Capitol Riot Presents Biden With a Rare Opportunity
The incoming president could use this moment of clarity to rebuild America’s moral authority around the world.
A shattering blow to American illusions.
Photographer: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images
The vandals who defaced the seat of American power last week appear to have done grave damage, as the New York Times put it, to “America’s proud claim to be the leader of the free world, and to the hope and support its voice offered to people fighting for democracy.”
But this noble idea of America, especially cherished among older, predominantly white Americans, always had a tenuous relation to facts. President-elect Joe Biden now has the chance to discard a long-busted fantasy and build a new reality-based relationship between the United States and the world.