President Biden on Friday delivered a ferocious condemnation of Donald J. Trump, his likely 2024 opponent, warning in searing language that the former president had directed an insurrection and would aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returned to power.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Mr. Trump’s supporters, Mr. Biden framed the coming election as a choice between a candidate devoted to upholding America’s centuries-old ideals and a chaos agent willing to discard them for his personal benefit.
“There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do,” Mr. Biden warned in a speech at a community college not far from Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, where George Washington commanded troops during the Revolutionary War. Exhorting supporters to prepare to vote this fall, he said: “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question is: Who are we?”
In an intensely personal address that at one point nearly led Mr. Biden to curse Mr. Trump by name, the president compared his rival to foreign autocrats who rule by fiat and lies. He said Mr. Trump had failed the basic test of American leaders, to trust the people to choose their elected officials and abide by their decisions.
“We must be clear,” Mr. Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.”
The Democrats still don’t get it.
“We’re not Trump” isn’t enough, no matter how bad Trump is.
There are no people on the fence between voting Biden or voting Trump anymore. The distance between the camps is too great, every voter is already entrenched in one of the 2 camps.
Dems need to target the people on the fence between voting Dem and not voting at all. The people who are frustrated by the lack of progress, the lack of a real choice that will change the status quo, and the slow decline of their standard of living while the rich get richer. If they ran with a more radical leftist candidate and program, they might even convince a few Trump voters who just want things to change, no matter what direction, cause the current status quo sucks.
They won’t lose any core voters or centrists by moving to the left, cause those people know that the alternative is right-wing fascism. But there’s a huge voting pool of people who won’t stand in line for hours to vote for a candidate who has done nothing and will continue to do nothing for them, while their standard of life slowly deteriorates.
Believe it or not, I’d say that’s who this message is targeted at. It’s for the people saying “Biden isn’t the exact candidate I want, so I’m not going to vote this time to teach Dems a lesson. Then they’ll have to run the exact candidate I want next time.” The message is that you should know that strategy will get you Trump, and you should know by now how that will go.
This really does depend on where ya live, though.
As a Californian I already know what my states 55 will be voting for (yay electoral college) and since I can also tell that people going “Biden ain’t good enough” are in the minority here I can pretty safely not vote for him this time (did last time) to hopefully help send the message that they’re losing numbers even in deep blue states. I get that it’s a small protest but when youve already called and written your representatives to say shit like this you can only do so much.
My local elections will be voted in, as normal, but I’m gonna give my presidential one to a third party or nobody this year guilt free
A perfectly fair point. My only concern there is that reliance on “sure things” in 2016 is part of why Hillary lost. There were, after all, more votes for Trump in California than any other state, simply down to population size. I’d just hate to see us all get shot in the foot again due to complacency.
It’s a stupid protest, because the only reason any third party people are on the ballot is because they want to be Biden spoilers. Jill Stein is a Russian op, for example.
None of these “third parties” even run in want local, or even any federal elections besides president. They are fake parties, why would you encourage that sort of thing? To “say” you don’t like Biden enough? You think these Russian and GOP dark money funded people are more worthy of your vote?
they need to give people something worth voting for. not being trump just isn’t good enough.
-> You’ll be shot in the head if you don’t eat your Brussels sprouts.
-> No, cookies and ice cream or nothing!
Life and especially politics is full of compromises. Everybody compromises on something on every vote. You know what the stakes are, and you know what the consequences of inaction are.
Unfortunately, “not Trump” IS a good enough reason, and you have the choice to come to terms with that fact before November, or during a Trump presidency/dictatorship.
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This implies the working class has any impact on policy. The only ones with political influence are the donor class. When your single voice has the same impact on politicians as people like Jeff Bezos, then maybe. But you have no voice or representation in politics.
The whole ‘push him left after the election’ hasn’t worked out so well, as Biden continued to shift to the right.
You think that would improve in any way if Trump gets elected?
I agree, it sucks that Dems don’t have to actually try right now. But the fact is Trump has openly said he would be a dictator (“just for one day”) and has openly demonstrated his unwillingness to ever give up power. When people tell you who they are, believe them.
There’s no sense in “teaching Dems a lesson” to run a better candidate if it leads to a very real possibility of the Dems never being able to run a candidate again. Unfortunately right now the only 2 options are:
Option 1 perpetuates the cycle of dysfunctional government. There is no pressuring Dems into anything if they are allowed to do whatever they want with no repercussions then get elected again. The working class doesn’t have the money necessary to pressure anything like the donor class does.
This is hyperbole, regardless of what Trump says, the Constitution allows 2 terms total, and that’s it.
How is it democrats believe Biden is completely powerless to pass anything because of Republicans, but believe Republicans would be able to pass all these things immediately? If democrats are so weak they can’t pass effective legislation then reelecting them is not the answer to the question.
I mostly agree with that, but biden has shown that he can be swayed by public opinion. I wish he would hurry the fuck up when it comes to Israel, but he’s slowly moving to a harder stance.
When has he been swayed by opinion? He ignored cries for defunding police by doing the exact opposite. He’s ignored demands for healthcare, wages, housing. He won’t come around on Israel until all of Gaza has been cleansed. Then shrug his shoulders proclaiming he’s done the best he could
>You’re either an accelerationist that wants to see another civil war or a toddler throwing a tantrum.
false dichotomy
>“Give me a perfect progressive candidate or I’ll let fascists dismantle democracy.”
this is a straw man
Let me present a more charitable interpretation then.
“Give me a better candidate or I’ll let fascists dismantle democracy.”
Better?
no, this is still a strawman.
if you are going to argue with me, argue with what I’m saying, not some caricature you make up.
>Not voting won’t teach dems shit.
that was never the plan
Then what is the plan?
my plan is to organize and fight.
>The system is bullshit but the best we can do is stave off fascism for another election,
the system is already fascist. it doesn’t matter if you vote for the architect if the crime bill and the patriot act
Sounds like the mental gymnastics people in Dictatorships, Slavery or Servitude use to justify going along with what their masters want.
Better be the master’s trusted slave than the slave that gets beatings all the time, eh?!
What executive level policies would you like to see enacted?
As someone with lots of trans and LGBT+ people in my chosen family, it abso-fucking-lutely enough. When the options are compromising and voting for the establishment center-right candidate who will protect those I love and the possibility of a fascist coming to power who wants to destroy them, it’s not even a question on whether it’s good enough.
People have to stop acting like perfect is the opposite of good when the only other alternative is an out of control dumpster fire.
That’s funny, for me as a cishet white middle aged dad without many LGBT+ friends and family but who gives a shit about other people, it is also abso-fucking-lutely enough! Never mind that I like not living in a dictatorship.
We, as voting citizens, are left to believe Democrats don’t want to move left. That is the only reason they won’t adopt progressive policies. It’s not because people wouldn’t vote for them. It’s exemplified by Bidens voting record. I’m not saying they should have picked someone with a better record. I’m saying, outside a handful of people, all of their voting records are shite when you start looking at them. From that handful they are either, 100 year old jesus(bernie) or a bunch of stinkers. Sure, they could pull from the younger generation but let’s face it; the Democratic party structure favors seniority.
One thing is for sure neither party is going to willingly give up power and we as americans instinctually know the only way to get it back is to take it.
Unfortunately that is the only way left. The left doesn’t have a Koch sugar daddy, who provided millions to establish teabaggers and far right crazies as political forces.
I wouldn’t want a Koch sugar daddy. There is no such thing as a benevolent king.
Judging by what I’ve seen in my own country in the non-mainstream Left, people who have grown-up in the neoliberal era have generally interiorized stuff like “greed is good” (for supposed lefties, maybe not at the overt putting yourself first level, but certainly as the demanding for your “group” that which mainly benefits people like yourself) and Consumerism, and very few overcome that without a little bit of experiencing multiple sides of life (not quite the same as being old but up to a point correlated with age).
This would explain why its so hard to find people even in their 30s with actual leftwing principles (“the greatest good for the greatest number”) rather than merelly liberal ones (“people should be allowed to do whatever they want”) interpreted in a way that’s compatible with things like extreme wealth hoarding - the latter are absolutelly compatiblle with neoliberalism (which wants that very same freedom of doing anything including in the economic field) whilst the former is not (because total freedom in the economic field quickly becomes the opposited of “the greatest good for the greatest number” because some people couldn’t care less about making others suffer if it yields them even the tiniest of personal gains and since money makes money and money is power those often yield enormous power in a system where the power of the state has been nullified in the name of “freedom”)
Perfectly well said, the same problem is happening in the UK at the moment, with Labour running on a platform of “we’re not Torries” without actually advocating for any changes
“We’re not trump” is enough for me.