David Corn: Biden Got It Right: The 2020 Race Is About the Soul of the Nation

[babylonsister]

This must have been very cathartic for Mr. Corn; he let it rip!

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/biden-got-it-right-the-2020-race-is-about-the-soul-of-the-nation/


November 2, 2020
Biden Got It Right: The 2020 Race Is About the Soul of the Nation
Will American voters beat back the Trump virus?
David Corn


It always sounded hokey, but it was an accurate description of the 2020 election: a fight for the nation’s soul.

Joe Biden adopted this as his catchphrase when he entered the campaign. But whether he were in the race or not, this shorthand would have aptly framed the contest. Since moving into the White House, Donald Trump, the first reality-show president, has debased the country with his bigotry, divisiveness, and demagoguery. And to make literally everything worse, his brazen incompetence, willful ignorance, and pathological narcissism shaped an inept response to a national disaster that has resulted in over 230,000 American deaths and widespread economic calamity affecting millions. The driving question of 2020 had to be: would the voters of the United States accept this? What would it say about the country if they did?

snip//

Reality proved to be a killer for Trump. He had always bullshitted his way to success. And he and his minions were prepared to pooh-pooh Biden’s critiques of Trump’s character as those of a sniveling weakling and career politician who couldn’t match Trump’s fortitude and fierceness. But the rising death count and the continuing economic disaster made Biden’s case: Trump’s flaws had consequences. This was not just a question of style. Trump represented the worst qualities of the nation (and of human nature), and Americans were dying because he was in power.

So this election is indeed a reality check. Do most voters—and do enough voters in swing states—recognize the realities of Trump’s fake presidency? He has spread a deadly strain of authoritarianism, animus, and ignorance within the US government and American society. Will the body politic now expel this virus? Are the antibodies strong enough?

There are sharp policy differences galore between Trump and Biden. One is aiming to throw millions off their health insurance; the other wants to expand health care coverage. One shouts “law and order” in the face of police brutality and racial injustice, the other proposes steps to address these challenges. One touts tax cuts for his rich friends, the other vows to redress economic inequality. Climate change, gun violence, reproductive rights, immigration, education, nuclear nonproliferation—run through the list; they hold starkly opposing positions. Much of this is the usual R-versus-D stuff. But in the 2020 showdown, more is on the table. What is being tested in this election is whether the Trump infection and this democracy’s slide toward authoritarianism and kleptocracy can be beaten back. Trump and Biden are on the ballot, but the nation’s character is on the line.

[PatSeg]

1. It did sound kind of corny at the time,

but Joe stuck to his guns and in the end, he was right. It took awhile, but eventually the message took. It really is a "fight for the soul of America".