US ELECTIONS ACT 5 : THE DOGS OF THE PRESIDENT-ELECT

There is no better indication of modest renewal after the Trump nightmare than the news that the Bidens will inhabit the White House with two dogs and one cat (in waiting). Coming after this dehumanizing administration, a new normal slowly takes over.

The choices of personel hitherto made are reassuring, if not surprising. America will enter a more legitimate path. It remains to be seen if the Republicans will swallow their humiliation and return to opposition without sabotage. The party needs to recover from its ride into madness, but there are no indications of remorse or just plain courtesy to be seen. The senatorial election in Georgia could temper the mood in case the Democrats won. It could as well further sour the future if the Republicans win the two seats and continue to control the Senate.

The president-elect is more about restauration than innovation. His choices are safe but there is no sparkle as those which existed under Presidents Kennedy, Clinton or Obama.  It might be a good thing after all since the American patient remains in shock. There are still weeks ahead wherein Trump might claim attention without restraint. The son-in-law of the outgoing president is already heading for the Middle East with Trump's compliments. Everyone familiar with the goings-on in the region will be anxious to see what this sorcerer's apprentice might come up with.

The strategy of the outgoing administration is clear. It is about consolidation of measures in the diplomatic, economic, environmental, judiciary fields that will make it hard for the president-elect to undo. The "forgotten" American male in flyover territory must be rewarded for his loyalty to the flag and to God. Trump's heaven will continue to the last day to bestow pennies to the base.

The world looks on. Western Europeans are relieved, the Chinese are polite, the Russians are pros, the Brazilian fumes, Israel & Co. are resigned and the rest of the word doesn't give a damn.

In reality little will change in the immediate future. Some gestures (Paris agreement) can be expected. Some mood swings will calm down. Otherwise, the division is here to stay and America remains a country divided on civil war lines. This president-elect knows that anticipation of love is often contradicted by its realisation. One should wish him well, with the knowledge that he shouldn't count on the gentleman's behavior he knew in his former Senate years. Those days are bygones and a viper's nest has infested the Capitol.