From top: US President Donald Trump; Dan Boyle

I chose not to register to vote this time. I have voted in three previous presidential elections. My vote on neither of those occasions made any difference at all. Despite that I enjoyed the opportunity of taking part.

It is likely that the votes I sent at those elections were never counted. The state where I registered, Illinois, had a rule not to count overseas votes unless and until the counting all other votes was done, and only then until if the amount was greater of any difference that existed.

That never happened with any of my votes. It wouldn’t have happened this week either. If my vote was registered in Wisconsin or Michigan it might have done.

Not fully participating this time hasn’t diminished my interest in the outcome of this election. Despising Trump hasn’t been my only motivation.

Despite detesting almost every aspect of his being, I find myself oddly in admiration of Trump’s campaigning skills. Outside of his contempt of not exposing anyone to unnecessary COVID risks, the gusto with which he threw himself into the last ten days of the campaign undoubtedly helped him regain lost ground.

His tactics were as reprehensible as ever, but resonated with his supporters. He successfully portrayed Biden (someone who politically is to the right of Fine Gael!) as a rampant socialist. As a reds under the bed scare it worked.

Another scare that seemed to work was portraying Biden as an anti-fracker. It was a crude caricature of someone who in his eight years as Obama’s Vice President did as much as anyone to promote fracking.

In Trump’s World green is as bad as socialist. Both seen as good dog whistles for his base.

Trump’s innate anti-environmentalism won him his biggest prize of green disdain, the day after votes determining his future were cast. On this day the US became the first country to turn its back on the Paris Accord on climate.

For that alone Trump deserves all the contempt in the world. I had hoped for a Biden landslide, but I think how it is working out might be even better.

For someone who is so cruel in nature and character, there is something quite piquant in having Trump coming so close to retaining office. Being so near but so far is a deserved cruelty.

He ain’t gone yet nor is he likely to go quickly or willingly. His exit will prolong all our agonies. It may the last indignity the US and the rest of the world might have to put up with. Soon he can be placed on the proper side of history.

His impact won’t be as easily eradicated. Others will follow his template. That patented mix of narcissism and arrogance will be emulated by many as the way to get ahead.

I’m thinking dignity can make a comeback. I’m hoping it will. What Trump has personified in the American character will continue to linger.

Biden won’t be a panacea but he can help bring about a kinder, gentler America. That’s a deliberate reference, being a speech note from George Bush Snr. For Biden to help bring the US together, philosophically at least, he needs to reach out to sane Republicans.

This wouldn’t be about establishing a new coalition. It would be about helping to establish a more humane discourse. We not only have to end the madness, we have to make it go away.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

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