Why Joe Biden Could be the Next Reconstructive President
In the midst of the 2020 presidential election, many Republicans and Democrats had different opinions of the outcome of the election season. Many Democrats were awed at the fact that they lost many seats in the U.S. House, flipped a few red states into blue ones, gained a few U.S. Senate seats, and won the White House. Republicans were pleasantly surprised to gain many U.S. House seats and gain a stronghold in many state legislatures to redistrict many elections to come. However, many were troubled at the fact that Arizona and Georgia flipped blue and the loss to the White House. This now leads many on both sides to wonder what a Biden presidency could look like in the upcoming term.
In regards to Biden, he could be the next “Reconstructive” president who may make the Democratic Party the dominant party once again. This could be the opportunity to redefine this next presidential apparatus. President Trump ca be defined as the “disjunctive” president of the Reagan Era, the same way Carter was the FDR’s era, as he went against the GOP establishment that fought against him as they had other interests as many were Neoconservatives.
It can be seen that New Party Coalitions will shape and new platforms will be embraced as we dive into the new era. Examples of such coalitions are the Freedom Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Squad.” However, it can by very possible to have two disjunctive presidents. Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland were both disjunctive, in spite of Cleveland having the chance to become a Reconstructive president. Cleveland ultimately lost his chance to do so, and President William McKinley became the Era defining president. McKinley’s Republican party, though still very dominant since Lincoln, was a dissimilar coalition from the Lincoln Era, which ended with President Hoover.
For Biden to be a Reconstructive President, he must either win two terms, or another democrat must be in the White House for two terms after Biden’s incumbency. Similar to George Washington with one term of John Adams. President Lincoln was another (who is literally the exception to this due to his assassination. Andrew Johnson was uncanny so he does distort this theory with other variables) with two terms of President Grant. President McKinley is another evident one(who served one term in office , but Theodore Roosevelt served out two terms afterwards) and Teddy Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman are examples (despite FDR serving more than two terms due to the conflict of World War II and the Twenty-Second Amendment not being ratified at the time), and President Reagan and George H.W. Bush being the latest examples.
Biden and Harris could very well set up the next administration. However, if Biden does indeed loose, or the Republican Party regains the White House in 2024, Biden would become the last Reagan Era president and the Republicans will still persist being the dominant party with a latest coalition. But this Republican Party will be different from the Reagan Conservative Coalition. Even if President-elect Biden does indeed become the Reconstructive President, the next possible Republican president will have the opportunity to be able to display what the future of what the GOP will look like. Nixon foreshadowed Ronald Reagan, Woodrow Wilson foreshadowed FDR, and Bill Clinton foreshadowed Biden from a perspective.