No more thinking about politics after this? Think again.
For the past four years, Trump was almost all anyone talked about. We conversed about him with strangers in office-building elevators and overheard talk about him everywhere from the supermarket to walking the dog. He was, in comedian John Mulaney’s brilliant 2018 routine, a horse loose in a hospital: a creature out of his element and wreaking unpredictable havoc. The president is a former reality-TV star, with a genre-honed talent for attention-getting and feuds. He tweeted, raged at bizarre news conferences and indulged in toddler-like behavior with foreign dignitaries.
How could you avoid obsessing over that? And how, at some point, could you not get tired of it and just wish for something — or someone — to make it go away? Yes, we are a divided nation, but a solid majority did vote to cancel Trump. And Biden, who all but promised to restore the ancien régime of the Obama years, has received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history.
But here is the complication: Biden prevailed, but so did many Republicans. In the House, the Democrats lost seats. And it’s looking more and more likely — pending two runoffs in Georgia in January — that Republicans will continue to control the Senate.
Some of this is due to the nature of our Constitution, which gives Maine the same two Senate seats as California. But it also happened because a number of people still believe the two parties will happily work together. It’s a fantasy version of politics — and one that will almost certainly ensure we will continue thinking about politics far too much.
One major reason we arrived at this place of desperation is that the Republican Party essentially stopped acting as a governing partner, and instead decided that it was their way or the highway, no matter how much anyone begged or hoped otherwise. And there is no reason to assume that has changed.
Republicans, who voted for a budget-busting tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, are already rediscovering that federal deficits matter to them — and matter a lot. Friday morning, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) declared he’d like to “create a dialogue about how we can finally begin to address debt,” suggesting that he’ll use that excuse to block Democrat-produced legislation at every turn. When challenged in a recent debate about the lack of further stimulus and assistance for financially desperate Americans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) laughed.
If Republicans refuse to sign off on a robust enough stimulus, we will almost certainly see a repeat of the aftermath of the Great Recession, which sent wealth inequality soaring as those richest in stock market assets saw gains, while most others struggled for years. The chances of getting meaningful action on health care — an issue that single-handedly drives Americans around the bend — are dim.
Yes, Biden will try to work with the other side and govern for all Americans, even those who did not and will not support him. But for that to work, Republicans need to want to cooperate — not simply to get legislation passed, but to heal the bitter wounds that the feckless and selfish Donald Trump inflicted on the United States. Maybe I’m pessimistic, but I don’t think that will happen without a lot of struggle and work from us all. For now, enjoy the break from politics — while you can.
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