What Does a Post-Coronavirus America Look like?

How the 2020 election will define the nation for the next decade

Before the outbreak of the coronavirus, I argued the upcoming 2020 presidential election would be a defining moment in American history. It seemed obvious that it would be a referendum on the last 3 years of Trump’s presidency from the highs of the stock market to the lows of impeachment. But like much of everything else in our society coronavirus has rewritten the context within which the upcoming election must be understood.

Before the pandemic, the list of issues driving the next election seemed endless. Impeachment, election meddling, environmental deregulation, Middle East policy, immigration, healthcare, and infrastructure development were just a few of the topics to be debated between Biden and Trump. But considering the virus’s catastrophic impact on the economy, it’s the exposure of deep divisions between civil liberties and ‘the public good’, and fundamental questions regarding the future of the country, Trump’s leadership during the pandemic will be the only issue on voter’s minds in November.