Trump vs. Biden: Who Will Win?
Who will win? If polling is any indication: Biden will win. America may be able to let out a sigh of relief on the 3rd November 2020, if the presidency of Trump comes to an end. All be it, this is still heavily dependant on Biden's success in winning the Electoral College, arguable a process that is highly undemocratic, in which, historically we have seen Trump win the presidency even though he did not win the majority or even popular vote in 2016 against Hilary Clinton. Over the last four years, Trump has demonstrated his authoritarian tendencies through various means: flouting the rule of law, encouraging violence and hostility toward political opponents; endorsing white supremacists groups as well as packing the supreme court with conservative judges, namely Amy Coney Barrett; all underpinned by the cult-like personality he exudes. Arguably, he is the most corrupt president in history.
Trump is a president who believes himself to be the champion of the average working American, whilst ironically betraying millions of Americans by not paying his fair share in taxes. He has been impeached, has had his most trusted advisors betray him and through the course of 2020; presided over catastrophically, the outbreak of COVID-19, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
It is fair to say that Americans — especially Americans on the left — are exhausted. As we inch ever closer to the end of what seems like a never-ending election campaign, tensions heighten. His opposition, Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, almost seems like a Godsend and more of a progressive than he is. During both election debates, Biden championed for affordable housing and green new jobs to address climate change. Whilst his propositions are attractive in theory, how much will change under a Biden administration?
Will Biden truly usher in the change that America so desperately needs? No, not at all. No transformative and tangible change can come from a candidate who’s politics is entrenched in neoliberal dogma. Whilst Biden can openly endorse BLM, it is only a matter of time before that support becomes a nuisance which must be neutralised.
Much of Biden’s political rhetoric during this election campaign has been to mobilise white working-class people, often resulting in him reminiscently informing us that he is from a humble working-class Irish background, subsequently drawing on emotional stories from his childhood and recalling the times he was bullied for being poor and his parents not going to college.
That might have been the case once upon a time, however, in the present day, Biden has firmly asserted his obsession with the white middle classes. He has escaped the ‘trappings’ of his Irish working-class background, only now to ascend to being a fully-fledged member of the white capitalist classes.
The appointment of Kamala Harris as vice president further strengthens his neoliberal credentials. Upon her appointment, Wall Street executives praised Biden for choosing Harris as a running mate. Choosing Harris was a signal to Wall Street donors that capital would still be protected under Biden. No change will affect the status quo. Big business and politics will always be bedfellows. Harris in the White House only further solidifies the defeat of the left of Democratic Party. Corporate interest is always welcomed under a Biden/Harris administration as Biden informs Wall Street donors that he is not proposing any new legislation to rein in corporate power or change corporate behaviour.
Harris dubs herself a “progressive prosecutor” however, her stance on incarceration is by no means progressive in any sense. She is a descendent of the Clinton style ‘tough on crime policies’ further subscribing to the prison industrial complex narrative. Historically, Harris did enforce “tough” policies while in the district attorney’s office, such as an anti-truancy program that targeted parents of children who truanted and threatened them with prosecution and punishment to push them to get their children to return to school. Harris has been instrumental in the mass incarceration of poor black and brown people.
Harris is of great value to Biden: her mixed Indian and Jamaican background is being pushed to the forefront of media coverage, undoubtedly to capture the vote of Black and Brown people. She comes stocked with high net worth donors from silicon valley, Wall Street, big pharmaceuticals, and health insurers, as well as providing Biden cover if and when he is accused of being a racist. She is a neoliberal dream, one that firmly places the White House in the palms of the corporate elite.
Whilst Trump must undoubtedly go, those on the left will only receive a small rest-bite before they have to cross swords with Biden and Harris. The lefts fight for human rights will continue as long as the White House panders to its corporate interests. The exploitation of labour is essential and fundamentally core in the amassing of wealth for American elites. Working-class people will still be exploited by the Amazons, Walmart’s, Googles and other corporate giants even under a Biden/Harris administration.
Biden is a conservative in a blue gloss, we cannot expect a revolution under him. Biden’s plea to the working class is vacuous and disingenuous when considering he does not support Medicare for all, which in turn would help lift poor Black and Brown people out of poverty, nor a Green New Deal. Socialism is at complete odds with the billionaires Biden will unquestionably serve. We can guarantee that as long as the parasitic relationship between corporate interests and government exists; democracy will always play second fiddle to the interests of capital.
Polls are showing that Biden is in a strong position, however, we could see another Gore vs. Bush election day fiasco, where Biden loses by a hair. It seems as if the soul of America rests on the election day result.
Whilst authoritarianism may ‘end’ with Trump (hopefully) what will rise with Biden and Harris is a stronger sense of a plutocratic state.
