At 12:00 p.m., January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States. It is a triumph of grit and perseverance from a man who has spent majority of his life in politics and had failed previously in his multiple bids for the Presidency. Now at 78 years of age, and not being given much of a chance, initially, by his own Democratic Party, and consistently mocked by the over-confident Republican incumbent, the now defeated President Donald J. Trump, President Joe Biden triumphed over Trump and the nay-sayers, and over all the odds stacked against him from the beginning, to take the helm of the country at its most challenging time.
The America that President Biden takes over is grievously sick. It is suffering from a largely ignored and now uncontrolled global pandemic by the Trump administration, which made America consistently the worst hit country in the World in terms of people infected and killed by the virus. As a result of the impact of the pandemic, America’s economy is broken and faces significant and escalating challenges to a sustained recovery.
President Biden also inherits a massive National Debt at a time when he will have to continue to spend unreservedly to help millions of struggling Americans during the worst combined health and economic crisis America has ever known.
President Biden also inherits from Trump a deeply and purposely divided country, a part of which has been so brainwashed systematically by extreme partisan Republican politics that they have come to believe a cacophony of increasingly ludicrous alt-right-wing propaganda, lies and bizarre conspiracy theories. These persistent systemic falsehoods among the mostly White Far-Right Conservatives of America so inflamed the 'believers’ that they mounted a planned and armed insurrection just days before Biden’s Inauguration, at the active encouragement of the incumbent Donald Trump and the majority of Republican lawmakers.
Of late, it seems to be the fate of the incoming Democrat Presidents to take over an America in deep crisis from their Republican predecessors. Barack Obama took over when the American and global financial systems was in free-fall after two terms (8 years) of the George W. Bush Presidency; and now Biden is taking on a shattered America from Republican Trump.
In America, Biden is severely challenged and will remain so indefinitely, but in the rest of the World, almost without exception, he is eagerly anticipated and accepted.
In Canada, for most Canadians (as with most Americans) President Biden couldn’t take over fast enough from the deeply despised and generally mocked Trump. Apart from the average Canadian being highly relieved that America is finally back in ‘sensible’ hands again, the Liberal Government of Justin Trudeau would be equally relieved to once again deal with an American Government that appreciates and works with its traditional and historic allies, unlike the Trump administration who made it their governing policy to fight the allies while befriending and catering to America’s traditional and current adversaries.
Canada is America’s largest trading partner, and the biggest ‘Market’ for American goods and services. The US and Canada also share the World’s longest ‘open’ undefended border and have done so for almost ever. Yet, Trump targeted Canada repeatedly for erroneous hikes in multiple areas in his trade and tariff wars. Additionally, Trump’s catering to the alt-far-right agendas and politics of hate and division, ran counter to Canada’s traditional values of inclusivity, strength in diversity, and adherence to international norms, rules, and law-and-order.
To a great extent, the other great trading partner of America, Mexico, is bound to be as greatly relieved and looking forward to the change in the administration from the wilfully destructive Trump to the experienced, balanced and consensus building Biden.
Equally, and perhaps with even greater relief, the governing body of the European Union, with all its various European Countries, and their governments, will collectively breathe a huge sigh of relief that they no longer have to deal with and constantly battle the Russia aligned Trump, who seriously damaged the post Second World War Alliance of Europe and North America, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), while assisting and promoting Putin and Russia.
EU, the single greatest trading market and the greatest experiment in unity the World has known, 30 governments united, where some of the greatest wars in history took place regularly, now looks forward to having ‘a friend in the White House’ again.
Most of all, America needs President Joe Biden.
The destruction, hate, division and sickness unleashed and fostered by Trump left Americans reeling, and the World shocked and astounded. As Biden takes over from the still sulking and hateful Trump who displayed no redeeming qualities and no strength of character but was the very antithesis of what every leader is supposed to be as he departed to sulk and plot some more, America can look forward to a man who has proven his worth, honesty and decency, and his competence through the last critical crisis in 2008 as Barack Obama’s Vice President.
President Joe Biden now gives Americans and the rest of the World the reassurances that are desperately needed that he can heal, rebuild, and bring ‘Order’ where Trump and his followers strived to create disorder. Biden is the man of the hour, and America believed in him enough to elect him, and now trust him to lead them back to sanity and the new version of American normality.