He’s the leftwing outsider who nearly became the Democrats’ candidate for president - twice. As his position on the Israel-Gaza war threatens to upset his support, the veteran senator says he’s tired but determined to fight the return of that ‘ bitter, humiliated man’
Biden is the only thing standing between democracy and fascism in the US. Hate it all you want,but that is the reality at the moment.
He can play two roles, it’s not as simple as either good or bad. Capitalist Democratic leadership that is dedicated more to controlling the party’s left wing than defeating the country’s extremist right wing has and does enable fascism. This isn’t even a remotely controversial take, historically speaking. Trump owes his first presidency to the likes of Clinton and Obama, and yes, Joe Biden, who had had a long career of neoliberalism.
That said, while Biden hasn’t been, by any means, a perfect president, he has been far better than I expected, possibly the most progressive president since LBJ. And he is standing, albeit somewhat vaguely, between Trump and the Whitehouse.
But stopping Trump isn’t going to stop the slide into fascism. It can only, at best, delay things until the next election. To do that, we need a strong progressive movement to send a true leftist coalition to take over DC, and set a national tone and direction that moves away from the fascist ledge.
I think the irony is that Republicans are both as dangerous and fragile as possible right now. Their coalition is fracturing badly. If we win definitively in November, it will be a strong blow against them. If we’re lucky, it’ll be enough to permanently splinter them and make them unviable nationally.
That is my first and foremost goal. Render them impotent.
I’m usually all about finding a middle ground, but in this election it is that simple. Trump brings fascism now. Biden retains democracy for at least another 4 years.
But Biden has not stayed on the neo-liberal hard line globalist policies. He has recoiled from international supply chains by bringing investment to manufacturing in the US. He has relieved debt payments for college educated workers. He has invested in infrastructure for transportation of goods as well as electricity which tackles the problem of emissions as well as cost of energy. I believe these moves are a reaction to understanding that life is hard and globalism left a lot of people behind.
How did we get here?
Many would argue it started in 1876…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election
Draft Jon Stewart.
I would vote for him in a heartbeat, but I wouldn’t bet on it happening.
Me either, and it’s a real shame. The far right would go into beautiful seizures, but he would get massive turnout from pretty much everyone else.
He’s a far cry from being as far left as I would like, but I really wouldn’t care. He would be more capable of actually fixing things than anyone else I can think of, even Bernie. Can you imagine the hell most of Congress would face to oppose him on pretty much anything?
Biden isn’t standing between anything…he’s a speed bump. We still lost our reproductive rights, Trump’s tax cuts are still in place, we are still sending money to Israel and not the Ukraine.
Biden sucks. Don’t vote for Trump…but god it’s fucking depressing that the only alternative is a guy with Alzheimer’s and a meme army for political clout.
We lost our reproductive rights because of judges Trump installed. Biden has no power to change that. Trump’s tax cuts were passed by Congress and can only be undone by Congress, not Biden. Your criticism of Biden’s actions regarding Israel is justified, but let’s not pretend Trump wouldn’t be much worse. Yeah, Biden is old but he is more coherent and aware now than Trump was 20 years ago.
I wasn’t enthusiastic about Biden last election, but he has easily been the most effective president of my lifetime. He got us out of COVID without the economy crashing. He put hundreds of millions into mental health counselors for schools. He massively accelerated our shift to renewable energy. He has put major efforts into domestic microchip production. He put limits on insulin costs. He got a national electric vehicle charging network funded. He got funding passed for infrastructure improvements including bridges, tunnels, and broadband expansion. He has increased our defenses against cyber attacks and extended political channels for addressing them around the world. He has created more than 800,000 new jobs and gotten 6 million more people healthcare coverage. He passed legislation creating a 15% minimum tax rate on billion dollar corporations.
https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/October-24-Few-Have-Heard-1280x720.jpg
The difference is one has caved to public pressure and kept many promises. The other creates negative public-cult sentiment and keeps no promises.
Yes, it’s frustrating only having these choices right now. However, it is important to point out that we still have choices. People with sentiment just like yours, with a footnote that says “Not gonna vote, because [insert reason here].” are a part of the problem, when they could become a part of the start of a solution. One years, and probably a couple election cycles long, yet still potentially a positive way forward.
You lost your reproductive rights because a bunch of Sanders bros decided they’d rather let Trump win than vote for Hillary.
I see this opinion a lot, but I honestly don’t think Sanders or his campaign were to blame.
She lost far more centrist votes than she did left-wing votes.
I mean I still literally see tons of people on the internet who are salty about it and openly use 2016 as an excuse to not vote for Democrats. Granted, a portion of these people were trolls then and are trolls now, but the sentiment is too common to dismiss.
And whether or not it is true, it should still be a cautionary tale in pragmatism. I personally voted (and volunteered) for Bernie, but then fought for Clinton because it was plainly obvious what was on the line. I just wish more people had fought for Roe, if not for Clinton at that time, instead of waiting for the obvious outcome to get engaged. And it makes me see red to think that we are about to walk right into the exact same, easily preventable trap
Am I the only one that remembers the DNC was sued over that…and Sanders won?
Over what exactly? The only lawsuit the Sanders campaign filed was over a misunderstanding over how a DNC voter database was configured. Both candidates had access to the same modeling and turnout software, and the Sanders campaign was mistakenly able to access data and models Clinton had generated because the system was not configured correctly. He sued when that mistake was corrected, but quickly dropped the suit when the issue was clarified.
The lawsuit against Wasserman-Shultz was from a voter group, and it was dismissed. Maybe I’m missing one though. Can you jog my memory?