Finally, the Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the US presidential election in a unique race, in terms of exceptional national and global health and economic conditions, as well as the actors participating in the arena of political conflict. Joe Biden, thus, ended the ambition of his rival Donald Trump to lead the United States (US) for a second term.
The American voters in the presidential race chose the new president by voting for the Democratic candidate who won and obtained more than 270 electoral college votes, which is necessary to win the American presidential election, as we previously mentioned in another article.
The new president is known for his kindness, perseverance, and sympathy for others, thanks to his family origins. He always remembers his father, the man who experienced both wealth and poverty and worked very hard, either in cleaning ovens or as a used-car salesman, to earn living… In any gatherings, Biden always repeats his father’s quote, “My son, a man is not judged by the number of times he fails and falls to the ground, but rather how fast he rises up again.”
At the age of thirteen, his family moved to Delaware. In 1968, Biden earned his law degree and was admitted to the Delaware bar at a time when the state witnessed a series of riots and arrests over the murder of Martin Luther King.
And when he was 29, he decided to enter the arena of political conflict and managed, surprisingly, to defeat the outgoing Republican senator in 1972, to become the 5th youngest US senator in history.
The new president was also plagued by several family misfortunes, including the death of his wife, Neilia, and daughter Naomi, in a car accident, and his two young sons, Beau and Hunter, were also injured.
After this tragic accident, Biden was about to give up his seat in the senate to take care of his two injured children but he was persuaded to stay and give it a trial. He was sworn in not in the Senate but in his sons’ hospital room.
Because of the accident, Biden was forced to return daily to his home in Wilmington, Delaware by train, after finishing his shift in Washington. Biden got used to this habit throughout his career in the Senate, which earned him another nickname, “Amtrak Go” (after the American Railroad Company).
Despite the cruelty of the tragedy, it was not the last tragedy in Biden’s life. During his second term as Vice President Obama, his son Beau, who served as an attorney-general in Delaware, died in 2015 at the age of 46 after a struggle with brain cancer.
For Biden, the presidential election has become “a battle for the soul of the nation,” as he always repeats on numerous occasions. When asked on CNN last September whether he considered himself “the polar opposite of Donald Trump,” he only smiled, saying, “I hope so.”
So, Joe Biden convinced voters that he had the strategy, expertise, and political experience to erase the traces of Trump’s rule on the country. He has begun preparations for his transition to the White House with a focus on several files, setting two priorities: combating the Covid-19 epidemic and reuniting the divided country.
Biden also intends to reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), rejoin the Paris climate accords and abolish the immigration decree that prohibits the entry of citizens of several Muslim-majority countries to American soil; Moreover, it is certain that the Biden administration will include representatives of the party’s left-wing, centrists, and perhaps some Republicans.
However, I am sure that the task of the new American president will be very difficult in dealing with the existing division in American society, after a fierce election battle; those who gave their votes to Trump, numbering more than 70 million people, represent a wide bloc in American society, and are closely related to Trump’s personality and policies, which he established during his four-year rule in what is known as “Trumpism”.
This ‘Trumpian legacy’ has not only imprinted the US Republican Party with its dangerous character but also put the bases for popularity that will remain effective and influential for many years to come.
