The Road Ahead

Joe Biden was not my first choice for the Democratic nominee back in 2020. Or my second choice. Or even my third. In fact, he was probably my fourth choice at best. But, Trump had proven himself to be not just incompetent, but outright malicious and dangerous. Our country would not survive another 4 years under his "leadership".

So, as soon as Joe Biden was nominated, he had my vote.

I was not expecting much out of his presidency other than a 4 year reprieve from Trump's chaos. During the Democratic primaries, Biden came across as very conservative compared to the other candidates, but supposedly that made him palatable to swing voters. So, I doubted he would be able to accomplish much in the way of progressive policy.

To my astonishment, Joe Biden hit the ground running. He provided very clear messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic and really ramped up the vaccine distribution, ensuring the availability of multiple vaccines to anyone who wanted them. He also passed a massive COVID relief bill that allowed us to reactivate our economy safely without throwing low-wage workers under the bus. In fact, many workers used this as an opportunity to learn new skills and procure better employment. Unsurprisingly, MAGA spun this as a crisis because nobody wanted to work (the shitty jobs) anymore!

But, things didn't stop there. I don't know how, but Joe Biden managed to work across the aisle and pass a Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill in August 2021. Importantly, this bill included provisions that required contractors to "Buy American" resources. So, not only did we get much-needed infrastructure improvement, but it also jump-started our economy after a massive recession. It was exactly what the Republicans always (claimed they) wanted: the government was literally giving tax dollars back to the American people while simultaneously investing in their success.

Again and again, Joe Biden exceeded my expectations. Here are a few other things that he completely knocked out of the park:

• He passed the CHIPS Act, which will bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States. This is a huge win for national security because it will ensure that the United States has full control over its supply chain. Plus, it will create thousands of high-paying jobs, thus further bolstering the economy.
• He enabled Medicare to negotiate better drug prices with pharmaceutical companies as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Furthermore, insulin used to cost over $300/month, but Biden capped the out-of-pocket expenses to just $35/month. This was life-changing for millions of Americans who had been extorted due to their medical condition.
• He forgave student loans for millions of Americans who were trapped on an endless treadmill of accrued interest. This allowed many of them to finally graduate (pun intended!) into the next phase of their lives and begin families, buy homes, and start businesses.
• He supported Ukraine and rallied the European nations to stand up to Putin's aggression. Ukraine was expected to fall after only a few weeks, but this coalition has allowed them retain their sovereignty for over 2 years now. This crippled Russia's military actions and prevented them from overthrowing other neighboring nations. Plus, this created an opportunity for Ukraine to make use of the United State's older military equipment, thus enabling the United States to renew its own military hardware. That sounds like yet more American jobs to me!
• He passed the first gun safety legislation in over 20 years. Among other things, this bill included enhancements to background checks and investments in mental health services. To me, this seems a lot more impactful than just tweeting "Thoughts and Prayers!" after each massacre.

Without a doubt, Joe Biden has been the best President of my lifetime. He has changed this country for the better, and I'm extremely thankful for his leadership. But, it's July of 2024, so now we turn the page as we approach the next presidential election.

(... deep breath ...)

Appallingly, Donald Trump has become the Republican nominee again, and he has been slightly ahead in the polls for months. Yes -- that Donald Trump. Remember him? Here are a few of his greatest hits:

• He openly elevated and defended white supremacists and neo-nazis. He even referred to them as "very fine people" after some of them drove a car over a counter-protester. (She died, BTW).

• He undermined our own intelligence agencies and dismissed their warnings about Russian interference, insisting that he believed Putin's denial of the events instead. To this day, the majority of MAGA still believes that the Russian interference was a "hoax". (They don't even seem to be aware that Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone were all convicted as a result of the Mueller investigation. You know: the same people who Trump pardoned and are now close associates in his 2024 presidential campaign?)

• He was caught extorting Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden's son. More specifically, he wanted Ukrainian President Zelensky to make a public statement about fictitious "ongoing investigations", which would then derail Joe Biden's Democratic primary campaign due to the fabricated scandal. Trump was impeached for this, but the Republicans in the Senate refused to convict him. (They insisted that he had "learned his lesson", and that the threat of being removed from office was punishment enough. Oh -- they also told their Republican base that the entire thing was a hoax, but what does that even matter?)

• He failed to provide any clear messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic and instead told people to "make up their own minds" about the crisis. Sure, he enabled the rapid development of the vaccines by green-lighting "Operation Warp Speed", but he also confused the hell out of the public by eagerly validating every conspiracy theory about the virus. Trump wouldn't even refute the notion that "the vaccine was a Deep State conspiracy to weaken the American public and make them dependent on socialism". Why would anyone take the vaccine when this fear rests in the back of their mind?

• He spent the months leading up to the 2020 election insisting that he could only lose if the Democrats rigged the election, and then invented hundreds of cartoonish ways that this might occur. After he lost the election, he frantically instructed his supporters to live out his teachings and declare everything to be voter fraud.

  • Are people working late into the night to finish counting the votes? VOTER FRAUD!
  • Did somebody eat a ginger mint? VOTER FRAUD!
  • Are election officials finally counting the mail-in ballots because their state laws prohibited them from doing so until Election Day? VOTER FRAUD! VOTER FRAUD! VOTER FRAUD!

  These misguided reports provided Trump and his cronies with the material they needed to flood the courts with frivolous lawsuits. They then pointed to these lawsuits to further reinforce the delusion that the election had been stolen.

• As a contingency plan, Trump encouraged extremist groups to gather in Washington D.C. on January 6th, 2021 to pressure Mike Pence and non-MAGA Republicans into playing along with Trump's election deceit. When this failed, Trump used inflammatory language to incite mob violence. Trump then watched the insurrection unfold for 3 hours before finally telling his supporters to go home (Reminder: he also told the insurrectionists "we love you" during this statement). This, of course, lead to Trump's 2nd impeachment, but the Republicans in the Senate once again refused to convict him. (This time, they insisted that a criminal trial was the appropriate mechanism for dealing with this, not an impeachment. This is curious because it is literally the opposite of what they are asserting in 2024.)

• As a final act of malice during his presidency, Trump issued orders to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. His military leadership at least convinced him to change the deadline from December 31st to May 1st, but this of course put Biden at an extreme disadvantage when he took office. As you recall, the situation in Afghanistan collapsed quickly, and Trump eagerly placed all of the blame on Biden's shoulders.

• I forgot to mention that Trump also retained 103 classified documents on his way out the door. He then spent several months lying to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), claiming that he did not have any documents; at the same time, he also instructed his personnel to move the documents, thereby deceiving his own lawyers into believing that all of the documents had already been returned. His own lawyers then unwittingly mislead the government about the documents, thereby validating Trump's false narrative. Trump was then indicted for orchestrating this deception against the government. (That's right -- NOT because he had the documents in his possession.)

Despite all of these abuses, Trump was still welcomed back into the Republican party and rose to become their nominee for the 2024 election. To make matters even worse, the Supreme Court has effectively declared that Trump has total immunity from any crime that he might conduct while in office. It just needs to be construed as an "official act". If it can't be construed as an "official act", then Trump can work around this by having somebody else conduct the act on his behalf and then pardoning them. Pardoning is an official act, and the Supreme Court has decreed that nobody is allowed to question the President's motives for taking an official act. If that wasn't bad enough already, the people who aid in these abuses might even be rewarded with positions of power, just like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone. Thus, people are now actively incentivized to aid in Trump's corruption!

This brings us back to today. It's mere months before the election, and Trump is continuing to pull ahead of Biden in the polls. Biden served a presidency that would be the envy of any other president, but he committed the sin of aging. This has made him unpalatable to a large portion of the American voters. In the words of Jean-Luc Picard:

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.

If Biden remains as the Democratic nominee, then it is very likely that Trump will win the election. But, a change in the Democratic nominee this late in the election cycle brings about its own risks. The electorate might perceive this as a sign of weakness, and then use this as a justification to support Trump. It's also very likely that MAGA will challenge the new nomination in court and force Biden to remain on the ballot.

Here is what I currently see as the best path forward:

1. We need to communicate to Joe Biden that he can step away from this presidential race with dignity. His candidacy is not a scorecard for his presidency. To the contrary, the bravest and most powerful thing he can do in this moment is step aside, thus rendering Trump's most convincing argument for the presidency irrelevant. Who cares if Trump is younger than Biden if Biden is not even running?
2. Biden needs to announce that he will not seek re-election, but he will actively aid the next Democratic president to the fullest of his ability. This will help to alleviate concerns about the transition to the next Democratic president, whoever they may be.
3. The Democratic party needs to nominate a new candidate before August 17th. Importantly, the nominee should be selected by a convention rather than merely defaulting to Vice President Kamala Harris. This will ensure that the Democratic party is putting their strongest candidate forward rather than just another automatic candidate.

Will this create a lot of disruption and uncertainty? Yes, but that also means that it will generate an unprecedented amount of news coverage. Trump will become background noise as everyone tunes in to see what the Democrats are doing. This will reignite the conversations around the Democratic platform and spark excitement within the electorate. With any luck, this will be enough to convince a majority of swing voters to return to the Democratic ticket.

I don't know what the future holds, but I'm at least in control of my own actions. I was raised as a Christian, and I cannot delude myself into believing that Trump's abuses are the mysterious works of God. Neither can Mike Pence, John Kelly, John Bolton, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sarah Matthews, Jenna Ellis, Stephanie Grisham, Mick Mulvaney, Anthony Scaramucci, Miles Taylor, or countless others who worked directly with Trump in his administration. Let's also not forget the numerous traditional Republicans who have denounced Trump, such as Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, and George W. Bush.

I will be voting for the Democratic ticket, be it Biden or otherwise. I pray that you will follow your conscience and join me.