Our nation has never been so divided; the latest election results have made that abundantly clear. And if we have any hope of becoming the United States of America once again, president-elect Joe Biden needs to start building bridges with Republican voters.
Now look, if you want to appeal to Republican voters, you need to meet them where they are. Joe Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party establishment tried appealing to Republican voters by being in favor of fracking, opposing universal healthcare, opposing student debt relief, and kneecapping more progressive voices within their own party in order to appeal to a vanishingly small number of voters. But this is just not enough.
Think of it this way: If someone likes to eat oranges, and you give them a choice between an orange and an orange-flavored candy, it doesn’t matter how much you make that candy taste like oranges. They’re going to choose the real thing, every time.
And that’s why, in order to encourage national unity, Joe Biden’s first action in office should be to declare Donald Trump his vice president, and then immediately resign the office of the presidency, leaving Trump as the 47th president.
Sure, this means four more years of Trump, which isn’t ideal. But it’s the only way the Democrats can show they’re willing to compromise. If Biden really wants to reach across the aisle, build bridges, and prove he’s not the radical communist socialist Antifa Republicans believe he is, this is his only option.
Biden’s graciousness in stepping down will certainly create a situation where Trump and the Republicans will be more moderate, calmer, and will perhaps work with the Democrats to pass legislation that helps everyone. After all, Trump wrote The Art of the Deal; he’s nothing if not a dealmaker.
Granted, this might cause the country to slide into right-wing authoritarianism even faster than it already is, but in the interest of cooperation, decorum, and decency, this is the only way forward.
