felt in all this.

Black people make up an estimated 12 per cent of the electorate, or some 19 million voters. Of this, the Biden-Harris ticket picked up 90 per cent compared to eight per cent for Trump.

It was a combination of Black voters, suburban women, Hispanics and a significant segment of the unionised workers that made a winning coalition for the Biden-Harris ticket.

Joe Biden got the votes of 57 per cent of persons whose annual income was under $60,000. Trump, in contrast, received the support of the bulk of people with income over $100,000, analytical website statistica.com stated.

Household with union members voted 57 per cent for Biden and 40 per cent for Trump.

This was good news for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Many unionised workers felt they were abandoned by the Democratic Party, hence, they jumped ship to support Trump in the 2016 election.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The American and world stock markets cheered the prospects of a Joe Biden victory.

Gold prices rose sharply as investors saw the heralding of perhaps a new business horizon, without the uncertainties and irrational decision-making that was a hallmark of Donald Trump’s rule.

What is clear, however, is no matter how happy the business investors are, America must still come to grips with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans died since the beginning of 2020, killed by the novel coronavirus.

There has been a wholescale economic collapse that has tremendously hurt the poverty-stricken working classes, many of whom are Black people, Latinos, Native Americans and other minorities.

Middle-class homeowners have also faced increased burdens.

In contrast, billionaires and millionaires saw their wealth increase even as the rest of the society suffered the economic meltdown caused by Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the negative impact of the coronavirus on American lives, many observers expected a ‘blowout win’ for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

History, however, teaches us some important lessons.

A strong personality can play a significant impact on the society and help to shape the course of historical events. Like him or not, Donald Trump exhibited this strong trait, albeit that of a megalomaniac.

Also, politics, at the end of the day, comes down to who wants power the most, and for what reasons.

Donald Trump faced a high-stakes election for many reasons. He had to keep power at all cost, not merely because he had a perceived despotic mentality.

Keeping power, in my opinion, meant protecting his own well-being and the Trump Klan.

What is there to fear?

First. There are many criminal and civil liabilities facing the Trump Klan.

The Justice Department Southern District of New York reportedly has unsealed charges against Trump stemming from the buying of silence from the salacious affair with Stormy Daniels, alleged campaign violations in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

All in all, there are “eight criminal charges outstanding against Trump World”, Garret M. Graff, of Wired Magazine, reports.

Second. Trump owes over US$400 million in loans that he had personally guaranteed. These loans are due in 2021. Because of purported shady accounting, no one knows the cash flow, or net worth, of Donald Trump’s empire.

Third. Trump had become just swellhead with power. Now he sees all this power slipping out of his grasp.

TRUMPIAN HELL

Another clear sign of his desperation, perhaps, was the building of an unscalable wall around the White House.

Amazing!

Who could have expected this of this man, who once said that, Section Two of the American Constitution gave him the power to do anything he wanted to do?

This, indeed, was a clear sign of a Trumpian world, in which his idea of untrammelled powers meant he could ignore the interest of the American society, focusing only on self-interest.

In Dante’s Inferno, Virgil gave Dante a helping hand; to leap on to Lucifer’s back; then escape through a crack; from all the circles of the living hell; into the wonderful, bright, starlit world.

In the Trumpian hell – the coronavirus-plagued America – Trump never bothered to give a helping hand to the wailing souls around him.

Well, today, just like Dante, Americans need help to escape the Trumpian Hell.

This was four brutal, corrupt, bungling years of misadventure under Donald ‘The Great Impeached’ Trump.

Now, perhaps, my dear friends, Americans may have found a helping hand: the thoughtful outstretched hand of a President Joe Biden.

That is just the bitta truth!

- Norris McDonald is a respiratory therapist, social researcher and political analyst. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.