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Publicist Lepore:
"All caught in a way"
Photo: Webb Chappell / Guardian / eyevine / Picture Press / ddp images
Lepore, 54, is a professor of American history at
Harvard University
in Cambridge and a publicist, she writes regularly for the "New Yorker".
Her bestseller "These Truths" appeared in German in October 2019, in which Lepore tells the story of the United States from Columbus' arrival to Donald Trump's election as President in 2016 as a constant conflict: between individual freedom and equality on the one hand, oppression and economic Injustice on the other.
SPIEGEL:
Ms. Lepore, Joe Biden said in his short address on Wednesday: "If I win, there will be no more blue or red states. Only the United States of America."
How realistic is this picture of a united America?
Lepore:
This image of a map on which the states gradually turn red or blue on an election evening is part of the political experience of all television viewers.
Similar to Barack Obama, Biden means what he says with all honesty.
But possibly his idea of an agreement will fail as much as Obama does.
There was a time when both parties, Democrats and Republicans, wanted society to be one.
When George W. Bush beat Al Gore in 2000, he said he didn't want to be a divider.
When he was re-elected after September 11, 2001, many spoke of a spirit of togetherness in the United States.
It was mostly my imagination, but that was the ideal.
What is new is that Trump wants to be a divider, he only wants to represent the people who vote for him.
That is a big part of what he perceives as honesty.
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