US ELECTIONS ACT 6 : TRUMP'S SHAME

Finally the Electoral College has confirmed Biden's victory, both in terms of his overall score and by the numbers in the Electoral College. The Republicans swallowed their lies and halted their gruesome tactics, for now. Trump will never give up since in his sick, infantile mindset it is all about himself. This fabricated real estate Wunderman is nothing but the ultimate 'demolition man.'

America looks like Pompei after the Vesuvius, covered under the weight of four years of corruption, falsehood, denial, organised crime and looting. Prestige and influence lie in the gutter. It becomes hard to believe that this unglorious descent follows a century of existential continuity. There have been colossal mistakes in the past:  slavery, racial discrimination, Vietnam, Iraq....but the pain led to some form of atonement and realization thast something that went dramatically bad that needed to be adressed, collectively.  Instead, lately Americans have had to cope with a 24-hour news cycle of relentless war against facts, science, truth, which left people exhausted.

The new president will have to be the "healer-in-chief".  He needs to restore credibility and civility inside and abroad.  He must lift America out of the category of dubious players, like Brazil, Poland, the Gulf States and Co. It is going to be difficult to convert Trump's base to a more generous form of political discourse since their "leader" will not choose for a more gentle withdrawal in the sunset, as his predecessors did. 

Biden will need support before the United States can lead again.  Europeans should be generous in their support, be it in a more robust burden-sharing in NATO, in welcoming America back in the Paris climate agreement, in WHO,  in trade and in a renewed investment in culture and human rights. These are difficult times since  Covid-19 rules the hearts and minds. Society as we knew it one year ago is gone for ever.  Social behavior, the laws of economy, structural breaking points need a global Rooseveltian intervention. It is unfair to expect the new American president and  vice-president to help the world to break out the Gotterdamerung in a fortnight. It is fair however, to hope for the good of all, that president Biden will try to be the steward of an enlightened global search for solutions that can bring solace for many without privileging one. It would be useful if such an inclusive reflexion could bring back a revisited group of Bandung (the 77). Yesterday's non-alignement is a thing of the past for sure, but the emergencies of today (in the first place climate change, looting of natural resources, the Pikety curse) demand that groups rally among themselves for various degrees of self-preservation.

We are entering unchartered waters. Recent pillars of reason are already immersed by the incoming tide. In the past there were major intellectual events which spurred a coming together of ideas. The Russian revolution, World War II, the end of the colonial arrogance, the Cold War ,Vietnam, the fall of the Berlin Wall created a wave of thought and creativity. Now the voices are muted and Trump was able during his four years of aberration to detrone sense and let noise rule. Thinkers and crators went into hiding. The time has come to wake up and to kill once and for ever the "alternative reality" which was house bred in this grotesque White House.