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US Politics
OpinionComment
Andrew Hammond
Andrew Hammond

Opinion | Time is running out for Joe Biden to knit fraying US democracy back together

  • US president faces a tall task in generating unity in the face of raw partisan animosity and Republican voters convinced his presidency is illegitimate
  • His State of the Union address is a chance to establish stronger governing themes for his presidency and find common ground with Republicans

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US President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the US Capitol on April 28, 2021. Biden faces one of his toughest challenges yet as president as he tries to foster healing and unity in a bitterly divided country. Photo: AP
Andrew Hammond
Last year’s January 6 riot on Capitol Hill is widely seen as the nadir of US democracy in modern times, yet there is growing speculation of worse to come if a populist like Donald Trump wins the presidency again.
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It is perhaps not surprising that those on the other side of the aisle make this claim. However, concerns are growing well beyond the political class.

Three retired US military generals recently raised the alarm over their fears “about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military”, adding that “we are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time”.

It is not just people in the United States who worry about the future of American democracy. Thomas Homer-Dixon, a Canadian scholar of violent conflict, warned this month of the non-trivial possibility of a right-wing dictatorship in the US by 2030. He said the Canadian government should be scenario-planning around this chilling prospect given the impact it would have for other countries.

Incredible as Homer-Dixon’s assertion might appear, he rightly highlights that the US has an increasingly fragile democratic system that is not immune to collapse from populist onslaught.

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While it is unlikely that this could happen before 2025, when US President Joe Biden’s current term of office ends, Homer-Dixon argues that the US political and social landscape is “flashing with warning signals” with its increasingly unequal and ideologically polarised nature, plus the fact that the country is “armed to the teeth” given the proliferation of guns.
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