The US elections
of 2020 seem to add a new chapter in their history. The way they seem to
conduct elections is hardly an advertisement for the world’s most powerful
democracy. Over the last nearly two hundred and fifty years, they have been
conducting elections, yet the complaints of manipulation, fraud, extension of
voting times, counting delays, and contested ballots do not seem to have gone
away. It might be anyone’s game at the time of this writing but what the
elections are manifesting is not per se democratic exercise but an outcome
driven by the machinery of the state in question. Stealing an election of
course in the US is not something unusual but each occasion, it traverse new
distances. The memories of the 2000 battle fought in Supreme Court over Florida
is still fresh in the mind. The 1960 victory of John F. Kennedy too is
attributed to the manipulation that happened in Chicago.
The US elections
of 2020 was not just an ordinary battle. It was essentially a battle between a tenuous
coalition of left liberal anarchists, Democrat political establishment, the Big
Tech and the Big Media against a guy who was an established creature but sought
to turn against them. The villianization of Donald Trump was complete. There was
literal hatred by the elite against him. In fact as the voting patterns suggest,
contrary to the Republican Party’s traditional base of the elite it was the
working class that stood behind Trump in this elections. He converted the party
into a platform for the non-educated or less educated Whites often at the receiving
end of the government economic policies. The outsourcing of manufacturing and
services from US to overseas had affected them and they were the ones who stood
behind Trump in his promise to bring manufacturing back to US.
To the
establishment, Trump represented an epitome of the opposite. Trump contrary to
a leader like Modi, was not the one who grew from the ranks. He was very much
an establishment insider. His empire would not have received such an attention
had it not been for the media backing and fawning. In fact, as many suggest, it
was the establishment or at least a section of it who encouraged him to run for
the elections. It was believed that Bill Clinton did not want an opponent who
could be strong, something like Obama that haunted him. Hence he encouraged
Trump to run for the Republican Party nomination. Incidentally Trump was a
former Democrat. Yet as Trump outperformed in the Republican primaries using an
anti-establishment platform, it sent unnerving signals to the entrenched. To Trump
it was in his self-interest to adopt the platform. It served him propelling him
to a victory often seen as a fluke in 2016. The entrenched having seen this
betrayal did not want to ensure a repeat of the same. This meant the no holds
barred contest for 2020.
The results no
matter how they turn out, bring about the worst in the big tech and the big
media. The media hyped the opinion polls indicating a massive lead to Biden and
Trump being crushed at the game. As the results turn out, it is anything but
true. While some states were believed to record double digit leads for Biden,
the actual results seem to indicate Biden is trailing or leading very narrowly.
In fact states like Florida or Texas which were supposed turn Blue have
remained Red. The battle in Wisconsin is going to the wire while Trump manages
to have leads in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Even Georgia which was supposed to
flip blue has remained red or at least closely contested. The credibility of
the pollsters post elections was hardly cared about. If there was something
that has to be done to create a ‘mahaul’ as they call it in India, the media
was more than happy. Any pro-Trump comment was sought to be suppressed. In fact,
comments by President Trump himself were supressed by Twitter. The Big Tech
believed it could shape up the election and demonstrate its power. To an extent
it has done the same. If Biden wins the election, as still there is a good
chance for, the Big Tech might come as a winner as does Big Media. Having tasted
blood, they might now venture into different terrains not just within US but
abroad as well.
In US, given the
relative powers of the state in setting the election rules, there is tremendous
leeway given to the Governors. This is sought to be exploited in states across
the Rust Belt where there exists Democrat administrations. For all the talk
that US does about promoting democracy it is time they put to practice the same
in their backyards. For all said and done, the kind of manipulations one
witnesses in the US are hardly visible in India. For all the criticism on polls
in Bihar or UP or Bengal among other places, the polls are free and fair
relatively speaking. There exists an independent Election Commission that has
conducted the polls with distinction. Over the period of time, they have
asserted themselves when needed thus paving way for a free election. The manipulative
practices with the introduction of EVMs has come down drastically. The testimony
to hold Bihar elections in mere three phases during the pandemic period is a
sheer example of the journey Indian election system has travelled.
Further for all
the criticism of the Indian media both print and television, they did not
execute an agenda that sought to virtually create a defeat for Modi. In fact
opinion polls mirrored the mood though very cautiously. After the 2004 fiasco,
many pollsters forecast cautiously giving themselves room for wriggling out in
case of anything going wrong. There are enough instances of under forecasting
certain parties, say UP-2017 but none of them are such that they seek to
project a verdict that is likely to be diametrically opposite of what they had
predicted. None of the lead forecasters barring an exception or two indicated a
close election. Those who did indicate Trump momentum were sought to be
discredited. As such, the elections in the US only highlights the political
nature of the society and the extent it can go to further its agenda though
nothing unusual in the context. Compared to the same, India comes out with
flying colours. Maybe they have a lot of lessons to learn from India.
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