POTUS/General Election Thread 2020 + Aftermath

[Pannonian]

I can only hope that Biden's long experience in politics together with such a close count in the Senate encourage some bi-partisan work together in DC. The zero sum politics of take control of the whatever branch and then either dictate terms or obstruct which has been the norm since Harry Reid has not been good for the country. This increased tribalism makes us weak internally and ineffective externally.

I can also only hope that Trump can step out of the lime light once he's out of office. If he's seriously considering start an election campaign for 2024 once he's out of office and we endure 4 more years of constant campaigning it'll be bad for the country. The two year election cycle is bad enough but perpetual campaigning is not sustainable if the government is to function.

The problem, also seen on this side of the water, is when one side sees that electoral advantage is the be all and end all, and this attitude is backed by the electorate. When that happens, as has been the case from the right for the past few years, there is a firm core that will never be convinced by evidence or reality, and all that remains is to add enough to that to get electoral victory. And when in power, stack up the institutional advantages so that the other side is fundamentally handicapped in any presumption of a fair contest.

There needs to either be a drastic cutting back of the right to show that this does not work, or else a prolonged exile of the right from power to restore normality. Anything short of that, and the scenario raised in the Guardian will come about; the strategy of the alt right combined with a less incompetent individual than Trump. A classical tyranny, in other words (see the ancient Greek tyrants like Pesistratus and Dionysius).