Opinion: Finally I can unclench my jaw and exhale

The markets didn't crash because of a trade war; instead, job losses reached their highest since the Great Depression thanks to the Trump administration's stunning mishandling of a global pandemic that in less than a year has killed more than 400,000 Americans.

US soldiers weren't ordered to murder the family members of ISIS militants; instead, the President pardoned convicted war criminals, including four Blackwater mercenaries who were found guilty in federal court for their role in the massacre of 14 unarmed civilians in Baghdad, including two little boys.

Riots in the street?

Worse -- Trump brought us an insurrection at the US Capitol.

But he also surrounded himself with grifters, criminals, toadies, quacks and a number of men who seemed pulled straight out of a bad mob movie, each less qualified to serve than the last, and better described as "characters" in his "show" than legitimate professionals.

He seemed to make significant decisions based on what he saw on Fox News, or under the advisement of his eldest daughter and her husband, both or whom he named as official presidential advisors despite their complete lack of experience in politics, and the fact that both have spent most of their adult lives working only for their own families.

Remember when the President's lawyer and fixer paid off a porn star to cover up the President's alleged affair, and then went to federal prison for fraud and campaign finance violations, scandals that were quickly eclipsed by other, worse scandals in the Trump administration ...

With Biden and Harris in the White House, we will see restoration, and then we can press forward for progress and betterment -- a much more gratifying position to be in than in a defensive crouch, trying to fend off the very worst attacks.

The news out of the White House will be slower, and almost certainly more boring.

America under Biden will be a place where progressives can push for what we want, and achieve some of what we need.