With Joe Biden taking over as the head of the most powerful nation in the world, not only the people of America but also the whole world felt a sigh of relief. The proclaimed policies and priorities of the new president of America instil a lot of hope in the people of America and of the world. Unity, peace, healing, and ‘restoring the soul of America’ etc were the terms reverberated in the inaugural speech of Joe Biden. There was no sign of hatred or revenge in his inaugural address, but it reflected the intense desire and firm determination for unity, harmony and peace.  In fact, it was a spiritual talk with prophetic force.  

The inaugural speech reflect that Joe Biden and his team have already identified the huge challenges before them as stopping  a pandemic and reviving the battered economy, addressing  global warming, reducing income inequality, dealing with racial injustice, restoring  confidence in government, reinvigorating the rule of law, returning ethics to government, decreasing divisions in U.S. society and depoliticizing government agencies.

The harm inflicted by the outgoing president Donald Trump on America and the whole world is beyond description. The Free Press newspaper, a staunch supporter of PM Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP, wrote an editorial on 20th January under the caption, ‘World is a better place without disrupter Trump’. “No US president in recent memory was as unworthy of occupying the most powerful office in the world as the not-so-successful New York real estate baron. No other president in recent times was as ignorant and unaware of the world around him as Trump. Yet, the narcissist boasted he was a stable genius. He won, in the first place, by appealing to the baser instincts of the voters who had seen better days”, wrote the editorial. His character was reflected in inciting his followers to attack Capitol Hill. Trump did not even show the courtesy of congratulating the incoming president Joe Biden. 

Max Boot in an article in The Washington Post on 20th January titled, “Trump the worst president ever, but his failures set up Biden for success” has enumerated the major failures of Trump. Trump’s tenure was characterized by ‘colossal incompetence and mind-numbing indifference to public good’, he wrote. According to him, Trump will be remembered for his blunders and failures. 

 Trump’s Coronavirus management resulted in the infection of more than 24 million people and four lakhs death. He presided over the worst unemployment after the Great Depression. He was the most dishonest president, as he produced more than 30,000 documented falsehoods. He was the most corrupt president. His transgressions include among others refusal to release his tax returns and pardoning his cronies and co-conspirators. He was the most openly racist president in modern times-arguably since Woodrow Wilson. He is the first president not to accept election defeat and propagate bizarre conspiracy theories to undermine the confidence in the electoral system. He is the only president ever impeached twice.  The author concluded the article, “Thanks, President Trump. By being so awful, you have all but guaranteed that Biden will be far more successful by comparison”.

After the defeat of Trump in the election, especially after the mob violence unleashed by the supporters of Trump at the Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, many articles appeared in the print and electronic media stating, “Trump is defeated, but Trumpism is going to stay”. Trumpism is going to be the biggest challenge for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The violence at the Capitol did not take place all of a sudden. The Capitol Siege was an attempt to subvert the democratic process, and had the full blessings of Trump, and of sections of the Republican Party. 

As the editorial of The Indian Express on 16th January 2021 pointed out, the complicities and failures of political parties, institutions of state and American civil society have contributed to the explosion of violence on 6th January. The Republicans supported a leader who often lied, ruled by executive fiats and undermined institutions. The law enforcement agencies did not show the same grit and determination to stop violence, as they tackled the ‘Black Live Matters’ protests. Till the violence took place the social media platforms allowed Trump to spread blatant lies and hatred through his posts. Underneath all these factors remains the deep divisiveness in the American society, which Trump exploited thoroughly. Trumpism is a “toxic mix of populism, executive high-handedness, and bigotry”. 

While preparing their plans, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with their rich experience in American politics have clinically analysed the situation into which the four years rule of Trump has pushed the American society. The TIME magazine while naming the duo as its ‘2020 person’ had published their plans to tackle the manifold challenges: “widespread unemployment and an economic crisis, a global climate crisis; a reckoning over the continued pervasiveness of systemic racism; and growing misinformation blurring fact and fiction”. The editor-in-chief of the magazine also highlighted the reasons for the selection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.   "For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME's 2020 Person of the Year," TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote.

The inaugural speech of Biden clearly spells out that the top most priority of Joe Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America”, is emotional and psychological healing by uniting a divided nation. He made it very clear that he is not going to respond to hate with hate.  “The American people are not mean-spirited. They do want to see justice. They want to be united. They want to bring the country together”, he said. "To overcome these challenges to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity," he said in his inaugural speech. "We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this - if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts," he asserted. 

In his inaugural address he repeated what he had said in his victory speech. "I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans," he said. "And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did."
Biden also made clear in his inaugural address that he will be uniting the people of America by defending, protecting and promoting democracy that was attacked and weakened by his predecessor and his supporters. "Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work on our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground," Biden said. "It did not happen; it will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever." He has vowed to defeat ‘white supremacy’ and ‘domestic terrorism’, the two notorious enemies of democracy. 

The second topmost priority of Joe Biden is to ensure physical healing by protecting people from the pandemic by adopting scientific methods and making use of the expertise of the scientists and researchers. He has a plan to provide people free tests and treatment for Covid 19 and free Covid 19 vaccines.  A day before the inauguration, Joe Biden along with wife Jill and Kamala Harris and her partner Doug Emhoff honoured those who lost their lives to Covid 19 by holding a memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool where 400 lights were lit to honour the 400,000 who succumbed to the pandemic. His plan is to provide 100 million doses of Covid 19 vaccines within 100 days. 

Another important priority of the president elect is economic revival. Some of his plans include keeping as many people on the payroll as possible and making Americans whole for lost hours and wages, and act decisively to keep small businesses in business. His policy is to tell large companies seeking taxpayer assistance that they need to make commitments that the assistance will go toward their workers, not toward enriching their CEOs or shareholders. He has put together all his plans for the revival of the economy under the slogan, ‘Build Back Better’. The Biden administration has prepared a $1.9 trillion plan that would enhance jobless benefits and provide direct cash payments to households.

Many U turns from the foreign policy decisions of Trump are expected from the Biden administration in view building a more peaceful world. Biden, who has called climate change the “existential threat of our time,” is expected to rejoin the Paris accords on his first day in office and has tapped former Secretary of State John Kerry as his special presidential envoy for climate issues. Although the inaugural speech doesn’t reflect much of the foreign policy, Biden said, “We will lead by the power of our example”. He promised to repair alliances frayed by Trump, lead and be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security. 

Foreign policy observers are of the view that the relationship between India and America will continue to be smooth and even be strengthened in the context of China becoming more aggressive on the borders. 
The Indian leaders can unlearn and learn a lot from the latest developments in American politics. They have to unlearn and give up the policies and actions similar to Trumpism, and learn and adopt the positive, inclusive, liberal, humane and spiritual values reflected both in the inaugural speech and action plan of Joe Biden, if India has to rise up to the status of the largest democracy in the world in its true sense.