NOSTALGIA FOR REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IS MISPLACED

 

“Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10

Nostalgia is the art of comparing today’s disappointing reality to a bittersweet longing for the past.  Looking back at the perceived highlights of our long-gone “glory days” can make us feel deprived or left out in our present day-to-day existence. 

Nostalgia is a potent psychological weapon that has been utilized to great effect in modern day Republican political advertising. Nostalgic messaging has stigmatized minorities and appealed to populists who wish to return to a time they fear has been lost.

The Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign slogan of Donald Trump’s successful bid for president in 2016 cashed in on this nostalgia.  Many voters in rural America wished to return to a “whiter” version of America. Trump’s political screeds against anyone who disagreed with him encouraged Republicans to follow his leadership back to a nativist and nationalist Promised Land.

More recently, leading up to this year’s midterm elections, Republican talking points have been directed toward voters’ feelings of disquiet and unhappiness. Rather than articulate new policy positions, Republicans ask voters to consider how much better their world was under the previous  administration when the GOP controlled both Congress and the White House.

This commentary will take stock of America at the end of the Trump presidency and two years into the Biden administration. Voters who are buying into the Republican MAGA argument of political nostalgia should be reminded what the past looked like under Republican leadership before casting their ballots.

The Pandemic.  Based upon a 2020 to 2022 comparison, Republicans are wrong to say that President Biden has done no better than Donald Trump in defeating Covid.  First, the biggest wave of the coronavirus in this country peaked near the time Biden was inaugurated with 3,000 deaths per day.  Second, under Biden our nation has accounted for a 40 percent smaller share of worldwide deaths than under Trump. Third, people who disproportionately were responsible for coronavirus deaths — the unvaccinated — were largely Trump Republicans who will not listen to public health experts. Lastly, Biden’s programs to promote transparency, encourage mask wearing and to provide vaccines, including boosters has far outpaced the Trump efforts.

The Economy.  When Trump left office the nation suffered record high unemployment (6.3%) and an economy in freefall. By comparison, last week it was announced that under Biden’s leadership, the U.S. has fully recovered all private sector jobs lost during the pandemic. The unemployment rate is at an historic low of 3.6%.

The international trade deficit Trump promised to reduce was instead the highest since 2008 in his final year and increased 40.5% from 2016. The number of people lacking health insurance rose by 3 million under Trump. The federal debt held by the public went up from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion. Home prices rose 27.5%. Coal production declined 26.5%, and coal-mining jobs dropped by 16.7%.  

Republicans are pummeling Biden with the high inflation numbers despite the fact that inflation is a worldwide problem caused by the Ukraine war, supply chain bottlenecks and high demand for goods coming out of the pandemic.  These dislocations will rebalance before the end of the Biden presidency.

Foreign Policy.  According to the Pew Research Center, the election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image. Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, foreign publics held the United States in low regard with most opposed to his foreign policies. A recent Research Center survey of 16 foreign nations finds a notable uptick in ratings for the U.S. with strong support for Biden and his major policy initiatives.

Biden has reversed Trump by rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. He has ended the Muslim ban on immigration and rejoined the World Health Organization and the United Nations Human Rights Counsel. The President has ended American support for offensive operations in Yemen and joined the global effort to fund and deliver Covid-19 vaccines around the world, which Trump refused to do.

Concerning the war in Ukraine, Trump has repeatedly stated that the conflict would never have started if he were president. However, most foreign policy experts believe that the former president’s mistreatment of Ukraine and cozy relationship with Russia’s President Putin (and other authoritarian leaders) directly emboldened Putin to commence the war.

 The State of Democracy. The Trump presidency was in constant turmoil and marred by two impeachments and the Mueller investigation into his campaign’s collusion with Russia. The high rate of turnover among senior-level advisers to President Trump was unprecedented. During his presidency, Trump accumulated 30,573 misleading claims and untruths.

Following Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 election, he planned a White House coup to retain power by denying Biden an affirmation of the Electoral College results before Congress. On January 6, 2021, he urged his supporters to converge on the Capitol.  At least 876 people have been charged in the resulting Capitol insurrection.  The investigations into the planning of the coup continue.

As with all administrations, President Biden has made mistakes.  However, there is nothing in his record that should deny him a midterm majority in Congress to complete his election mandate. For voters to reach back and recreate the Republican years under Trump is not nostalgia. It is the resurrection of a nightmare.