Can America’s broken politics be fixed? The answer is no

Saturday November 7, 2020. 11:26 AM Eastern Standard Time. The moment history was made; the moment Donald Trump’s wretched, monstrous, disgusting presidency was consigned to the dustbin of history.

As CNN called the election for Joe Biden, swiftly followed by most other stations, thousands raced into the streets across America for a spontaneous celebration. This wasn’t just about joy; it was about relief. Of a whole country escaping its serial, malignant abuser, and finally having the chance to start a long healing process from collective trauma. Collective PTSD.

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Around the world, hundreds of millions felt very similarly. After these appallingly dark years of Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte, Andrzej Duda, Binyamin Netanyahu, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Brexit — not to mention a global pandemic which has ravaged economies, social structures and health systems — was this, finally, the turning point?

Well yes: there is light at the end of the tunnel… and maybe it isn’t an oncoming train after all. A terrifyingly swift descent into fascism has, for the time being at least, hopefully been averted. Putin, too, is reportedly on his way out; Netanyahu remains mired in a corruption trial; Johnson will likely resign early in the New Year; and a Biden administration will ostracise the UK completely if it continues on its lunatic path to No Deal Brexit. Britain will be left without a friend in either the US or EU; electorally, there’ll be a huge, inevitable price to pay for the Conservative Party.

But let’s leave the broader picture to one side and focus on the US. That a figure as grotesque as Trump could somehow rise to its highest office — from which, even now, he refuses to concede defeat, instead pursuing all manner of nonsensical lawsuits and spreading preposterously offensive, openly racist conspiracy theories, while his borderline criminal Attorney General abuses his power and does his boss’ bidding — shocked the world. How could such a thing come about? And how, for that matter, could what’ll likely end up at over 72…