Daunting goal for Biden and Harris
Given America’s standing, Trump’s defeat is being appropriately seen as a global setback to ethnonationalism. Many have experienced a sense of relief.
Ethnonationalism says that a nation belongs to its dominant section, not to everyone. Stoking that belief, persons like Trump, India’s Modi and Turkey’s Erdogan, to name only a few, found power. Even as large numbers cheered, others were uncomfortable with the depression of weaker or minority sections that accompanied elation in the dominant group.
Trump’s supporters didn’t openly say that only Whites should rule over America. Not all Hindu nationalists declare publicly that only Hindus should be India’s masters. A hint or a wink usually suffices. But “Law-and-order!” can be freely proclaimed. In America’s recent campaign, it was demanded by Trump. Everyone understood.
Authoritarianism is another facet of ethnonationalism. Under its sway, some lands witness open curbs on human rights and direct assaults on democratic institutions. These are not possible in a country such as the U.S., which possesses democratic governing structures at all levels (local, county, state and federal), plus a vibrant media, and a fierce commitment to free speech.
What the U.S. did witness during the campaign was a forceful reassertion of gun rights, warnings about criminals allegedly poised to move in from south of the border, salutes to the flag, a torrent of conspiracy theories, and unmistakable innuendos.
In his whirlwind and tireless campaigning, with thousands of ardent fans always showing up at his rallies, Trump seldom failed to linger with the middle name when he spoke, as he did almost everywhere, of Barack Hussein Obama.
While authoritarian rule may not be easy to impose in the U.S., populism is as much a feature there as it is in India, Turkey or Brazil. Under Trump, the Republican Party seems to have abandoned fiscal conservatism. It appears to want to become the home of America’s working classes.
Trump declared repeatedly during the campaign that he favoured putting money into the hands of the workers and the unemployed: more money, he claimed, than the Democrats were willing to provide. As he had done in 2016, Trump insisted that he would impose tariffs to protect manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and generally prevent the rest of the world from “ripping us off”.
Another populist note was Trump’s repeated emphasis against “endless foreign wars”. More than the Democrats, it is Bush and Cheney, the Republicans who led the intervention in Afghanistan that began in 2001 and the 2003 war on Iraq, who seem to be the new Republican Party’s foes.
Along with guns, the flag, “America’s great workers” and an annoying world, God, too -- of course -- was solemnly invoked in every Trump rally. Lower taxes for the rich and super-rich were not part of the campaign rhetoric. It was enough that those concerned were aware of the promise.
The depth of support that Trump received from everyday Americans is something everyone must recognize, as also the range of that support. True, Biden secured more than four-and-a-half million more votes than Trump – more than three percentage points more.
But Biden did not receive majority support from America’s Whites, or from America’s males. Women of all races and non-Whites carried Biden across the winning line.
Though Trump lost to Biden, White populism remains a force in the U.S., even as Hindu populism remains a force in India. Both forces have been fed by a sense injected in the majority population of victimhood.
Powered by impulses for equality, decency and dignity, large masses of the American people have taken Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the summit of authority. However, the pursuit of national healing announced by the two is not going to be easy.
The whole world has a stake in their effort.
