Phillip Frazer
It’s in the wind all around the world, a global sigh of relief. The American election happened, and despite the Republicans’ best voter suppression efforts, Biden/Harris won, Trump lost. And despite lots of guys with beer bellies and automatic weapons strutting around polling stations, no one got killed.
What’s next…
THE GOOD:
When a new President and Veep take office they reveal their choices for cabinet positions, which is good because almost anyone would be better than the ‘Secretaries’ Trump appointed, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. When he was director of the CIA, Pompeo declared: ‘Jesus Christ our Saviour is truly the only solution for our world.’ Recently he clarified his position: ‘I was director of the CIA – we lied, we cheated, we stole.’ Biden’s team will nominate a person for Secretary of State who has solutions backed up with arguments rather than gods. (Mike Pompeo, by the way, wants to be President.)
The bloke who is running the US postal service (USPS) owns a company that intends to replace the USPS, once he’s run it into the ground. Biden’s crew will replace him with a person who understands that the postal service should be run for the benefit of the people.
Beyond the top-dog jobs there are more than 7,000 public service jobs up for new hires; all will be listed in great detail in December here: https://bit.ly/3eHl2iU, the print version is called The Plum Book.
Trump gave the plum positions to people who swore allegiance to him, and left thousands of positions unfilled because he thinks public works get in the way of private business. Biden’s team will look for people who understand ecosystems to run the national parks, and for scientists who understand climate change to advise on relevant policies.
THE BAD:
Joe Biden and his mates are politically middle-of-the-road. For decades Joe was a senator from Delaware – a more accurate description would be Senator for the Credit Card Companies. Even so, my internal eternal optimist tells me he might be eager for a better legacy, especially since he’s retiring in 2024. He might sign off on a bunch of serious reforms, like Medicare for all, the Green New Deal, or what the fuck, a planet with a future.
What’s bad is that far too much energy will be spent getting new policies out of the Biden administration, especially if the Republicans win the two Senate seats in the special election on 5 January in Georgia. The Democratic candidates have strong appeal to progressive blacks and to newcomers from up north who gave Biden and Harris a surprise victory. The odds on the Dems winning both Senate seats remain bad, but folks are singing that fine old song Georgia in hope, like John Legend did on the morning Biden/Harris won. Google Legend’s, as well as Van Jones’ equally heartfelt response on CNN.
THE UGLY:
The world’s biggest loser, Trump, will be president until January 20, and he ain’t done yet.
There are thousands of terrible things he can do between now and then, and he will do most of them. His big plan was to invent a plot that the Chinese stole the election, declare a national security emergency, then dismiss the people’s votes and have Congress and/or the Supreme Court give him another four years.
Trump and his grotesque Attorney General, William Barr, laid out this serpentine pathway through the Constitution and via the electoral college, just last week. If you love serpentine and grotesque plots, there’s a version in Newsweek from 3 July, and another in the Washington Post on 7 November.
What stands in their way is that election workers rejected the plots and scams; poor and ignored voters got to the polls to bet on safe ol’ Joe and be rid of crooked Trump. His fellow Republican politicians and his bankers are quitting the sinking Trump Titanic. With surprising speed, this crazed emperor has, finally, run out of ‘clothes’ and faces a flood of lawsuits when he runs out of the legal protections of the presidency.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
