Opinion: Is a post-Trump era of bipartisanship upon us?
February 15, 2021
President Joe Biden’s Inauguration commenced with words about unity, tolerance and the preservation of democratic values. In his speech, Biden called for the nation’s reconciliation in the midst of political turmoil. The speech received positive reviews from both sides of the aisle. For many commentators, Biden’s inauguration signaled a change in tone for the direction of the country; one that would differ from the Trump administration’s.
Several Republican Senators complimented Biden’s speech. Among those Republicans was Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is a long-time colleague and friend of Biden’s. “I stand ready to work with him to advance common goals,” Collins said.
Collins even pointed out how she, along with others in the Senate, already worked with Biden in some capacity.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also approved of Biden’s speech. Murkowski said it was well done and needed. When asked about Republicans and Democrats working together, Murkowski said it was a possibility.
Senator Mitt Romney, the former Republican Presidential candidate, also said Biden’s words were not only needed but strong. Romney is a Republican that could be willing to work with the current administration. After all, Romney has experience going against his own party if need be, this was made evident when he voted to convict in President Trump’s first impeachment trial.
There have been other Republican leaders that have expressed similar sentiments. However, the biggest challenge for bipartisanship is that the Republican party is divided.
There are those who are more moderate and willing to work together.
Then there are Trump loyalists.
Even if they aren’t loyalists, few are willing to go against their party. This is when Biden will apply that experience in the Senate he bragged so much about on the campaign trail.
Just because this transition seems to be off to a good start, doesn’t guarantee it will stay that way. Inevitably, there are Republicans who have their reservations about Biden’s executive orders and policies. This indicates that their cooperative spirit could very much change depending on these new executive orders.
Republicans are probably trying to be more amicable and show unity with the newly elected president mostly because of the insurrection on Capitol Hill. There is a clear ideological disturbance between Trump’s fanbase and it would be wise for Republicans not to feed into it.
In spite of these challenges, with this new presidential administration, we will definitely see more bipartisanship than in the previous one. The contrast between this administration expressing the need for tolerance and collaboration and the previous one carrying contentious politics with arrogant combative personality is drastic.
However, time will only tell whether bipartisanship will return to Capitol Hill.
Maya Rodriguez is a senior studying political science, international security and conflict resolution.
Kelly Le Berthon • Feb 23, 2021 at 7:41 am
While we might agree that some of President Biden’s support was due to a country exhausted from the trials of the pandemic year of 2020 and the resulting lockdowns, school closures, jobs lost and churches closed, not to mention the several months of riots, looting and mayhem, as well as skyrocketing murder rates, homeless rates, overdose rates and people hoping for “the nation’s reconciliation in the midst of political turmoil.” We do not see eye to eye on the theme of unity and tolerance. Your article begins: “President Joe Biden’s Inauguration commenced with words about unity, tolerance and the preservation of democratic values.” Words are important, but actions will tell the story.
You posit that President Biden, the democrats and some RINO republicans will work for and embrace unity, while the ‘Trump loyalist’ will be the source and cause of any division. So, I ask you:
Was it unifying or divisive for President Biden to allow his party to go forward with an impeachment on a president who was already out of office?
Was it unifying or divisive to refer to Trump voters as chumps, racists and white supremacists?
Was it unifying or divisive to sign a record number of Executive Orders without even attempting to pursue the legislative route?
Was it unifying or divisive to cancel the 11,000 Keystone XL Pipeline jobs in the middle of a pandemic, with horrible unemployment rates and the jobs and businesses that are damaged and lost along the pipeline route?
Was it unifying or divisive to call in the troops and build a wall around the US Capitol building because of the made-up threat of ‘domestic terrorists’ (read Trump supporters), while stopping the construction of the wall at the US border – killing off more jobs and leaving mounds of paid for steel on the ground, ready to go to protect US citizens and Border Patrol officers?
Was it unifying or divisive to nominate radical progressives to Biden’s Cabinet? Take for example Xavier Becerra nominated for HHS: “Becerra stands out as one of only a controversial few Democrats who endorse so-called “single-payer” healthcare.” https://catholicvote.org/could-joe-manchin-thwart-xavier-becerras-nomination/ Not to mention that he has zero health care experience.
It certainly was not unifying. In fact, Biden’s actions and words have been divisive all along.
Your article concludes with “In spite of these challenges, with this new presidential administration, we will definitely see more bipartisanship than in the previous one. The contrast between this administration expressing the need for tolerance and collaboration and the previous one carrying contentious politics with arrogant combative personality is drastic.” Democrats certainly say they are a big tent, everyone is welcome, they are tolerant. And yet, their actions betray them – they are absolutely intolerant of any opinion or position that departs from their opinion or position. You have only to follow the mainstream media’s coverage of Amy Coney Barret’s faith as compared to Joe Biden’s faith. Tolerance used to mean the ability to hear other’s opinions and respecting them even though their opinion differed from yours. That is no longer the case. The current definition of tolerance would be closer to the moral relativism – you have your truth, I have my truth, because there is no real truth. This is dangerous, objectively not true and definitely not unifying.
In fact, as some have pointed out, President Biden should be using the word comply as opposed to unity. https://video.foxnews.com/v/6225848321001#sp=show-clips What Big Tech, Big Government and Big Business are now colluding to do is to demonize and delegitimize their opposition (the Republican party and pro Trump voters), stifle free speech with an eye toward stifling thought, and support a Pro China agenda over a Pro America agenda.
So, let’s agree that we would all like to be unified! Let’s agree we all want a calm and well-ordered society governed by the rule of law. Do not be fooled by the unity narrative and the supposed tolerance of the Biden Administration. It is double speak.
Gary Pike • Feb 20, 2021 at 11:06 am
The GOP voter base is trapped in weird “culture war” stuff (paranoia about guns because the NRA is collapsing, ranting about the “deep state” of interlocking US intelligence agencies, etc.) plus the rotting-collapsing QAnon worldview/Alternate Reality Game/weirdo grift that utterly failed to produce The Storm, the mass of arrests of Democratic politicians and Hillary Clinton that would “expose the perfidy” and “save the children” and “prove Trump wasn’t a scam.” Well he was/is a scam and the amoral GOP leadership in Congress are now in a terrible bind because the stuff they want to do, which is more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations…..even though neither group needs more funds. Mitch McConnell hoped to be able to retire on after building “permanent” GOP majority. All of that is in flames. Trumpworld is not reality and his voting base needs to grow up and allow actual governing to go on and BIden needs to face up to the fact that the problems he inherited will need some strong-arming in Congress to be fixed. We are in the middle of a great change — there is a good chance that the GOP will utterly collapse over Trumpist/anti-Trumpist infighting and the Democratic Party will have to live up to its old “Party of the People” slogan. For the survival of the nation, the games will have to stop.