The cover of this week’s Economist, that British bastion of business, intelligence, culture and policy, has a ragged, torn US flag flying over a government building. Above the flag is this lead: “Why it has to be Joe Biden.” In three articles, the magazine makes a strong case for Biden for the American voter. The subtitle of the first article summarizes their case: Donald Trump has desecrated America’s values. Joe Biden offers the prospect of repair and renewal.
Though, happily, Joe Biden has won the election, I think it’s important to think through all the Trump damage from over the past four years so we can make sense out of the coming years—and especially the interim between the election and the inauguration. And also, understand how much work the Biden administration has to do, a lot of which will be completely new and different for this century.
The Economist (10/30/2020) ticks off Trump’s failures, including regressive tax cuts, damaging deregulations, especially environmental policy, the debacle of health-care reform, and the cruel immigration separation of children from their parents. But they also allude to welcome changes between Israel and Muslim states, demands on NATO support for defense, and China’s recognition of us as a formidable adversary.
But, the Economist’s bigger dispute with Trump is over something far more fundamental: the desecration of the “values, principles and practices that made America a haven for its own people and a beacon to the world. Those who accuse Mr. Biden of the same or worse should stop and think. Those who breezily dismiss Mr. Trump’s bullying and lies as so much tweeting are ignoring the harm he has wrought.”