Bhopinder Singh | Trump vs Biden: Democracies can be fickle making critical choices

Participative democracies tend to be loud, impressionable and extremely fickle while making critical choices. Perception is reality, and not reality itself. People imagine pain a lot more than gain, even if the former were to be only notional or “manufactured”. Democracies are often the theatre of entertaining storytellers, and those with stories (fiction is usually the preferred genre) that appeal to divisive and darker instincts always command a lead over those who narrate inclusive and restorative themes, as those sound weak and enfeebled. Societal polarisation via “othering” and unashamed majoritarianism cuts through the clutter and mistakenly appears muscular and powerful!

Today, the United States is in the midst of electioneering fervour, and again, perceptions more than hard facts appear to dominate the discourse. In the heat of such passions, former President Donald Trump incredulously accuses his successor Joe Biden of a “conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America”, and of supposed “foreign armies” brought in to help the Democrats, and regularly peddles his favourite mock of ageism against Mr Biden by insisting that he is “lacking mental capacity”. Conversely, Mr Biden accuses Mr Trump of encouraging just re-elected President Vladimir Putin and Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” and of Mr Trump’s supposed willingness to “sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power”. While Mr Trump did give a long rope to the likes of Mr Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and also the precarious possibilities with his behaviour around the January 6, 2021 “insurrection” at the US Capitol, making Mr Biden’s accusations more credible -- but, guess who is winning the war of perceptions? Not Mr Biden, but the seemingly more popular and more likely winner of US presidential elections in November -- the voluble Donald Trump.

The cutting meanness of Mr Trump’s term “Sleepy Joe” for Mr Biden has been an extremely successful caricature of his rival, drowning out the more pertinent and informed debate on factual outcomes of Mr Biden’s presidency. The public is enthralled by the viciousness of accusations like Mr Biden “doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing”, or that “he’s asleep”. They cheer and egg-on Mr Trump impersonating Mr Biden’s robotic body language and awkwardness -- the more malicious and personalised the Trump diatribe becomes; the more powerful Mr Trump emerges. Somewhere along the line, discussions on substantial matters like employment, inflation, recession, social harmony or even the state of the national economy is made immaterial, as if petty insinuations are more important than the things that truly ought to matter.

Repeated polls put charismatic leaders like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on top of the popularity charts, overlooking many unsavoury facts, missteps and failures pertaining to their tenures.

Considering this backdrop, Mr Biden, who hardly fits the “All American Superhero” persona and barely edged past Mr Trump in 2020, was literally on the backfoot from day one. Clearly, Mr Biden’s many gaffes, blunders, and physical tumbles, such as from the stairs of Air Force One, have not warmed up Americans to re-elect an 81-year-old. Obviously, Mr Trump has not made it any easier by suggesting that Mr Biden’s goof-ups could lead to a nuclear war and that he is a “guy who can’t put two sentences together”.

Mr Trump’s inelegant spoof via the commercial White House Senior Living was patent Trump braggadocio. High on taunt, low on substance. Indeed, on occasions Mr Biden has mixed up on leaders and countries, while talking, but so has Mr Trump. But all the while, Mr Trump has stayed clear of more relevant discussion on matters pertaining to the economy, societal harmony, employment, etc, as that is where Mr Biden has undisputedly scored, and scored strong.

That such like mix-ups, follies, or even social gaffes are given to any world leader in public space is ignored. The US media is safeguarded towards free speech by the First Amendment to such an extent that it can criticise, question and highlight every little “fail” without getting curbed or questioned about its “patriotic duty”. The fact-check culture is also highly developed. The extent to which a US President exposes himself to public questioning (not through “arranged” questions) is mind-boggling and the sheer diversity, complexity and depths of topics that are posed do require unbelievable preparation. Not many world leaders would pass the test. A more sinister reality that is conveniently ignored when mocking Mr Biden’s ageism is the alternative of Mr Trump’s dubious record of having made an unprecedented 30,573 false or misleading statements (Washington Post Fact Checker Team) over his presidential tenure.

Perhaps the worst was Mr Trump’s repeated promise of a “bloodbath” in case he is not elected, harking back to January 6 again. The US economy under Mr Biden has shattered all expectations. The GDP expanded 3.1 per cent in 2023, defying recession fears. Inflation has cooled to about three per cent and the markets are up. Most important, unemployment is under four per cent, that too, 23 months in a row (longest stretch in more than 50 years). It has created a record 14.8 million jobs, under Mr Biden. Yet the power of personal charisma, storytelling and spin-doctoring has ensured that the voters strangely remember Mr Trump’s economy as being better performing than Mr Biden’s.

Even Mr Biden’s progressive positions on abortion, education, gun laws, societal inclusivity, etc, are pooh-poohed as decrepit and “unmuscular”. Sadly, in democracies, perceptions (and cults of perception-makers) with vacuous promises matter, not the reality. The manipulation of the mass media to form exalted superhuman persona and an imagined future, however improbable, wins the day for the likes of Mr Trump.