Trump Trumped, Trumpism Lives

Joe Biden will govern a deeply divided nation laid low by the coronavirus

- Saswato R Das

New York City: Tremendous cheering broke out at 11.28am on Saturday: Joe Biden had won the American presidency. CNN had just called the election. Within minutes, people were dancing in the streets.

Cars honked, pots and pans clanged, sounds of joy were everywhere. As of this writing, three hours later, the sounds of celebration haven’t ceased in this solidly Democratic part of Manhattan. It is reminiscent of the roars of victory that accompany an Indian cricket win over Pakistan – only much louder, more prolonged. In my three decades in America, I have never witnessed anything like this.

This was an epic presidential election. The candidates spent almost $14 billion in campaigns. More Americans voted in this presidential election than in any year since 1900. And the country, like the rest of the world, waited for days for a winner to be announced.

Joe Biden, a traditionalist known for his folksy niceness, now seems to have finally won. His running mate, Kamala Harris, daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, has made history as the first woman to be vice-president.