Suzuki's Thoughts: On the 2020 Presidential Election

I will never forget the morning of November 9, 2016. It came on the heels of a long, arduous, divisive, and painful election season in America, pitting Hillary Clinton - a moderate, sensible, and experienced candidate - against Donald Trump - a boisterous, narcissistic, incompetent, populist egomaniac - in the race for the US Presidency.

I was a little over 16 years old that day. I awoke early that morning, having slept only lightly with the election still weighing heavily on my mind. I remember turning on the TV downstairs and being greeted with the news that Donald Trump had been elected the 45th President of the United States. I was in absolute disbelief. How could this country elect such an incompetent buffoon - who hadn't the first clue about how to run a country - the most powerful man in the world?

At school that day, my social studies teacher told my class something I will never forget.
"If any of you", he said, "did any of the things that Mr. Trump has done over the past few months, you would have been expelled. If you said any of the things he has said and did any of the things he has bragged about doing, you would have been kicked out of this school".

And that was when it really hit me. American voters had chosen an incompetent, narcissistic con-artist with a history of racist ideations and sexual misconduct allegations over a moderate, sensible candidate with a lifetime of experience in politics. And I knew that, for the next four years, America's reputation on the world stage would change drastically.

One thing I remember about that day was that I didn't feel sad. At all. It might sound odd, but I didn't shed a single tear over Trump's victory. If anything, all I felt was a disappointment. And I think that's because I knew that - even though America had made a gigantic mistake in electing Trump president - we would eventually come to our senses and persevere through it. 

And I prayed that the next four years under Donald Trump would be as painful and as unpleasant as they could possibly be. Not because I wanted Trump to destroy our country and ruin our reputation, but because I wanted to send a message to the people who had sat out the 2016 election, and who had chosen petty purism instead of unity against a deadly enemy. I prayed that the Trump presidency would be so terrible, and so incredibly damaging, that in 2020 the people who did not vote for Hillary would have no other option but to vote for someone - anyone - other than Trump.

And here we are, four years later, at the end of another painful and divisive election cycle. This election was particularly toxic. Deliberate misinformation and conspiracy theories were spread by the White House. Civil unrest and politically-charged violence plagued the nation amidst a worldwide pandemic that has killed over 220,000 people in the US. The ruling administration went out of its way to try and dismantle the democratic institutions that check the power of authoritarian demagogues like Donald Trump.

And yet, through all of the misery and division, America persisted. And, on November 6, 2020, Donald Trump - at long last - faced the consequences of his actions and lost the presidential election to Joe Biden.

I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt at Biden's victory. It was a glimmer of hope out of the rubble of a truly terrible year. And while we still have a long way to go to repair the damage done in the last four years, I am beyond thankful and beyond relieved that Donald Trump - however hard he may be trying to deny it - will leave office on January 21st, 2021.

This is, of course, not to say that I don't have concerns about what a Biden Administration might bring. I am an ardent supporter of the death penalty. Joe Biden opposes the death penalty. And am I worried that Joe Biden will commute federal death row and work to abolish the death penalty in the US? Absolutely I am.

That said, do I regret voting for Biden in the 2020 election? Absolutely not. If there's one thing that the Democratic base should take away from this election, it's that purity politics are a surefire path to defeat. Biden isn't the perfect candidate, and I have no doubt he will do some things as president that I will ardently oppose. But I realize that no candidate will align 100% with my views, and thus I will gladly overlook my disagreements with Joe Biden when it comes to electing him president.

Donald Trump has turned the United States into a laughingstock. Our alliances with the rest of the world were immeasurably damaged by the Trump administration. International crises have arisen as a result of Donald Trump's abhorrent foreign policy - guided by ultranationalist, populist, and isolationist radicalism rather than international cooperation, humanitarianism, and liberal internationalism. Our reputation on the world stage has been stained horribly, and it will take a long time to repair that damage. 

And all of this was allowed to happen because so many left-leaning voters in 2016 - consumed by purity politics and blind to the danger posed by a right-wing demagogue - chose to sit out the election rather than unite against Donald Trump.

I hope the past four years have been enough to show these purists that, when it comes to elections, imperfection is the standard, not the exception. No candidate is perfect, and no candidate is infallible. America came to its senses this election season, and we have inherited a mess that will likely take decades to clean up. So let's not forget the lessons this election has taught us, and let us relegate purism and purity politics to the wastebasket of history where they belong.