Paul McLel 11/12/20 2020 Election Post-Mortem Part I
Tags: 2020 Presidential Race, Politics

To paraphrase, modernize, and semi-Americanize a proclamation made by far right British tabloid The Sun after the 1992 UK General Election, “It’s the Pandemic, Big Cities, and Black Organizing Wot Won It.” On the flip side, “It’s the President’s Lunacy and Lack of Strategy Wot Lost It.”

For all the trauma and hardship it’s caused, COVID-19 was Joe Biden’s best friend. It certainly gave his campaign cover to hide him from the public (more on this in my next piece, sorry lol); but beyond my cynicism, I did feel that Biden’s pandemic messaging was the strongest aspect of his campaign. I found Biden to be clear, honest, and realistic about the coronavirus and I suspect a lot of other voters did too.

“…There’s no vaccine that’s going to be guaranteed 100 percent,” said Biden, for instance, during a September CNN Town Hall event, answering a question about the outlook of schools in the age of this pandemic. “So you’re going to have a tough decision you have to make and whether or not where you should be able to be in a position where you are behind plastic, you are in a sanitized circumstance and you are teaching. I would not take the chance, even if everyone had been vaccinated because of your compromised immune system…”

A statement like that may seem small, but I would argue that this kind of harsh truth qualifies as refreshing when compared to the fantasyland garbage Trump and the White House have been spouting about COVID since March. Biden demonstrated an understanding of the virus that we have sorely lacked. He proposed various solutions, envisioned a short and medium term future, and told the truth. He showed leadership on the matter in a way Trump and the White House have completely skirted.

This is all key because coronavirus is very much an urban disease and Democratic party turnout in cities throughout the country were astronomical. It affects everyone of course, but cities, compact and heavily populated, have experienced its worst effects. I think about the place of my birth, New York City. The COVID effects on the five boroughs have been dramatic. Week after week we read stories about legendary NYC institutions shutting down, watch on as some of the world’s busiest avenues and subway stations turn downright ghostly. The change in collective lifestyle has been dramatic and jarring. This is true all across the metropolitan board, and the socio-economic consequences have been devastating.

Donald Trump was never going to win many votes in the American cities to begin with. This of course despite his being a lifelong creature (until recently) of New York City. Trump used the Pandemic to punish the enemy “Democrat run” metropolises like his hometown that now reject him so. From April onward, Trump routinely attacked big city mayors and their state governors while withholding needed funding and equipment. This punishment had the double effect of penalizing the “lawless and corrupt” or “anarchist” metropolitan jurisdictions and galvanizing anti-urban sentiment in right wing, small town America. Both happened but neither led to Trump’s re-election.

My point is that the pandemic and Trump’s infantile and vindictive response to it was one key factor that led to a large-scale oppositional voting response in urban areas throughout the country. The voting numbers in swing state cities like Milwaukee, Madison WI, Detroit, Denver, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and elsewhere are staggering.

Coronavirus alone, however, cannot explain the big urban turnout of the 2020 election. The police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, Rayshard Brooks, and too many other black lives to count galvanized activism of all kinds across the country. This translated to the voting booth. 20 Percent of voters said they believed “racial inequality” to be the most important “issue” in determining their vote, and 92 percent of those folks voted for Joe Biden. “Racial inequality” wasn’t even listed in the top issues section of the national 2016 exit poll. The “protest doesn’t work” crowd will have a tough time explaining this one away.

Black organizing, much of which began well before this year and the pandemic and the George Floyd protests, made all the difference.

Black women, in particular, turned out in big numbers and for Biden; this despite being subjected to a Democratic party that has institutionally demonized and criminalized black lives. Taylor Crumpton, writing in the Washington Post, put it better than I possibly ever could. Here are some key samplings from her excellent post election op-ed.

“As the Democratic Party’s most loyal and dependable voting bloc, Black women were essential,” wrote Crumpton. “From the 2016 presidential election to the Senate special election in Alabama in 2017 and the 2018 midterm elections, more than 90 percent of Black women voted for the Democratic candidate, and that’s not even to mention all the work they did for voter registration and turnout. Black women are the country’s most powerful political force. In times of political chaos and civic unrest, we need to remember the words of our foremothers, not turn to the nation’s political parties…

…We marched. We organized. We mobilized. We cried. We screamed. We wrote anti-racism book lists (that none of y’all read). We went above and beyond, and what did we get in return? Numerous reminders that 94 percent of Black women voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and that we’d better replicate our previous voting behaviors if we wanted to head off another disaster…

…Four years ago, I voted for Hillary Clinton. I didn’t want to — I knew her political career had been detrimental to my community, but I felt like voting for her was my only option. This year, I had the same eerie feeling as I filled my mail-in ballot out for Biden. By the time I voted, yes, he had apologized for the 1994 crime bill, but he’d also written a scathing statement condemning the actions of protesters in Philadelphia after the death of Walter Wallace Jr. at the hands of police…

…I’ve had enough, and my life has only just begun. Every four years, the Democratic Party looks to me and countless Black women to save it. Our White women counterparts aren’t held to the same standard, especially not the 53 percent of them who voted for Trump in 2016. White women are granted forgiveness for their ‘infidelity,’ and wooed all over again each election, while Black women are expected to remain loyal and faithful…

…The Black women’s movement has never centered exclusively on the ballot box in our journey toward liberation and freedom. We’re not your political mules. We’re not your monolith — so especially now, after we turned out all over the country to sweep Trump from office, Democrats had better support and listen to Black women even in odd-numbered years. We’re not here to save the world. We’re just here to protect ourselves.”