On Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day, reading Thomas Paine and Ambedkar on democracy

On December 7, a joint session of the US Congress certified Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the 46th President and Vice-President of the United States of America. In a normal world, the losing party would concede defeat and allow the new administration to take over. However, the outgoing President Donald Trump had begun to cast doubts on the electoral process years before the elections were even held.

Looking back at America’s 244-year-old experiment with democracy, the events of the past few months have been most uncharacteristic.

Like a toddler unable to fathom his defeat, Trump went on crying about the untrustworthy role of the electoral college. He tweeted that he would not attend Biden’s swearning-in ceremony on January 20. After that, he sent a chilling warning on Twitter that the white supremacist forces who have supported him would have a “GIANT VOICE long into the future”. Twitter went on to suspend Trump’s account permenantly “due to the risk of…

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