What a week that was in American politics. The events of last Wednesday at the American Capital Building in Washington, D.C., bring to mind the trope of “the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
First, the ugly.
The sight of jerks/thugs/hooligans, aka “a mob,” all whipped-up into a crazed frenzy by none other than President Donald Trump, storming and occupying, albeit briefly, the home of the United States Congress, was shocking.
Even after four years of “Trump derangement syndrome,” the sight of Trump supporters, some armed, forcibly seizing the Capital Building and compelling democratically-elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to flee for their lives, was something most of us thought only happened in tin-pot despotisms.
And what these insurrectionists were after was to prevent the Senate from officially validating the 2020 presidential election results showing that Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be the next president and vice-president of the United States.
What this mob was seeking was to overturn the results of a democratic presidential election, an election the official results of which had been affirmed by all 50 state governments, most with Republican governors, and to somehow have the loser, Donald Trump, declared the president.
If they had succeeded, the United States would have ceased to be a democracy. And later that day Trump said that he loved these people.
That they failed to achieve their, and his, goal, is testament to the enduring institutional strength of the American governmental system of law and order, as well as their own ineptitude.
But the ugliness continues. Five persons died during this riot. That such a mob was able to breach the security cordon around the U.S Capital is inexcusable. And the fact that the rioters were nearly all white, and not black or Muslim, sadly does factor into the understanding of the police reaction to them.
While America dodged a bullet last Wednesday, there is much for Americans to contemplate, and to reform.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
And the good?
The democratic centre held. The mob failed to overturn the election. The Capitol Building was reclaimed. Biden and Harris have been officially confirmed as the new heads of the American federal government. Also on Wednesday, final counting from two Senate run-off elections in Georgia affirmed that the Democrats had gained majority control of the United States’ Senate.
As of Jan. 20, 2021, when Biden and Harris are sworn-in as president and vice-president respectively, the 100-seat Senate will be evenly divided with the Democrats and Republicans each controlling 50 seats. In such circumstances, the Speaker of the Senate, who is the sitting vice-president, is entitled to cast the deciding vote. Advantage Democrats.
But now, some more longer-range bad news.
While the Democrats have control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and, by the slimmest of margins, the Senate, their majority control in the Senate is limited.
Under long-standing Senate rules of procedure, most major legislative acts require majority support of 60 Senators. This the Democrats do not have. So forget reform of the Supreme Court by adding additional judgeships. Forget the admission of Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico as new states, bringing with them four new, safe Democrat senators. And forget major new initiatives on climate change, health care, gun control, and immigration reform, to name just a few.
The vice-presidential casting vote in the Senate, however, does carry some important advantages. A simple majority vote is all that is needed for the Democrats to appoint cabinet secretaries, federal judges, ambassadors, and the heads of federal administrative agencies, from the National Security Agency to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Majority control of the Senate also guarantees President Biden that the Republican party cannot dog his administration with numerous and spurious congressional investigations. But it does mean that, if he and his vice president wish, they can conduct investigations into real instances of wrong-doing – like a Trump-inspired attempted insurrection against American democracy itself.
Dr. David Johnson, Ph.D., teaches political science at Cape Breton University.
