Republicans Resort to Violence to Stay in Power, Democrats Transfer Power Honorably
The choice couldn't be any more clear
I was taking a much needed mental break from social media when my wife passed me her phone. “Look at this!” she said.
Not knowing what I was getting into, I squinted at the screen and read President Biden’s announcement that he was leaving the presidential race. I am 100% committed to Kamala Harris, but the message hit me like a gut punch. Joe Biden has his faults, but he’s a good man and it’s shameful the way he’s been subjected to constant attacks in the media. Meanwhile, his racist, treasonous, con artist opponent has been allowed to skate along smirking while hurling insults and constant calls for violence.
Can somebody PLEASE start holding Republicans accountable for the violence they commit and the violence they demand? All we have to do is uphold our laws and we could transform our country overnight… but I digress.
My wife, seeing the look on my face, said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stress you out.”
But it wasn’t her stressing me out, it was the election. It was the ridiculous comedy of errors that has let the traitor off the hook again and again. There are plenty of safeguards in our government to prevent a fascist from taking control, but every time trump comes up against one, the light inexplicably turns green. When will it end?
And, let’s face it, the DNC is complicit in this disastrous affair. They haven’t stood up and said, “No, you can’t commit treason! No, you can’t rape people! No, you can’t lie! No, you can’t strip women of their bodily autonomy! NO! NO! NO!”
So my first fear upon hearing that Biden had left the race was to think “They’re going to stick us with a ‘centrist’ like Joe Manchin or Hillary Clinton because they think it will be ‘safer’… oh God please don’t let it be Hillary! She’s the one person Trump might actually be able to beat.” In case you think my worrying was out of line, yes, the idea of nominating Hillary had been floated in the media a couple times.
The problem is that a LOT of people thought that Kamala Harris taking over was a foregone conclusion. It was anything but. All of my friends who are social justice activists were extremely worried that, once again, the qualified Black woman would be passed over for some entitled white man.
Because… that’s the way America works.
Representative Jasmine Crockett, who is awesome by the way (“Bleach blond bad built butch body”), said she hoped the “geniuses” that pushed Biden out “have a plan.” That’s the word that explains why there was a bad taste in my mouth on the day of the announcement. “Geniuses,” they always think they’re smarter than us. Why then is everything such a mess?
They tell us progress “has to be slow” but, do you see? They can take radical action when they want to. They can get things done. Or at least… they can take the first steps.
In the moment of reading Biden’s announcement, there was still a considerable amount of uncertainty. I hoped for Harris, but I also feared a scenario where a bunch of power hungry losers would hold the party hostage and do everything they could to sink any hope of unity in pursuit of their own ambitions (remember how they wouldn’t pass Build Back Better or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act?).
In the days leading up to Biden’s announcement, I’d been steadfastly posting my support for him. I strongly dislike the idea that he might have been pressured to quit (I’ve been supporting the ticket). However, if it was a matter of Biden himself or his doctors recognizing he was physically not up to the job, that’s a different matter.
But I hadn’t seen those reports. I’m not a doctor. I haven’t examined Biden. It’s not right to speculate about his health.
I predicted the issue of “voter suppression” with regard to the primaries would come into play. I’ve been trying to get people to talk about it in part because it’s a legitimate topic and in part to take some momentum away from the “he’s too old” narrative. The fact is that the DNC held a primary and the Biden/Harris ticket won.
The idea that some rich DNC donors would get cold feet and try to pressure Biden out was a scenario I feared, particularly if they were going to stick us with somebody awful.
Another reason to mention the voter suppression angle is to emphasize that the voting public would not accept a choice other than Harris. Selecting Harris as the nominee neatly refutes that argument. The primary voters selected the ticket after all.
The other miracle that’s happened in the last few days is how quickly the DNC has seemed to throw its support behind Harris. Let’s be clear, this country has never been more in need of a leader like her. She’s wonderful, and she understands the experience of people who have been marginalized and exploited in this country since it was founded. This is what the country needs.
Yesterday, somebody asked, “Are you ready to admit that this was the right choice?” Well, we won’t know if it’s “right” until election day. But it’s never been about “right vs wrong.” It’s been about responding to unfair narratives and anticipating the upcoming attacks. Besides, I’m not the guy who picks nominees. I’m just trying to offer counter arguments to all the lies that are floating around.
It’s important to speak up and keep working rather than to assume good things are just going to happen on their own (they’re not).
While Biden was on the ticket, I was 100% behind Biden because I thought all this “he should step aside” talk was damaging and dangerous. I still believe the polls are wrong and he would have won in a landslide, but now we’ll never know. Once he stepped down, my concerns were that Harris would be passed over. Now that it appears that Harris is creating unity, I’m still worried about debates and security…
Speaking of that, the director of the secret service just resigned. These are always page three type news stories, but this is a big one. With the way violence has already featured a prominent role in this election, and the way it’s been an uncomfortable part of our politics ever since trump came on the scene, I want to know who the new secret service director is going to be.
We learned on January 6th that the Republican party is ready to commit acts of violence. They’re heavily armed. I want to know that our elected leaders are protected. If the secret service has been compromised, we need to know about it. We need an investigation.
But when it comes to any kind of investigation, trump always has to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. We can’t allow him to do it again. It’s irresponsible.
I’d like to read the reports as to just what happened in Pennsylvania. For one thing, there has been no adequate disclosure as to the extent of trump’s injuries. The American public deserves to know if he suffered the kind of physical or mental trauma that could impact his decision making.
Other than walking around wearing a bandage bigger than his own inflated ego (which is saying something), we don’t know anything about it. Why can’t we see a picture of the wound?
He has never disclosed anything. He never disclosed his tax returns. He never disclosed the full extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. We’re not going to get transparency with trump, that’s old news, but it shouldn’t be, particularly when he lies to us and tries to cheat us again and again and again. His word is not good enough on any topic.
Biden has always been worlds more transparent than trump, almost to his detriment. That wasn’t enough to win him the respect he deserved in the present, but it might hold some weight in the future. But what Biden did on Sunday might end up being the kind of world shattering mic drop moment that the voting public won’t be able to ignore.
The contrast between the two parties couldn’t be any more clear. Democrats are willing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Republicans are willing to engage in violence.
Now we have a presidential race between stark opposites.
Harris stands for law and order, trump stands for criminal behavior.
Harris stands for reason, trump stands for conspiracy theories.
Harris stands for truth, trump stands for lies.
Harris stands for prosperity and peace, trump stands for misery and violence.
Harris stands for freedom and personal choice, trump stands for tyranny.
Harris stands for the country, trump stands only for himself.
I was fearful that Biden would step down, but I never anticipated how powerful an act of patriotism it would prove to be. In any election, there’s always a fear that the incumbent president will try to seize power. That’s exactly what happened in 2020 when Biden won and trump refused to accept it.
Now we see Biden prove his merits with actions rather than words yet again. He promised to do what he thought was right for this country even to the point of personal sacrifice, and he’s done it. The republicans have no answer to this. In every way imaginable, the Democrats have demonstrated themselves to be the better choice.
I hope this contrast becomes the narrative of the next four months, but I don’t trust the media to promote it. I guess it will be up to us, just as it will be up to us to put Harris in the White House on election day.