As a naturalized U.S. citizen, I’ve been watching the fallout from the presidential campaign in my second home with a close and anxious eye. Many Canadians feel the same way.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Cheryl Thompson from Ryerson University says that although she’s Canadian, she feels ”the magnitude of what’s at stake in a country increasingly divided over issues of race, gender, the economy and the coronavirus pandemic.”

The 2020 U.S. presidential race was as much a cultural battle of values and ideas as it was anything else -- with the Trump presidency “marked by a stark failure to disavow white supremacy while discrediting African American attempts to reclaim their place in American history.”

Why was the race so close then? Thompson asks. Perhaps it's because Trump appeals to the American tendency to want to look back with nostalgia at a mythical golden age, even as he erases the historical facts of that history. It’s a fictional past that appeals to all. And Thompson says the disservice to citizens is that it leaves both Trump and Joe Biden vying for voter’s rose-coloured nostalgic glasses instead of inspiring possibilities about the future.

We also have a sharp analysis by Thomas Klassen of York University on what the confusing election results could mean for Canada, as well as other election stories from the global network of The Conversation.

Regards,