February 2, 2024
A Gazette Editorial
In the 1993 classic movie, ‘Groundhog Day,’ Bill Murray’s character gets stuck in a time loop and every day is Groundhog Day. Today was Groundhog Day in the real World and, as usual, we all played along with the notion that the presence or absence of this critter’s shadow can predict the arrival of Spring. But, as we all know, Spring’s arrival can be very fickle, with what looks like the end of Winter one day followed by a big blizzard the next. But what got us thinking about groundhogs, time loops, and predictions is the prospect of an electoral rematch of the two 2020 Presidential candidates this year.
As in 2020, the country seems more or less evenly split between these two guys. And like that year there seems to be an widespread undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the choices. And, come to think of it, that was kind of true in 2016 as well. Of course History never repeats verbatim, but this year’s election is repeating the last one pretty closely. Yet, despite the possible rematch between Biden and Trump, a number of variables have changed.
Remember this?
Thinking back to 2020, we recall a year of Covid-19 deaths, shuttered businesses, economic rescue checks, fear, high unemployment, forgivable loan programs, and an Administration that was caught seemingly off guard and never quite recovered its footing. In fact, by Fall, the President himself was hospitalized with a case of Covid-19. Right around the election new vaccines were approved and over the next half a year or so the pandemic ebbed. But not before a million fellow Americans had died and something called ‘long Covid’ appeared. Something else happened last election: the loser refused to concede and he stoked rage and doubt among his supporters that culminated in an attempt to besiege the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021 and prevent certification of the winner.
We watched it on TV in Inwood.
This sort of thing was something no living American had experienced in their lifetime. Coming as it did on the heels of an historic year of sickness and death unlike anything they’d ever seen, the nation was thrown into a state of shock. A month later Trump was impeached and, for the second time, acquitted by the Senate. But the conclusion that his political life was over seemed obvious. Even the Republican Majority Leader wrote him off:
“January 6th was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like. Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the vice president. They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth – because he was angry he’d lost an election.
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty. The House accused the former president of, quote, “incitement.” That is a specific term from the criminal law. Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”
Yet here we are. It’s Trump and Biden II, the rematch. Maybe it’s a Groundhog Year time warp. Or maybe everything except the same two guys are running for President is different this year. On Groundhog Day in 2020 we hadn’t even heard of Covid-19 yet!
Times Square, February 14, 2020.
