Joe Biden’s first remarks as the apparent winner of the presidential election were a call for unity and healing. It was a good speech — full of hope and charity, and I actually believe he meant it. But his call for compromise will be tested early on if, when the dust settles, he is certified as our next president.
“For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple times myself,” Biden said on Saturday evening. “But now, let’s give each other a chance.”
Perhaps this was exactly what our polarized country needed to hear. But how long will this message of togetherness last? If he is inaugurated next year, Biden will enter the White House as president of a divided government. Republicans made significant gains in the House of Representatives, and they’re on track to keep their majority in the Senate. That means that just about anything a Biden administration attempts to do over the next few years must go through the Republican Party first.
Biden might be serious about compromise, but the rest of his party is not. The leftists in the Democratic Party have already made it clear they have no desire to work with Republicans and that they’d much rather force their will through the executive branch than reach across the aisle and legislate. And unfortunately, this unwillingness to work with the other side stems not from policy disagreement, but from a vindictive hatred of the other party, a deep conviction that Republicans — especially those who supported Trump — must be cast out.
Just look at the way Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to news of Biden’s apparent win:
Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 6, 2020
Here’s another example from former leftist congressional candidate Cenk Uygur:
Biden’s speech went south when he started talking about cooperating with Republicans. There’s a zero percent chance they’ll cooperate with him on Democratic priorities. He’ll waste his whole administration trying. But Biden might cooperate with @GOP, which would be a disaster.
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 8, 2020
These people don’t want to compromise. They want to punish the other side. And if Biden is going to succeed at bringing this country together, he must check his own party first and resist their calls for retribution. The real question is: Can he do that?
