WASHINGTON — Nov. 8 was a brilliantly sunny Sunday in the American capital and the first morning we awoke here knowing that the nightmare of Donald Trump’s presidency is now set to end.
There was a collective sigh of relief across America the previous morning after it became clear that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s sycophantic “friend” did not have enough votes from the Nov. 3 presidential election and that Joe Biden would become the country’s next president.
On Nov. 7, I joined thousands of others for a spontaneous party around the White House.
It was the happiest, most intensely joyous mass event I’ve ever attended in the U.S. and it reminded me of the hope-filled celebrations after Ukraine’s Orange and EuroMaidan revolutions, both of which were accompanied by changes in the presidency.
I cycled there. And a good thing too because the four kilometers from my home to the White House were jammed with cars honking their horns while cheering people with Stars and Stripes flags, many banging makeshift drums, lined the roads.
Trump was forced to witness the scenes of elation because he had been golfing and his return to the White House was slowed by the large crowds.
He would have seen old and young people of all colors, groups of friends and families with young children. There was music, singing, dancing, Champagne and an abundance of goodwill. Most people wore masks but social distancing was impossible.
Nobody had organized the gathering in Washington and dozens of others that happened across America.
A supporter of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris poses for a selfie near the security fence that surrounded the White House November 08, 2020 in Washington, DC. More than 75 million ballots were cast for Biden and Harris, who defeated President Donald Trump in his bid to be re-elected. (AFP)
Trump’s admiration for autocrats
I’ve been privileged to witness such celebrations elsewhere.
In November 1989 I drove from East Berlin into the massive street party West Berlin was transformed into on the night the Wall fell. I saw the rejoicing after communist rule fell apart in countries such as former Czechoslovakia and later in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine.
People in all of those places were ecstatic about the fall of autocrats. Yet I never expected to witness similar feelings of relief and sheer joy after an election in America – the original home of democracy.
Donald J. Trump is not a Hitler or Stalin but he makes no secret of his envy of the autocratic power of the ruthless leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and others governed by “strongmen” with blood on their hands. Unchecked, I’m sure he’d like to be able to behave more like them.
America has a somewhat complicated system for arriving at the winner of a presidential election. Although Joe Biden received some four or five million more votes than Trump across the country, the final outcome is determined by a formula linked to the results in each of America’s 50 states.
Each state has a number of “electoral college” votes proportionate to the size of its population. The candidate who gets at least half of those votes plus one, 270, wins.
The celebrations broke out after Biden passed that number on Saturday although his victory won’t be officially confirmed until the electoral college meets on Dec 14.
Trump doesn’t want to go
Trump has made it clear he is not going to concede defeat for as long as possible. He has made a string of allegations, without any evidence, that there has been massive electoral fraud.
Many of his challenges about electoral impropriety have already been dismissed. Sources within the White House have told the press that Trump is incredulous, stung and angry by his defeat.
Although many senior Republican Party figures have advised Trump not to undermine trust in the U.S. electoral process with his baseless fraud allegations, he is likely to continue. It may take weeks to complete all the judicial reviews Trump’s complaints initiate.
More worryingly, Trump is using inflammatory language that seems calculated to incite anger among some of his gun-toting supporters who have already committed acts of violence.
Trump’s hallmark has been to sow confusion and exacerbate tense political divisions within the U.S. If he continues to whip up venomous sentiments, many fear that there will be more bloodshed.
But eventually, Trump will have to face reality – that the largest voter turnout in American history has given the criminal, narcissistic, amoral pathological liar Trump his marching orders and that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president on Jan. 20, 2021.
Biden wants to unify America
Biden and his vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, gave speeches on Saturday evening that were gracious and focused on unifying the bitterly divided nation.
While Trump always focused on his devoted, frequently fanatical, “core” supporters and showed contempt for others, Biden and Harris repeatedly stressed they will be the leaders of all Americans, irrespective of which candidate they had voted for.
The tone of their uplifting message was almost stunning in its contrast to the incessant, nasty, ignorant, and aggressive rhetoric shrieked or tweeted out by the incumbent president.
Most Americans, whether Republicans or Democrats, likely want to return to being able to speak to one another courteously and treating those with different political views as opponents, not enemies.
Trump’s refusal to challenge the Kremlin posed extreme dangers for Ukraine, locked in conflict with Russia since Moscow invaded in 2014.
Trump’s loathing for Ukrainians, who he called “terrible people,” meant that assistance to Ukraine was only possible because of bipartisan support in the American Congress for Ukraine and because many officials in his administration and government departments recognized that U.S. and Ukrainian interests coincided.
Ukraine received Javelin anti-tank missiles and the U.S.imposed sanctions on Russia despite, not because of, Trump.
Moscow hates Ukraine’s friend, Biden
American intelligence agencies reported that Moscow, manipulating social media and using other “hybrid warfare” techniques, worked hard to support Trump’s presidential election campaign and undermine that of Biden.
The reports concluded the Kremlin tried to denigrate Biden because when he was vice president under Barack Obama, he supported Ukraine and even wanted to supply Javelin missiles but was overruled by Obama.
Biden has promised that, as president, he will increase various forms of assistance to Ukraine, including lethal weapons and other measures to beef up the country’s military.
Trump was impeached in Congress last year because of his attempt to force Ukraine to provide political dirt on Biden by withholding millions of dollars in U.S. military assistance.
During the course of the impeachment process many honorable U.S. officials and good friends of Ukraine, who defended her against fake narratives and allegations spread by Trump and his associates, were dismissed or left fearful about their futures.
Being seen as a supporter of Ukraine could end or damage the careers of people at the Pentagon, State Department, and other government departments.
One of the first results of Biden’s presidency will be to remove that fear of punishment for government officials who advocate support for Ukraine.
Hopefully, the Biden administration will reinstate some of those who have suffered because they worked for America’s interests, on Ukrainian and other issues, and not for Trump’s personal interests.
What is certain is that there were no Champagne corks popping in the Kremlin after this U.S. elections, as there were when Trump was elected in 2016.
And while the dangers of fresh Russian aggression remain, the existential threat for Ukraine of being abandoned by her most important friend and ally, America, is receding.
The prospects for peace in the Donbas that protects Ukraine’s interests have increased profoundly this weekend.
Never has an American election been so closely watched by the rest of the world and many were quick to signal their relief at Trump’s defeat.
Friends sent me messages about celebratory street parties in London, something that seldom happens even after British elections.
America is important for the rest of the world, especially those democracies that have always looked to her for leadership and assistance.
Trump praised dictatorships while heaping scorn and insults on traditional American allies, who came to question whether they could trust Washington.
Far from countering Putin’s attempts to wreck the stable, American-inspired, postwar “world order” relying on the rule of law and respect for freedom and human rights, Trump seemed unconcerned as the Kremlin aggressively pursued its plans.
It is not much of a bet that most Western countries will enthusiastically welcome Biden’s victory.
Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, summed up with French elegance what many are feeling: “Welcome back America.”
