Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Can Joe Biden stop America’s ‘uncivil war’?

Kate Andrews has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Having won more votes than any presidential candidate in American history, Joe Biden might have hoped for a triumphant entry into Washington. Instead, he travelled to the inauguration in a private plane to deliver his speech to more members of the National Guard than guests. A combination of the pandemic and security fears ruined normal proceedings: the event had become a target, crowds too great a risk.

The emptiness embodies the problem Biden needs to overcome: not just the spats between left- and right-wing politicians, but the unravelling of trust in American politics. His challenge goes beyond governing. It is the question of how to unite the country — or, at least, how to repair the social fabric so that the scenes of the past few months are remembered as a freak incident in US history, rather than the start of a new, dangerous era.

The new president seems to understand the weight of this task, making unity the main focus of his inauguration speech: ‘My whole soul is in this,’ Biden said. ‘Bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation.’ Yet if you were to hand-pick the political hero America needs in these fragile times, the gaffe-prone 78-year-old wouldn’t seem the obvious first choice. Much of Biden’s political past is defined by failure and rejection. After his surprise Senate victory in 1972 — when, aged 29, he beat establishment Republican J. Caleb Boggs for the seat in Delaware — he had not one but two failed bids for the presidency. Even Barack Obama, whom he served as vice-president for eight years, made it pretty clear that he wanted Hillary Clinton to succeed him in 2016.

The scenes of recent months could come to be seen as a freak incident – or as the start of a new, dangerous era

Former senator Ted Kaufman once said that his friend Biden was the ‘unluckiest’ and ‘luckiest’ person he knew; the former referring not just to political but personal tragedies, including the loss of Biden’s first wife and his daughter in a car accident; the latter a reference to having ‘things happen to him that are just absolutely incredible’.

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