Theological Journal – November 16 The Biden Dilemma

Joe Biden wants to heal a divided America and believes he can do it. This, I believe, is “the” question that will haunt the Biden presidency and the Democratic party beyond it. Broken down into two questions,

-are the divisions we currently experience fundamental or strategic?

-if fundamental, can Biden be of much help?

Our divisions are fundamental.

What we have seen played out in the two Trump campaigns and his one term in office is we are two Americas. One America is open to a future as a multiethnic nation and desirous of extending the opportunities of the America we believe in to others. The other America is not open to such a future or to sharing the “goodies” they have gotten from their vision of America.

To my mind, these are fundamental, game-changing, non-negotiable differences. Now that the Trump phenomenon has made it acceptable to go public with this second version of America, can we move forward together, without one side subduing the other (by electoral or other means)? If two fundamentally different gestalts inform for same reality, and neither group, so far as I can tell, wants to substantially revise or alter its vision of America, how can the two go forward together?

-Biden cannot, then, be of much help.

A Biden administration can halt the Trumpian slide toward authoritarianism. And that is not a small thing. But his administration can only revert to Obama-like centralism and neoliberalism in the hope that economic stability and, hopefully, progress, can win the compliance if not the hearts of Trumpian American. That assumes, of course, that Covid can be effectively corralled in the near future. And that the economic damage Trump has inflicted can be undone in a four-year term. And if these things happen, all that has been accomplished would be to reset the clock to 2016 and leave the stage vacant for a return of Trumpian America to the centerstage in 2024 in the person of the Donald himself or Ivanka or Donnie Jr. running against Harris for the White House. Such a scenario amounts to kicking the can of the problem of our two Americas down the road for another day and other people to wrestle with.

Of course, this is all just a guess. Circumstances or events unforeseen may change the political calculus substantially. But at present, a return to 2016 is perhaps the best we can hope for. But is that moving forward? Not, I suspect, for those who call themselves “progressive” or push hard for the “open” vision of America noted above. They will not likely support a centrist Democrat again. And what they do will change the face of the 2024 election, I am sure.  

 Can Joe Biden heal the divisions between the two Americas? No. No one can. Thus, our future remains murky and unpredictable. God may not even be willing to help us as a nation since it is possibly time for or empire to end. Like I said, murky and unpredictable.