Can Biden help heal America’s divisiveness? | Guest Opinion
How will our divided country respond and, we hope, heal after this bitter battle for the American presidency?
Peter Wehner, who grew up in Richland and is now senior fellow at the conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Institute and a frequent political commentator for The New York Times and The Atlantic, will discuss this during a Columbia Basin Badger Club forum.
The event at noon on Nov. 19 will be presented free online through Zoom, and viewers can submit questions. Advance registration is required on the club’s website, columbiabasinbadgers.com.
Wehner, 59, has a unique perspective as a Republican who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. He was an early “Never Trumper” who believes Donald Trump has badly damaged the conservative cause. He maintains Trump has acted in many ways that have been anti-conservative and unchristian.
In an interview Nov. 7 as Joe Biden closed in on the presidency, Wehner said Trump has inflamed toxic elements within the country, acting as a “lawless person” and “pathological liar” who has “engaged in a daily assault on truth and reality.” Wehner also has described Trump as an “institutional arsonist” who made the Republican Party “the conduit of chaos.”
Wehner is concerned with the growing influence of conspiracy theories within our country, promoted through social media and the onslaught of tweets from a “sociopath” in the White House. The country, he said, needs to “reclaim truth.”
As a Christian conservative, Wehner believes the Trump presidency “has done great damage to the Christian witness.” He referred to certain Christian branches such as the Southern Baptists, who passed a resolution on morality in response to Bill Clinton’s affair, yet overlooked Trump’s hush payments to a porn star and a former Playboy bunny while saying only his policies mattered. Such hypocrisy has not been overlooked, particularly by young Christians, Wehner said.
So will a President Biden be any better? It depends on how he decides to govern, Wehner said. He said the election was by no means decisive in terms of down-ballot Democratic candidates riding Biden’s coattails into office. He hopes Biden will bring people into the White House who are centrists intent on helping the country heal.
And where will the political parties go after the election? Wehner expects fierce struggles within both parties between their more extreme and moderate elements. While predictions on how those struggles will resolve are murky, he said the Democrats are in a better position with a president in the White House who could check more radical elements within his party.
After a tumultuous and extremely divisive presidency, “healing is within our reach,” Wehner said. “We’re a self-governing republic and if enough people want to do the right thing, the right thing will be done.”
Join the Badger Club, which provides a nonpartisan forum for civil discourse, as we examine the path forward toward healing our nation.
Rick Larson is a member of the Badger Club board and program committee. He’s also the retired managing editor of the Tri-City Herald.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Can Biden help heal America’s divisiveness? | Guest Opinion."