The New York Times - USA (2020-11-15)

20 N THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Transition in WashingtonThe Electorate

But on Election Day, Republi-
can turnout surged across the
country — particularly in rural ar-
eas like Mason, which along with
its surrounding county had
among the largest percentage in-
creases in voter participation in
Texas. Democratic dreams of a
landslide were thwarted as Re-
publicans notched surprise vic-
tories in the House and emerged
as the favorite to retain control of
the Senate. In the days since,
thousands of Mr. Trump’s most
fervent supporters have gathered
across the country, including in
Texas, to protest Mr. Biden’s tri-
umph as illegitimate.
“We’re willing to accept the re-
sults, as long as it’s fair and done
correctly and certified correctly,”
said Sherrie Strong, another sup-
porter of the president’s. She, like
others, took Mr. Trump’s position
that it was strange that he had
been leading in numerous places
because of in-person votes on
Election Day, only to be overtaken
once mail-in ballots were counted
on election night and over the
days that followed. (The delay in
counting mail-in ballots in several
states was because of restrictions
imposed by Republican state leg-
islatures.)
“It’s just a little upsetting when
you go to bed at night, and all of a
sudden, four days later, these
votes are magically appearing,”
Ms. Strong said.
Mr. Biden’s message did have
political appeal, motivating a cru-
cial slice of voters who helped him
lead Democrats back into power.
Ann Mahnken, a 72-year-old
lifelong conservative who attends
the Lutheran church, said the
prospect of his bringing the coun-
try together was why, after voting
for Mr. Trump in 2016, she chose
the Democratic candidate this
time.
“I could not stand the way our
country is,” she said. “I didn’t
want to go through four more
years of that, not in my senior citi-
zen lifetime. I didn’t want to go
through four more years of the
chaos and the division.”
Mark Lehmberg, a fellow pa-
rishioner who voted for Mr.
Trump this year after sitting out
2016, said that he had given up on
the concept of unity — and he ad-
vised Ms. Mahnken to do the
same. He backed the president be-
cause he did not want the econ-
omy to shut down over the corona-
virus.
“The relationships have al-
ready been jeopardized,” Mr.
Lehmberg said. “It’s going be
hard — impossible — to get people
to come together.”
On Monday in Dallas, hundreds
of Mr. Trump’s supporters gath-
ered outside the city’s election of-
fice in a “Stop the Steal” protest
promoted by the state Republican
Party. The message from speak-
ers and attendees went further
than expressing fears of election
fraud, amounting to a wholesale
rejection of a Biden presidency
and of the Republican elected offi-
cials who acknowledged it. One
speaker said of the Republican
lawmakers who had called Mr. Bi-
den the president-elect, “Remem-
ber who they are when you go to
the polls next.”
“This is contempt of half of the
country by the other half of the
country,” said Paul Feeser, 61, who
attended the protest in Dallas. “So
if the conclusion was for Biden, I
would look at it as illegitimate, and
I and many others expect to be
part of the so-called resistance —
as Trump resisted.”
Karen Bell, who was also at the
rally, said her distrust centered on
mail voting.
“In these swing states, he was
ahead, and then all of a sudden in
Wisconsin and Michigan and
Pennsylvania, they stopped
counting,” Ms. Bell said, echoing
conspiracy theories about vote
counting. “And then we wake up
and suddenly Biden is ahead.
These mystery votes all came in
for Biden and zero for Trump.
Something is definitely fishy
there.”
Asked for any evidence of wide-
spread election fraud, in light of
the fact that election officials in-
cluding Republicans have consis-
tently dismissed such claims, Ms.

Bell cited conspiratorial right-

wing sites like Infowars. Election

officials have made it clear: There

is no evidence of widespread elec-

tion fraud.

No matter what happens next,

“I will not believe that the election

was fair,” Ms. Bell said. “I will not

believe that he is a legitimate win-

ner.”

The feeling that Mr. Trump’s re-

fusal to concede is justified, and

that Mr. Biden’s rise to the presi-

dency should not be recognized, is

not universal for Republicans. A

recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found

that nearly 80 percent of Ameri-

cans believe Mr. Biden won, in-

cluding about 60 percent of Re-

publicans.

But other polling has provided

mixed results, including a survey

that was conducted by Politico/

Morning Consult showing that the

number of Republicans who do

not believe this year’s election

was free and fair has doubled,

from 35 percent before Election

Day to 70 percent.

In Texas, conservatives have

been crowing after Democratic

hopes of flipping the state blue

and winning control of the Legis-

lature failed to materialize. Even

so, state leaders have also fallen in

line with the president’s baseless

attempts to paint the election as

unfair — and the state’s Republi-

can lieutenant governor, Dan Pat-

rick, has offered $1 million for any-

one who produces evidence of vot-

er fraud.

But even in Mason, some who

supported the president were

ready to urge the party to move

on. “This is over — it’s just what it

is,” said Jay Curry, 44, who was ar-

riving to eat at the Willow Creek

Cafe and Club with his wife and

two children.

The president’s refusal to con-

cede “just means more turmoil

and more division,” Mr. Curry

said. “We’re divided. It’s red and

blue. And they’re against each

other more than they’re trying to

help anybody.”

His wife, Andrea, was more op-

timistic.

“I think every president that

we’ve had has never intentionally

hurt our country,” she said.

“They’re going to do their best

and that’s all we can hope for.”

Mr. Biden, she added, “is not go-

ing to do some intentional crash of

our country.”

Her hopefulness stood out in a

landscape of dread. Pastor Krebs,

the Lutheran minister, said the

reason the election felt existential

to some was that it represented a

referendum on more than just

politics.

As a community leader who ar-

rived in Mason shortly before the

2016 election, he said, he has seen

how the city’s views of the presi-

dent are wrapped up in other is-

sues, including the white majori-

ty’s relationship with Latino resi-

dents and a backlash to Black

Lives Matter protesters striving

for political power.

At the same time, Pastor Krebs

said, sweeping generalities don’t

do justice to the complexity of the

community.

“Defining people strictly by

their parties is not a good thing,”

he said. “And I’ve learned that

sometimes people think more

deeply when they get into a con-

versation than when we just start

labeling one another.”

Ms. Smith, 67, and her husband,

Dennis, 69, tied their unequivocal

support for the president — even

in defeat — to larger cultural con-

cerns.

Like Mr. Biden and his support-

ers, the Smiths saw this election

as a battle for the country’s soul.

To unify with Mr. Biden would be

an admission that the battle is lost,

and that the multicultural tide

powering his victory will continue

its ascension.

“Everything I worked for, Biden

wants to give to the immigrants to

help them live, when they don’t do

nothing but sit on their butts,” Mr.

Smith said.

“And if those protesters come

here, if they go tearing up stuff, I

guarantee you they won’t be in

this town very long,” he added.

“We’ll string them up and send

them out of here — and it won’t be

the same way they came in.”

Biden’s Plan for ‘Healing’ Isn’t Resonating Everywhere

‘I didn’t want to go through four more years of that, not in my

senior citizen lifetime. I didn’t want to go through four more

years of the chaos and the division.’

ANN MAHNKEN, 72

A lifelong conservative who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, but for Mr. Biden this time.

‘We’re divided. It’s red and blue. And they’re against each

other more than they’re trying to help anybody.’

JAY CURRY, 44,

Supported the president, but urged the party to move on.

‘Everything I worked for, Biden wants to give to the immigrants to

help them live, when they don’t do nothing but sit on their butts.’

DENNIS SMITH, 69

He and his wife, Jeanie, still support the president, despite the election results.

‘Defining people strictly by their parties is not a good thing. And I’ve

learned that sometimes people think more deeply when they get into

a conversation than when we just start labeling one another.’

REV. FRED KREBS

As a community leader at St. Paul Lutheran Church, he rarely brings up politics.

Photographs by

TAMIR KALIFA for

The New York Times

The national divide on display in Texas: a billboard in Troy, above left, and a residence in West, above right. President-elect Biden

has promised to “restore the soul of the nation,” but the deep divisions that animated the last four years show no signs of receding.

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