Every election lost isn’t stolen

Reporting on US elections in Washington DC was a surreal experience. The evening before election day felt like Karachi bracing itself for a strike in the 90s. Glass storefronts were being boarded with wood, police sirens wailing in the background and the most powerful city in the world was brimming with nervous energy and fear. As a Pakistani covering the election in America, I felt a lot like an American covering an election in Pakistan.

As results rolled in on election day, the first aha moment was that the polls, media and experts were wrong again. An overwhelming majority had been predicting a blue wave with democrats easily swimming into power. But the election results were far tighter than anyone had imagined. On election night, President Trump was winning the popular vote, securing several more million votes than he did in 2016. This is after being publicly racist, misogynist and bungling the Covid-19 response. Were American voters genuinely so angry at their corrupt political elite to give an outsider like Trump a fighting chance again? The American press had completely missed this story and I believe the Pakistani press is making similar mistakes in our country.

Black Americans I spoke to were boiling with rage. Even after the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a white policeman and months of Black Lives Matter protests, a significant portion of American voters were still voting for Trump. Late on election night, a friend and I wanted to walk 15 minutes from our hotel to the White House to cover the scene from there. We heard there were protesters grabbing cameras and roughing up journalists. Unsure of whether we should proceed to the White House, we channelled our inner Karachi spirit and made the trek anyways.

Then came the twist. As results began to swing in favour of Biden, President Trump started saying his mandate was being stolen, an American spin on vote ko izzat do. Media networks were initially reluctant to call the election in key swing states for a few days (results don’t get officially certified for a few weeks) and uncertainty gripped the country. As a Pakistani, I felt right at home, but my American friends were genuinely worried. What’s happening to our country, they asked? What if there isn’t a peaceful transfer of power?

Over the coming days, Biden would declare victory with a message of healing and unity. Trump and more importantly, senior members of the Republican party, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused to congratulate President-elect Biden. While Biden may have won the election, he lost the battle for the soul of America. There were only two kinds of votes in this election: a pro-Trump vote and an anti-Trump vote. A vanilla cardboard box could have run against Trump and secured the same number of votes as Biden.

Beyond Trump, this was a referendum on what kind of country America is and wants to be. Does America still believe in being a melting pot of cultures and ideas or does it want to be a white country? The fact that Trump came so close to winning means that America’s soul is still wandering and lost.

While Trump will continue to make his concession painful, there are important lessons for Pakistan in the aftermath of the US election. The first is that not every election lost is stolen; electorates can be genuinely divided. I’m writing this piece before the G-B election results come through so any echoes between the US and G-B elections here are purely coincidental. This is important to note because opposition parties are already claiming that the elections in G-B will be rigged, unless they win.

Another important lesson exists for the Pakistani media, which lives in an echo chamber, very similar to the likes of CNN and the American press. The American press completely missed the extent of support for Trump in the country in 2020, just like they did in 2016. It’s important for Pakistan’s media to remain humble and seek a diversity in perspectives. Do not assume that the media narrative is the same as the voice of the people. Betting markets predicted US election outcomes better than the press and the experts.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.