Excerpt from Jamaica Observer column published 09 November 2020
By: Jean Lowrie-Chin
The streets of Philadelphia rocked last Saturday to the Toots Hibbert- Chaka Demus & Pliers classic “What a Bam Bam!” They were in high spirits, celebrating the Biden-Harris victory in the US General Elections. It was fitting to have our song heralding the first woman in US history to be Vice-President elect – the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
The mood of Democrats was quite different on Election night, when the numbers seemed to be going Trump’s way. Political strategist James Carville came on MSNBC late that night with words of reassurance, telling viewers to “put away the razor blades and the Ambien – we are going to be okay.”
On Wednesday, as the mail-in votes started to be counted in the heavily courted ‘Blue wall’, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the Democrats sensed victory. It must have been a satisfying result for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had been vilified by the President for her lock-down measures as she tried to protect citizens from the rapidly spreading Covid virus. The presidential insults appeared to be a dog-whistle for a right-wing militia group which was thankfully intercepted and members arrested before they could carry out their plans to kidnap the Governor. As news broke about the plot, it was stunning that the President continued to tweet insults to Governor Whitmer.
Since that night of dismay in 2016 when Donald Trump defeated Hilary Clinton, the entire world has watched in fear at the weakening of NATO, the exit of the US from the Paris Agreement for climate change, the rise of right wing violence and racism in the US, the separation of immigrant families and the politicisation of the Covid pandemic. To hear a President mock his opponent for wearing a mask during a life-threatening pandemic was unbelievable.
The initial cases of Covid in Jamaica originated in the US, so we took it personally when we discovered that President Trump had known from January that the virus was worse than the flu and that it was airborne, yet told the American people that it was ‘just like the flu’ and that it would disappear in the spring ‘like a miracle’. To date, over 230,000 Americans have died from the virus, the highest number of any country in the world – there in the US with the best scientists by whom the Trump White House refused to be guided.
Despite catching the virus, the President continued to hold ‘super-spreader’ rallies across the country, which a study from Stanford University noted was responsible for over 30,000 Covid cases and 700 deaths. Meanwhile, President-Elect Biden’s team following CDC protocols, organised drive-in rallies with supporters applauding with honking horns.
One of the most caustic critics of President Trump is satirist Bill Maher who three years ago predicted that even if Trump loses the election, he would refuse to leave the White House. Trump had famously sued Maher for jokingly saying that he was fathered by an orangutan, and as if to twist the knife, Maher repeated the joke on Friday night on his ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ HBO programme. Maher’s was the first show to declare Biden and Harris the winners of the election, complete with a celebratory balloon release. Maher expressed his concern that with Trump’s threats of lawsuits to overturn the election results, he could stir trouble in the streets and may still yet refuse to leave. Let us hope that the will of the people, and the very well monitored vote-counting will be respected ultimately.
Biden’s support network
Former President Barack Obama was the most important campaigner for Joe Biden, and he seemed to have enjoyed stumping in several states for his former VP. With his sense of humour fully charged, he took down Trump for his criticism of the Biden campaign’s focus on Covid. “And what’s his closing argument?” asked Obama. “That people are too focused on Covid. He said this at one of his rallies. Covid, Covid, Covid, he’s complaining. He’s jealous of Covid’s media coverage.”
We are sure Obama had a cheerleader in his wife. In her bestselling autobiography, “Becoming”, Michelle Obama described her disgust with Trump’s racist ‘birther’ lies against her husband: “The whole [birther] thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia … But it was also dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks … Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk. And for this I’d never forgive him.”
Biden had music greats to entertain his audiences including Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and John Legend while Trump engaged rappers.
One of the most interesting political action committees formed to support the Biden-Harris ticket was the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans who flooded social media platforms with videos and memes bashing the President and his administration. It is unfortunate that Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been criticising this committee that has wooed the Republican vote for her Party.
Another genius move was the partnership of three brothers, Ben, Jordan and Brett Meiselas to form MeidasTouch, in March of this year. Their motto is “Because Truth is Golden”. As the US Senate leadership hangs in the balance with a run-off of two Senate Seats in Georgia, they tweeted, “Our work isn’t over! We will spend every day moving forward working to flip both Senate seats in Georgia!”
Laughter with purpose
Jamaica’s own Sarah Cooper did her part, lip-syncing some of President Trump’s most outrageous moments, the most popular being ‘How to medical’ which got over 24 million views on TikTok and Twitter. The famous Helen Mirren joined her to recreate the Billy Bush video in which Trump laughingly discussed his sexual advances on women. Other leading late-night comedians never failed to remind us of Trump’s missteps.
Now the world breathes a sigh of relief and we wish Joe Biden and Kamala Harris many blessings in their efforts to reunite their country, to control the coronavirus and to energise the economy.
Congratulations Mark Golding
Here in Jamaica, there was another campaign raging for the leadership of the PNP. Both candidates Mark Golding and Lisa Hanna kept their promise personally to run a peaceful campaign though some of their supporters went a bit off track. Before he went into politics, Mark Golding served with us on the Board of Food for the Poor Jamaica so I got to know him as an altruistic Jamaican. Well contested Lisa Hanna and congratulations winner Mark Golding.
CCRP Award for Oliver Samuels
We are looking forward to a celebration of Jamaica’s beloved Oliver Samuels on Wednesday afternoon live on PBCJ television, when he will be honoured with this year’s CCRP Living Legacy Award. Marking his 50th year in theatre, Oliver has brought love and laughter to audiences here and abroad. His ‘Oliver at Large’ series reveals an artist with brilliant comedic timing. Oliver will share his journey in a conversation with Emcee Joan McDonald – it will be memorable.
Jamaica Highlights 