The Economist - USA (2020-11-21)

18 The EconomistNovember 21st 2020

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Letters

A solid win for Biden

Joe Biden has won 306 elector-

al-college votes, including the

“Republican states” of Arizona

and Georgia. He has taken back

the blue-wall states of Michi-

gan, Pennsylvania and Wis-

consin. He also won the na-

tional popular vote, probably

by a margin of five percentage

points. All this while running

against an incumbent presi-

dent and all the advantages

that conveys, and the sub-

stantial bias towards Repub-

licans in the electoral college.

The narrative that this was a

close election is a false one

(“When every vote counts”,

November 7th). It arose from

the order in which votes were

counted—Florida was an early

win for Donald Trump—and

the inevitable delays in count-

ing record numbers of postal

ballots, most of which came

from Democrats. True, it was

not the landslide predicted by

many pollsters, who have

clearly failed in consecutive

election cycles, but it is an

enormous victory for Mr Biden

and the coalition he has built,

and a repudiation of Mr Trump.

eamon glackin

New York

Many of us who voted for Mr

Trump in 2016 did so reluctant-

ly. Not so in 2020. The further

drift to the left of the Demo-

crats was part of it, with their

idiotic identity politics. But

then so was the Russia-hoax

investigation, the ridiculous

impeachment proceedings and

the unfathomable hatred

spewed towards our president.

We saw President Trump as

someone who got things done,

using a wrecking ball when

dealing with stagnant bureau-

cracies. We saw the Iran deal as

appeasement, the Paris accord

as wealth redistribution doing

little to tackle climate issues,

the relocation of our embassy

to Jerusalem as a law at last

implemented, and pushing our

European partners to pay their

fair share for their own defence

as long overdue.

We saw many more ac-

complishments during his

tenure, where you and others

saw nothing good. This elec-

tion was close. That is because

the Democrats never came to

terms with Mr Trump’s victory

in 2016. They would have done

better if they had tried to

understand why they lost then

and changed direction.

ruth berner

Swannanoa, North Carolina

Much of the media’s coverage

of the election focused on how

divided the country is, but

Americans are not as polarised

as they may appear. Most voted

pragmatically, to remove the

inept Mr Trump, and ensure

that Mr Biden, or perhaps more

accurately, his left flank, lacks

a clear path to pass a sweeping

liberal agenda in Congress.

This election had a high turn-

out, upwards of 155m people.

Most of those votes did not

come from the fringe, they

came from the centre.

thomas eastman

Minneapolis

In 1878 William Gladstone

declared that the American

constitution “is the most

wonderful work ever struck off

at a given time by the brain and

purpose of man.” I find it puz-

zling that you refer to this

wonderful work as “rickety”

(“Spell unbroken”, November

7th). Divided government has

served the United States well

and yielded prosperity. Think

of the eras of Ronald Reagan

and Tip O’Neill, Bill Clinton

and Newt Gingrich, Barack

Obama and Mitch McConnell.

art hotz

New York

I am, I hope, a reasonably

sophisticated reader of

opinion polls, and chaired the

House of Lords select commit-

tee on the subject, which

reported in 2018. No doubt the

American Association for

Public Opinion Research will

do the thorough job of

investigating this miss as they

did after Hillary Clinton’s

defeat, just as Professor Patrick

Sturgis and his team did after

the British polls got the elec-

tion in 2015 so wrong. Like you

(“Whiffing twice”, November

7th) I think the most likely

explanation is that the voters

who refused to reply to

pollsters—11 in 12 accordingto

someestimates—arenot

typicalofvotersasa whole.

Thatproportionofrefuseniks

hasgrown,andisgrowing.

Opinionpollshavetheir

uses,particularlyonsocial

matterswhensmalldiffer-

encesintheprecisenumbers

don’tmatter.Inelections

however,smalldifferencescan

matterverymuchindeed.A

toolisnota goodtoolif it is

usedfora purpose,inthiscase

forecastingelectionresults,for

whichit isnotreallyfit.

davidlipsey

HouseofLords

London

TheattemptedcoupinTurkey

“Voltaire’sheirs”(November

7th)statedthatthousandsof

MuslimsinTurkeywerelocked

up“forbelongingtothewrong

religiousgroup”.Thatis

incorrect.Thepeopleinques-

tionwerejailedfortryingto

stagea militarycoupinTurkey

inJuly 2016 thatcausedtheloss

oflifeofmorethan 250 people

whilebombingcities,andthe

TurkishParliament,with

fighterjets.Describingthemas

the“wrongreligiousgroup”

doesnothingtocontribute

towardsprotectingthefree-

domsofspeechandbelief.

umityalcin

AmbassadorforTurkey

London

Thailand’s politics

When reporting on Thailand’s

monarchy the media should

avoid cherry-picking anec-

dotes to fit certain narratives

(“Battle royal”, October 17th).

The Crown Property Bureau

has dedicated large sums of

investment for public benefits.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn has

asked the cpbto consider

using its land for constructing

water reservoirs to solve a

water scarcity problem. Siam

Bioscience, an investment of

the cpbto improve patients’

access to high quality medi-

cine, is co-operating with

AstraZeneca to develop a

covid-19 vaccine for Thailand

and South-East Asia.

Although the monarchy is

regarded in high esteem, it has

often been inappropriately

politicised by opposing

factions, particularly when

tension arises. The recent

protests and suggestions for

political reform reflect the

reality of the conflict between

people of different viewpoints

in our society, which has been

exacerbated by the increase of

hate speech circulated both in

mainstream and social media.

As such, structural changes

can only be achieved through

open dialogue and not further

divisiveness and violence.

pisanu suvanajata

Ambassador for Thailand

London

The provenance of a proverb

The phrase, “like two bald men

fighting over a comb”, has a

longer history than the border

skirmish in 1998 between

Ethiopia and Eritrea (“Ethiopia

is poised to unravel”, Novem-

ber 7th). It is often quoted as if

it is a new witticism. In fact,

Jorge Luis Borges used it in

reference to the Falklands war

in 1982, and it stretches back

further in time than that,

possibly all the way to

Phaedrus, a writer in ancient

Rome. Borges, however, may

have been the first to use it as a

metaphor for futile war.

chris chapman

London

No wish to return

Chaguan’s column (October

24th) on China’s double-edged

message to Taiwan of “Come

home, or China will kill you”

reminded me of “Hamilton”. In

that musical King George III

responds to the American

revolutionaries’ demand for

independence with the line, “I

will send a fully armed

battalion to remind you of my

love!” The song is called “You’ll

Be Back”.

rachel goldberg

London