Analysis: Unrest sets up Trump-Biden battle for nation’s soul
Until now, the national presidential campaign of the 77-year-old former vice president Biden had seemed like a placeholder. He had even referred to himself as a bridge to a new generation of Democrats and there was not much aspirational about a bid rooted almost exclusively in kicking Trump out of the White House.
But the suddenly critical political circumstances offer him the chance to give a lifelong quest for the presidency the more soaring meaning that it has always lacked.
The somber implication of Trump’s campaign theme is that for it to work, he needs to keep the country on a constant hair-trigger of fear, acrimony and confrontation during a long, hot summer ahead of the final run-in to November’s election. So there will be every incentive for him to further rip at society’s wounds for political gain, meaning that his “law and order” crusade will be even more overt than similar racially suggestive themes used by Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
For Biden to prevail and turn Trump into a one-term President, he must now become the vehicle for across-the-board national revulsion over Trump’s rhetoric and tactics.
The themes that have burst into life in the week since Floyd was killed mean the election could turn on how a majority of Americans perceive the true definition of “law and order” and the country’s attitude to its own racial legacy a fifth of the way into the 21st Century.
Trump’s choice
Trump this week could have given the Oval Office address to soothe tensions and preach the common destiny of all Americans.
The President’s play is clear. He is betting that suburban voters disgusted that he ignored the coronavirus pandemic until it was too late, will swing right as he invokes the specter of lawlessness and race riots and social turmoil.
“Now (Biden) he pretends to have the answers,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “He doesn’t even know the questions. Weakness will never beat anarchists, looters or thugs, and Joe has been politically weak all of his life. LAW & ORDER!”
A law and order crisis also offers Trump a chance to reestablish the dynamic of his 2016 campaign — that he is the outspoken bull in a china shop who slays political correctness but who, unlike the media and East Coast elites, understands heartland instincts. As a recent Trump campaign video put it: “President Trump’s not always polite. Mr. Nice Guy won’t cut it.”
Biden’s sudden opening
Biden’s speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday pleased Democrats beginning to worry he was not meeting the moment that could define 2020.
“I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate. I’ll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use them for political gain. I’ll do my job and I’ll take responsibility — I won’t blame others,” Biden said.
Suddenly, a national father figure projecting empathy distilled from his own searing personal tragedies might be the man for moment. Biden is now promising specific legislation to address the lack of racial equality under the law, giving his potential presidency a generational and reforming purpose — and possibly an issue that could unite the Democratic left fully behind him and lance suspicion over his role in 1990s crime legislation.
The assault from Trump’s well-funded campaign and his conservative media supporters will be relentless. But successful candidates create a narrative that fits the times. With his speech on Tuesday, Biden made a start on that process.
“‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ George Floyd’s last words. But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation,” Biden said.
