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There was dancing in the streets. The man who polarised America like no other President in its history was on his way out of the White House door. Acting in churlish character, Donald Trump

has refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory. He continues to send fundraising emails to his supporters, asking them to contribute to “The Official Election Defense Fund” and asserting

that “The media does NOT decide who is President.”   Trump has lost, of course. It is highly doubtful that the courts will uphold his wild, unsubstantiated and inaccurate claims that the

Democrats have “stolen” the election. Unlike the 2000 election, which had not been settled, and depended on the electoral outcome in one state, Florida, should Trump manage to bring his case

before the Supreme Court, a decision in his favour would not only have to determine the result but actually reverse it as well. Moreover, the Court would have to overturn the results of not

one state, but of at least four. Perhaps one or two of the Supreme Court justices might be prepared to do so, but even that likelihood is at best minimal. Biden may have to work with a

Republican Senate. That will depend on the outcome of two runoff elections in Georgia, which Biden nearly took in the presidential race. Of the two sitting Republican Senators from that

state, one, Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by the governor rather than elected, barely garnered a third of the vote on election day. The prospects for her re-election are dim.  The other

Senate seat currently is held by David Perdue, who barely missed an electoral majority on election day. He has been forced into a runoff with Jon Ossoff, a left-leaning Democrat who has

raised millions in out-of-state funds. The runoff may be the most costly in American history, as its outcome will determine whether the Republicans maintain their hold on the Senate by a

slim 51-49 majority, or whether the chamber will be evenly split, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote on contentious legislation.  If the Republicans retain their

majority in the Senate, Biden will have no choice but to compromise with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who won his own electoral race in Kentucky, on a host of  issues ranging from

fighting the coronavirus, to taxes, to the defence budget, to immigration reform. The two men have worked together in the past, both when Biden was a Senator—they served together for more

than three decades—and when Biden was Vice President. They co-sponsored bills in the Senate, and they compromised over the 2012 tax bill—much to the chagrin of left-wing Democrats. Indeed,

McConnell would be Biden’s best protection against woke extremists such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has claimed that it was the so-called “progressives” who won the

election for Biden by turning out the youth vote.  AOC, as she is called, is a joint creation of the media and Twitter. She has millions of followers; otherwise she would be just another

backbencher in the 435-member House. Given her outsized influence, should the Democrats take both Georgia runoffs, she and her “Democratic Socialist” colleagues will be in a position to pull

Biden much further to the left than he otherwise would be inclined to go. A Democratic-controlled House and Senate would press him to expand Obamacare; begin to implement the excessively

costly Green New Deal; raise the minimum wage; cut defence spending by as much as ten per cent per annum; forgive student debt and eliminate tuition at all public universities; and raise

corporate, income and capital gains taxes to unheard of levels in order to pay for it all. In sum, the race for two Senate seats in Georgia could well determine American domestic policy for

the next four years. Foreign policy is primarily the President’s domain. The outpouring of good wishes from America’s friends, partners and allies indicates the degree to which Biden, a

known international personality, is seen as the catalyst for a return to American leadership of the Free World. Boris Johnson, whom Trump considered to be one of his favorites, nevertheless,

like his European colleagues, was quick to congratulate America’s incoming leader. On the other hand, the clear reluctance of autocrats such as Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi to congratulate

the President-elect underscored the world-wide recognition that America would no longer kow-tow to those who would wish it ill.  There were two notable exceptions among the leaders of

America’s allies who rushed to wish Biden success. One was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish strongman, whose policies have increasingly rendered questionable his country’s membership of

NATO, given the alliance’s commitment to freedom and democracy. The other was Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s leader took twelve hours to get around to congratulating Biden, without actually

stating that he won the election. Moreover, at the same time he praised Trump to the skies, saying that the 45th President had taken the American-Israeli relationship to “unprecedented

heights”. Netanyahu no doubt recalls, as Biden surely does, that when the then Vice President visited Israel in 2010, the Prime Minister embarrassed him by announcing the construction of new

settlements. Biden has long been a supporter of Israel and has already said he will not move the American Embassy back to Tel Aviv. But Netanyahu’s bad form is unlikely to endear him to

many of Biden’s advisors, who in any event resent both his style and his policy substance. Netanyahu, too, will have to come to terms with the reality that from January 20, 2021, he will

have to deal with a very different man in the White House.  Many in the American media are bemoaning the fact that even if Trump disappears, Trumpism will not. By Trumpism they mean racism,

hatred of immigrants, and sheer nastiness. Not all of those who voted for Trump — and he received more votes than he had when he won the 2016 election — are bigots and rednecks. Some

certainly are; there are far too many racists and anti-Semites for America’s good. Nevertheless, many voted for Trump because they felt that Democrats continually overlooked their own values

and priorities; that the party that once represented underpaid workers now looked after the interests of overpaid elitists.  Biden is no elitist, however. He was not born with a silver

spoon in his mouth like the elder or the younger Trumps, or for that matter, the “first son-in-law” Jared Kushner. Nor did Biden attend a top university. Unlike the Trump clan, he had to

work hard to succeed in life, and overcome personal tragedy in doing so. If anyone can convince what is probably the majority of Trump voters that the Democrats can still care about the

little white man, and not only the elites, women and minorities, it is Joe Biden. And to the extent that he does so, America’s bitter divisions will begin to heal. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE

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