Joe Biden and the "cure": how does the restart work?

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Joe Biden, US President

“I know that talking about unity these days sounds like a crazy fantasy to some.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge.

And unity is the path that takes us forward. "

Joe Biden sets the leitmotif for his presidency with "Unity and Healing".

His first official act, however, was to erase at least some traces of his predecessor.

In the Oval Office, the newly sworn President signed 17 decrees with which he reversed the policies of his predecessor.

What signal is he sending to the 74 million or so Trump voters?

Christian Lammert, political scientist, FU Berlin

“This is a difficult undertaking.

But Biden got 80 million votes, over 80 million votes in the election.

And they also have a certain expectation.

And in this extremely polarized context in the USA, it is currently extremely difficult to even find a political decision that is not immediately and massively criticized from one side. "   

The reaction from among the Republicans was prompt:

Kevin McCarthy, House Republican Leader,

"I was disappointed to see the new administration advocating illegal immigrants more than our own citizens, just hours after they took office."

Topics that are likely to trigger particular emotions among Trump supporters: Biden's freeze on Trump's "wall" to Mexico, as well as the lifting of the entry ban for people from certain Muslim countries.

The cornerstone of Trump's immigration policy.

Also planned: an immigration reform.

Christian Lammert, political scientist, FU Berlin

»One can be critical of the meaning and use of throw-ins.

And discuss the problem with it.

But if that is racially motivated, you have to reject it.

And then you have to fight against it.

And that's something the new Biden administration has to do now.

You have to explain clearly to people what the motivation is here.

How exactly this has to be implemented.

And that will also be difficult in the USA because we actually no longer have a common space for public discussion.

This means that Trump Hardcore followers will only hear the message on their social networks that they will be overrun by refugees, America will be destroyed as a country, the whites will lose their supremacy.

That is communicated in the right networks.

And here you have to try to see how you can get a common public discussion back on track. "

Donald Trump, Former US President

“Goodbye, we love you - we will be back in some form.

Have a good life, we'll see you again soon. "

The ominous words of Trump about a "reunion" soon reverberate.

No matter how much people in Washington don't want to deal with this man any longer, what he calls "his movement" could become a political force to be taken seriously.

Christian Lammert, political scientist, FU Berlin

»Many of Trump supporters will now be massively disappointed by the Republican Party that its president was not supported.

But now there is also a bit of disappointment with Trump himself.

If you look around in the right-wing forums, especially his pardon US politics, where not his supporters who stormed the Capitol were pardoned, but actually his business, his economic buddies.

He is resented because he has stepped on with this We dry out the swamp.

It will now have to be shown to what extent his support will remain stable.

He has already raised 200-300 million in campaign funds after the election.

That said, it could remain a major player.

But there are still too many strangers among them. "

After all, impeachment proceedings are still pending against him and several charges are threatened - possibly also for inciting a coup. 

The extremists among Trump supporters may be a minority.

But their unprecedented attack on democracy, as Joe Biden called the storming of the Capitol, has had lasting effects.

Many of the disappointed and supposedly left behind celebrate it as their success.

Christian Lammert, political scientist, FU Berlin

»This is now the great danger and challenge for US democracy - and with the negative developments I see two possibilities: One is that a new, strong man will be - and it will probably be a man , not a woman - shows on stage, who may then argue even more autocratically and maybe a bit more organized than Trump was.

The second more likely development is that we are seeing stronger right-wing terrorism in the US, that precisely these right-wing groups, who now feel disappointed and abandoned, are developing their own dynamics.

Sometimes these are so lonely wolves.

I think that's a threat.

And the security authorities will be faced with a very, very big challenge.

When that starts to take hold. "

Joe Biden, US President

" History, faith and reason show us the way.

The way of unity.

We can see each other as neighbors rather than opponents.

We can treat one another with dignity and respect.

We can band together, stop yelling at each other, and become more relaxed.

Because without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and anger. "

Implementing Biden's leitmotif at all will be the Herculean task of the next four years.