On 21 Jul 2024, incumbent U.S. President Joe R. Biden dropped from the presidential race against Trump. Biden endorsed his VP Kamala Harris, a historical day.
What happened?
For a few weeks President Biden have been essentially attacked by his own party urging him to step down. These attacks of course were disguised as “what’s best for the country” – and although there were some concerns, there are a lot more unintended consequences that are already percolating as I type these words. This article pertains to what I expected, and why I was against that course of action.
There was no shortage of pundits, podcasters, and Democrat politicians pressing Biden to step down. Yes, Biden is very old, his performance on the so-called CNN presidential debate was a target of opportunity that helped propagandists and impressionable people act on superficial TV optics perception rather than his actual record. What does that mean? It means that people were more interested in a dog and pony show while ignoring the fact that Biden already has one of the most stellar records of any US President in our lifetimes. You can agree or disagree with that, but the numbers are what they are.
Let’s understand this debate some more, because that is what moved this entire situation into fruition. A few months back Trump dared Biden to a debate, and Biden accepted not to one but two debates – these were not the regular debates that usually happen before the actual election. In reality these were more a dick-measuring contest than an actual debate. In fact, this was not really a debate at all, it was more like two joint press conferences that were very shoddily moderated, and I am being generous with that characterization.
The most Biden and Trump had as a back-and-forth during this so-called debate was about golf – yes… I know. But what ended up happening was Trump spewing many falsehoods in fast succession, unchallenged. The debate format would not even allow to challenge each lie independently. Seriously, it would probably take me several pages to go through all of them. And this of course, stunned Biden. Let’s understand that if a person had actual knowledge of what Trump was lying about it would melt your brain. I almost go catatonic myself. But for people who were not as knowledgeable from why each statement was false, it would almost sound as though Trump was in control. He wasn’t.
In other words, it is easier to lie your butt off, but it is a whole other ballgame checking falsehoods in real time… especially when thrown in rapid succession. This of course worked great for Trump, and I realized that shady advantage as I was watching the debate. I knew that the left who tends to be very impressionable would demand of Biden to get off the ticket and make any excuse for him to get off. And of course, grade Biden on a curve, but not bat an eye for what Trump has already normalized. For the record, Biden did accept that his performance was subpar, and that he was actually sick that day. Biden have been a lot more focused and energetic on every other event he presided after the debate.
But it is more insidious than that. Because sometimes the left does not realize that they tend to frame the questions in a way that any rational person would feel compelled to slap the interviewer. The point to reemphasize is that Biden always gets graded on a curve, and even when he confronted his interviewers, the podcasters and pundits, and others just cried foul as though Biden was being defensive. Of course, they all failed to realize the tenor on which these questions were asked. And yes, they kept repeating the bad performance on that debate. However, they failed to give him credit for actually doing the POTUS job during the most contentious geopolitical tensions in the last 40 years.
Of course, because of this negative coverage, the Biden poll numbers started to dwindle. No shit, the very leftist media was poisoning Biden’s record and capabilities based on what was in fact a TV show. Even interviewers after the debate were still fixated on this debate, but they did not grade Trump under the same metric – where he was lying pretty much every time he opened his mouth. It is very likely that all this negativity just prompted Biden to give up, and cave in to the requests of him dropping off the race. To add insult to injury, Biden also contracted COVID, though he recovered – and he was very transparent to the US people about his condition.
So, to close this segment, let’s understand that the President of the United States (POTUS) job is not to debate. That dog & pony show is only for the people who want to see zingers, and maybe understand policy. There was no talk about policy in this last debate. The focus was on Biden not being a spring chicken. But the real POTUS job is to keep us safe at the geopolitical level, there is a lot that happens behind the scenes, and it is not meant for public consumption. Why? Because it is about national security, and it tends to be classified to prevent foreign adversaries from understanding our strategy, because if they do, they can use it against us. Biden has an encyclopedic level of knowledge because of his time working in government.
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Enter Kamala Harris
I’ll be very transparent that I do like Kamala Harris, and she does have my personal support and endorsement. It is good that Biden has endorsed her, but that does not mean that Biden who was the presumed nominee for the Left’s ticket seamlessly transfers to Harris. A lot of that does transfer, but it is not that clear cut. And there is an elephant in the room. According to some Democrats who were in the room, although they did not mention names, they were not giddy about supporting Kamala – but instead looking to getting a whole other ticket altogether.
It is also worth noting that not everybody from the Left has endorsed Harris. The good news is that a lot of people seem to be pledging their support for Harris, both on social media and with donations. She has been breaking records in donations in the last 24 hours, so that is encouraging. She is also a former prosecutor and a very capable candidate altogether. But sadly, being a phenomenal candidate is not always good enough – at least not for the left. Case in point, Biden have been accruing a stellar record, not a perfect record, and a bad TV appearance pushed him to the exit.
I mentioned earlier that there are many unintended consequences, and there are. I’ll list just a few, but this is by no means an all-inclusive list.
- We are under the most contentious geopolitical period in the last 40 years, and the continuity of National Security is key to the very survival of the USA – and our allies. This level of knowledge is not something you can just read or drink from a firehose, it takes many decades of experience to understand the big picture. That is gone. Not to say that Harris would not be a phenomenal candidate for this Geopolitical quagmire, but she will (like anybody else) need a lot more context in order to perform those duties. And no, Trump would not be great a it, he reportedly did not even read his intel reports and demanded those to be put on one page with pictures.
- If Biden would have been incapacitated or goodness-forbid pass away while in office, Harris would be a very robust continuity for taking the job. But putting her on the ticket by herself with a potentially lesser-known candidate to be a running mate is a huge risk. And as I said, his party has not endorsed her yet. Also, if you put a bunch of the most prominent democrats most people would not be able to put a face with a name or recognize them on a height line.
- This might surprise you, but there is a bunch of people who do not know who the Vice President is, or what is her job. For example, I used to ask this to Sailors during some Sailor of the Quarter boards – these are supposed to be the top performing Sailors for that trimester – and some did not know the answer. That should tell you something, if the VP is the second in command to the Commander in Chief.
- The worst part is the nasty side of prejudice. I wish it was not like this, but there is a lot of hate speech that is percolating over the likes of Twitter (primarily). I’m not in some other platforms that move more towards the right, but I would be surprised if they are any kinder to her. What am I talking about? Kamala has a trifecta of being a woman, she is half African American, and her mom was born in India. And for a reason that is despicable, there is a growing segment of American who feel very emboldened to use hate speech as a way to “vindicate” their political views.
- The derogatory tropes are only the beginning, sadly. Kamala is a political figure with almost not controversy; therefore, the attacks are likely to be directed against to her person, not her record. And no, these attacks won’t need to be factual in any way, it will be very nasty. And this won’t stay just between Harris and whomever those trolls are, but it will embolden others to extend the hate speech on a wider scale. It is already happening.
- There is an itch from right-wing people who lean to the extreme to start violence, and they are very much against minorities. If you’ve ever experienced discrimination in America then you know what this means. Sometimes it seems concealed and even well-intentioned – but if you know you know. I can write a whole other article just on that, but I’ll say that there is an uphill battle on many fronts. This is something that these pundits ignored, or definitely misunderstood (most of them white dudes) do not realize about this minority-reality that only those who have experienced it can attest to. It is not really their fault, but the fact is that they won’t be able to understand that situation because they have not experienced it. This is the same catalyst that moved fascists, Jim Crow, and even the American Civil war – it is a lack of understanding because it is outside their own skin.
- The other part is that the left tends to be very nasty against those on the left. Case in point the Democratic primary leading to the 2020 election – that was a bloodbath. This time should hopefully be different if they unite against Trump, but that does not negate that voters out there might have a prejudice within them. And I know that to be the case, even if it is concealed.
- The right will be also able to spin this as though the voices of the left were silenced, and the Democrats are being authoritarian because the votes casted for Biden in the primary are essentially lost. That of course is not quite accurate, but there is a way to spin it. You see, Harris was also on that ticket, but the Right will likely use it as it was a two-person deal with Biden on the headline, and Harris was not the prime candidate from that ticket. Then again, in the primary it really focuses more on the POTUS not the VP. Again, the argument does not need to have merit in order to be weaponized for propaganda.
- There will be of course now talks about getting Biden off the White House under the pretense that if he is unfit to be a candidate then he is unfit to be in office. Remember, a lot of people on the right think Biden is not a legitimate President because of Trumps “big lie.” This already started happening via the Speaker of the House, who unsurprisingly is a MAGA Republican. But again, merits are not as important, the battle now is for those voters who are not savvy at all about politics and will be partial to whomever seems flashier on their device of choice.
I can go on, but I’ll leave it at that for now. With all this said, I am happy for Kamala Harris – I see she has all the trademarks of a great leader, and worthy of the highest office in the USA. This would be historic in so many ways, and she is phenomenal. Of course, she, like anybody else, has blind spots, and she won’t be able to cross the finish line alone.
The good news, as I said, is the very energized support she is getting. And to be honest, that seems to be also getting the Right scared. At the very least a lot of the disparaging merchandise against Biden is pretty much useless. That alone will have a hit on the MAGA merch industry. Of course, that soon enough Trump is likely to come up with a sophomoric nickname for Kamala and this will become into merch hitting the MAGA-verse. I would not be surprised if they are just waiting for this tip before they put all kinds of trinkets and apparel into production.
I don’t foresee this to be a losing battle, but it is a big gamble, and it is ill-timed. This type of decision should have been taken several months in advance. A turnover like the one needed for this should have started at least a year earlier. Whomever is going to walk into the White House will have to perform at a varsity level of knowledge on geopolitics – it will be contentious. I stand-by my words that this was a miscalculation, and Biden was likely pushed into a corner by his own party
There is a way out of this mess, but now it will take a lot more unity and support than ever before. The ugly parts have not become as obvious yet, they will become evident very soon – I’ll write about it when that becomes obvious. The best way to move forward now is to support Kamala and anticipate the attacks she could get and deflect them before they cause any real damage. If the campaign is savvy enough, then this will proactive strategy happen. I just hope they are on point. HLC