BIDEN’S CHOICE: ACCOUNTABILITY OR UNITY
YOU CAN ONLY BE NONCOMMITTAL about the crucial question of accountability for Donald Trump so long, especially when you are the next president of the United States. And for Joe Biden, with mere days left before he takes the oath of office on January 20, that time is just about up.
The 78-year-old Democrat, more comfortable preaching the politics of unity and reconciliation than backing a fire-and-brimstone approach, has not publicly—or privately, advisers say—backed impeachment or pushed for conviction in the Senate, even as a groundswell for justice emerged in the wake of the Capitol riot. He hasn’t weighed in on whether he wants to pursue criminal investigations into Trump’s behavior—such as allegedly inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol and pressuring state officials to change the outcome of the election—but instead says he’ll leave that decision to the Justice Department and his Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland. Alternatively, for anyone hoping for a grand gesture to help heal the country, say, along the lines of Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon to move America past Watergate, Biden has stated for months that that’s not the way he plans to end this particular long national nightmare.
Yet Biden saying little to nothing about how he will tackle the deep polarization within the country and mounting pressure to hold Donald Trump accountable will no longer be a viable option either.
That Biden inherits a traumatically riven nation will be readily apparent as he takes to the steps of the Capitol to be sworn in this week. For the first time since 1869, the outgoing president won’t even be there. Biden will stand in the shadow of the same building where two weeks ago a violent mob went on a deadly rampage out of anger over perceived but unfounded election fraud claims and where one week earlier Trump was impeached for his alleged role in fomenting that attack. The audience will be considerably smaller than usual too, partly because of the uncontrolled pandemic but also to protect attendees from threats of further violence.
What’s more, few on Biden’s side are in a conciliatory mood, as factions
