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We all know Trump is horrendous but I thought it might be interesting to keep a thread going, listing those things Biden does that Trump would not have.
Will it be substantive change or just optics?
Either he'll be a breath of fresh air or the same tune, played on a different instrument.
Trump was a substantive change towards fascism, so a substantive change back to normality and with the Democrats in charge of all 3 facets of their "democracy" has to be good. Biden has 2 years before the next Senate elections, so he knows he has to get his finger out
Also, there's a chance Biden might retire at some point, and Harris is young & fierce
Bernie Sanders still seems to have respect, though I think he resembles Michael Foot in so many ways
I'm mildly optimistic, and that's unusual for me. Maybe it's the relief of losing Trump
He seems to have started off determined to show that he's different - on the virus, halting wall construction, changing immigration rules etc.
I don't expect much of him, tbh. I hope he does sthg meaningful about the hufe economic inequality in the US, but we will see. Also how he deals with Trump huge budget deficits. But a return to the rule of law and common decency would be good in themselves. Let's also hope he doesnt spend time trying to get Hunter a govt job...
I was interested that Trump mentioned 'not starting any wars" as one of his achievements. I'd noticed that too - who was the last US president not to bomb another country? I wonder if Biden will match that. (Sub to follow...)
'Not starting wars' is arguably the hardest thing for a President to do, given the constant pressure from the military industrial complex. Obama famously dropped 26,000 bombs in 2016 alone - and actually ran out of bombs to drop!
Biden seems content, at the moment, to reset the clock to a pre-Trump period. Worryingly that level of complacency led to Trump being elected in the first place. I fear Trump 2.0 would be much scarier than the first one. He has already gone back on his promise of Covid payments to some of the poorest communities. Good optics but not much substance so far.
'Not starting wars' is arguably the hardest thing for a President to do, given the constant pressure from the military industrial complex.
As an aside: it's always struck me as ironic that it was 'Good Boy' Kennedy who took America into Vietnam, and it was 'Nasty Bastard' Nixon who took 'em out.
Trump 2 is a terrible prosect, but possible. Berlusconi is the model for that I guess.
So while I don't expect great things from Biden, and stability will be enough for the first few months, I hope that he does show some guts, take on the multi billionaires, and consolidate a movement around a fairer greener America. (I could be a speech writer, eh?)
Because I think that'll be better for (almost) everyone, obvs. And because otherwise we could end up in a few years with Donald 2: this time it's (even more) personal... And that will end badly for lots of people.
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