{"id":49838,"date":"2022-11-12T19:59:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T03:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=49838"},"modified":"2022-11-12T19:59:54","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T03:59:54","slug":"as-seen-from-afar-11-13-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/12\/as-seen-from-afar-11-13-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"As Seen from Afar 11\/13\/2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The US midterms showed more than a weakened Trump and a relieved Biden. Are the prophets of doom right about America?<\/h1>\n

I’ve been posting disappointed, cynical and perhaps even angry comments on Politics Plus since the polling booths closed. That may seem a little unfair to many Democrats who are happy the Red Wave didn’t come to fruition and election day was spared expected violence from the right. However, as seen from afar through a democratic lens, both events are not enough. We had hoped for more. I leave it to Stan Grant, an Australian analyst, to explain what the American midterms mean to a long-term ally. His article is taken in full from the ABC News site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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By\u00a0Stan Grant<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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America has been spared\u00a0Donald Trump’s political resurgence but for how long?(AP<\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n

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You can hear the sighs of relief that the anticipated red wave in the American midterm elections did not happen.<\/p>\n

The United States has been spared a resurgent Trumpism \u2026 at least for now. The question is: why did anyone think there would be a resounding Republican triumph?<\/p>\n

Remember the presidential election? The same pundits were predicting a blue wave. An America exhausted by the turmoil of the Trump years, they said, would swing behind the Democrats and\u00a0Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Well, just like now, there was no wave. Yes, Biden won the presidency. But nearly 70 million people voted for Donald Trump, the highest number of votes ever for a sitting president.<\/p>\n

America is divided. That’s the point. These midterms have just underlined it.<\/p>\n

The US is wracked with political tribalism, cutting across fault lines of class, race and geography. So weird is American politics that in a poll before the midterms most Americans believed the Democratic Party, not the Trump Republicans, is the more extreme.<\/p>\n

America is so unruly. So apparently ungovernable that some have even wondered if the Union itself will hold.\u00a0At their most breathless, prophets of doom have warned of civil war.<\/p>\n

Of course, America has been here before. It has actually had a civil war. In the 1960s the United States was torn apart by political assassinations, riots, racism and economic strife. In the 1970s it weathered Watergate and the corruption of the Nixon presidency.<\/p>\n

America can always rebound.\u00a0It is still a beacon for so many. At its best it remains a dazzling place. But equally the past 50\u00a0years may just prove that America’s unravelling is long and deep.<\/p>\n

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\"Donald<\/div>\n<\/div>
America has survived tumultuous presidencies before, including corruption of the Nixon years.(ABC News:\u00a0Shakira Wilson<\/span><\/span>)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American decline continues<\/h2>\n

Those breathing a little easier now need to ask themselves what they are celebrating.\u00a0A Biden reprieve? The likelihood of another Biden term at the next presidential election? What is there to be relieved about in an ailing nation where far too many have abandoned hope?<\/p>\n

Biden has not arrested American decline. Inflation is rampant. The economy is shrinking. The poor are getting poorer. Life expectancy is decreasing. Americans have less faith in democracy, not more.<\/p>\n