Year 2020 will surely be viewed as a dismal year; we all look to a better 2021. While some people are suffering through loss of loved ones, ill health, and/or financial problems, even food insecurity for many, others remain healthy and financially secure. Wealth of American billionaires has increased by another 931 billion this year. These divisions in terms of health, wealth, and financial security reflect the broad l political and cultural divisions of the nation.

Division of the nation is so stark that we cannot even agree on who won the election. It appears to most of us, even some though not all Republicans, that Biden won the election by some 7 million popular votes and the Electoral College by 306 to 232. But that’s not enough to convince a substantial number of people, including a majority of House Republicans, and some senators, including our own incredibly obtuse Ron Johnson, that the Biden-Harris ticket legitimately won the election.  

Congressional Democrats tell us that a few Republicans whisper in their ear that they know Biden won, but dare not publicly acknowledge it. Why not? Because they are frightened of the “strong man” in the White House and scared silly that Trump will sic a primary challenger against them when they come up for reelection. Since the 1950s when Republicans were intimidated by Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy, have we ever seen such a bunch of cowards so scared of their own shadows?

Even though many, if not most, of these spineless Republican politicians know better, some actually believe that the election numbers are false, that the election was “rigged,” and that Democrats “stole the election” from Trump. There is a huge difference between not liking the outcome, and not believing the outcome. Unexplained is how these “stolen” votes from Trump somehow neglected on the same ballots to steal the down-ballot races in which Republicans did better than expected. But so much for anything resembling logic these days.

Maybe we can all agree that this nation has a smorgasbord of problems. Of course that doesn’t mean that we agree on their gravity, cause, or solution. The pandemic, the economy, racial strife, climate change, the environment, foreign affairs — all have varying interpretations of cause, solution, and immediate short term steps that can and should be taken.

Unemployment remains at a dismal 6.7%, with new applications every week. Income inequality is steadily getting worse. Too many people still lack affordable health care. An unacceptable 27-30% of Americans are food-insecure.

Income inequality and associated problems existed prior to the pandemic. But the pandemic has exacerbated and laid bare problems that previously existed, and were evident to anyone paying attention.

The ravages of climate change are evident to people around the world, including American farmers in red states. But it is still a “hoax” to those who either don’t believe it, or fear that even minor proposed steps to address it would work against their short run economic interests. Scientists assert that if the trend continues, the weight of plastics in the oceans will eventually exceed the weight of fish. Solutions to such problems will require worldwide cooperation — not “America alone.”

President Trump promised that under his leadership the “world will respect us again.” Instead, with our world-worst performance in dealing with the pandemic, and multiple foreign policy blunders including personal snubs to allied leaders, the world alternately laughs at us or looks upon us with pity. Damaged relations with our traditional allies need to be repaired.  

Regarding racial strife, everyone is blaming everyone else. Donald Trump didn’t create it. But he exacerbated it, using it to further divide the nation in pursuit of his own ends.

So Joe Biden, yet to be uniformly and explicitly acknowledged by congressional Republicans posing as gun loving, gun-toting tough guys, while scared stiff of the immature toddler soon to be exiting the White House, inherits these problems.

For the first time in history an outgoing president is denying the legitimacy of his successor. Trump appears oblivious to the nearly one third of one million American deaths from the pandemic. He ignores the cyberattack that compromised government agencies, except to suggest that “it might be China.” 

Instead of being clear about what he would accept in the COVID relief bill, Trump divided his time between golfing, plotting how to overturn election results, and whining over his gorgeous wife not being featured on the cover of fashion magazines. He complained about the bill as insufficient. With some delay for dramatic effect, he signed the bill while complaining of its inadequacy. OK, Mr. President, get to work and convince your Republican sycophants to come up with more dough. 

For the first time in his life Trump has lost big time, and has no one to bail him out of the jam he has created for himself. But he is perfectly willing to bail out and pardon convicted criminals who aided and abetted his corrupt administration — while numbers of prisoners deserving consideration for pardon remain in jail for minor non-violent offenses.  

Trump is clearly around the bend, petrified at the very thought of being a loser. What Trump cannot understand is that losing a presidential election is not a disgrace. Losing a presidential election doesn’t make you a “loser,” unless of course you act in such a way that in the eyes of the public — and history — you actually make yourself into one. And that is exactly what he has done. Republican politicians could have taken the high road. Instead, either because they adore Trump and what he stands for, or out of fear, have chosen to endorse Trump’s quest to overturn the election. 

President-elect Biden inherits multiple intractable problems without the cooperation of Trump during the transition. And, neither the Republicans, nor the media, nor even his own Democrats, will make it easy for him. Yet there are reasons for some optimism.

Next Week: The transition.

— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.