A couple of weeks back Daily show host Jon Steward got himself into hot water by asking questions about whether Joe Biden might be too old to be president (Biden will be 82 on election day and 86 when he leaves office). And Jon was pummelled by the left for daring to ask such a question. However, it is a legitimate thing to ask, although only in the context that we acknowledge the far more serious cognitive decline of Trump, among the many reasons he shouldn’t be running (like the fact he’s practically bankrupt and having to take out compromising loans from shady overseas billionaires…or that he might be in jail come election day, what’s he going to do, make his cell mate the secretary of Defence?).
How has it come down to a choice between one of two Grumpy old men? In fact, its not too far removed from the plot of a 1996 Jack Lemmon movie (that was nicknamed by the media as “grumpy old presidents”). Why the republicans picked Trump is fairly obvious. The lunatics have taken over the asylum, they are a cargo cult of the one true Trump. He’s practically their religion now. In fact many of them actually reject the teaching’s of Jesus over Trumpism.
But what about the democrats? Well the common response you’ll get is look at the opinion polls, Biden is the only one who has a chance of defeating Trump. Yes, but only because those polls typically include democrats who are members of congress, aka “the swamp”. Members of congress are the least trusted people in the US, below used car salesmen and telemarketers (and btw however shady you think car salesmen or telemarketers are in the UK, they are ten times worse over in the US….and congress are rated even below this!). The GOP candidate could be the zodiac killer and he’d probably still rate higher in the polls. In fact I cannot help but notice that “generic democrat” does beat Trump pretty consistently, suggesting that if the democrats literally just pulled a random democrat off the street, stuck a blue rosette on him, they’d have a wining candidate.
I’ve discussed before the many reasons why the left keeps losing elections. Factionalism, basic political illiteracy (e.g. that you have to vote tactically in a two party system else you are helping the other guy win), but another factor is that the elites at the top of the party aren’t that bothered if they lose. In fact they’d rather lose and spend time in opposition than risk someone from outside their group getting in and taking all their power away from them.
Think about it, if you, like many members of congress, live in a gated community, the gun violence and crime, that’s largely the fault of failed conservative policies, doesn’t effect you. Nor is police brutality a worry, thanks to America’s pay-to-win justice system. The economic hardships caused by republican economic policies are only a problem for poor people. Even this abortion ban isn’t an issue, as the elites (from both parties) can just take a trip to a discreet private clinic overseas.
Now granted, Trump’s leaning’s towards fascism do represent an existential threat. But beyond that, the elites in the democratic party aren’t directly affected by republican policies. So why would they give power to someone outside of their circle? (particularly given the issues with corruption I mentioned in a prior post). Its classic in group v’s out group. The democrats are also way to close to corporate special interests (although of course, the republicans are even more in bed with corporations). They don’t seem to appreciate that what’s good for say, Boeing, is probably not what’s good for ordinary Americans….because Boeing executives fly around in Gulfstream business jets!
So why is Biden running? Its the same reason why Hilary ran in 2016. Not because she was the best candidate, but because it was seen by the party establishment as being her turn. Same with Biden in 2020. Strictly speaking its now the turn of his VP Kamala Harris to take over, but she’s too unpopular (because she’s been in Congress so long). So effectively Biden is running as her proxy. In fact I won’t be surprised if he bows out sometime towards the end of his term to give her enough time at the helm to be presented as electable, allowing her to make a run in 2028.
And what is the democratic pitch? Well economically speaking, its the same neo-liberal tripe as the republicans are selling…without the fascism, casual racism, anti-trans and/or christian nationalism. I do accept you need to propose policies that you can actually implement (that’s the problem with the Bernie bro’s). However, contrary to what the corporate news media will tell you (this just in, everything’s fine, according to our rich friends and we should keep our jobs), there’s lots of left leaning policies a majority of Americans would support.
The democrats aren’t even trying to sell the public on any meaningful left wing policies. They aren’t talking about rolling back republican policies or bringing about the sort of political reform that would save American democracy from the current threat’s it faces. Vote for us and it won’t get any worse seems to be the pitch.
Which just means nothing’s going to change. And for the many Americans struggling to make ends meet, its just going to drive more of them to the extremes of politics, most notably the far right. Although I’d argue its only a matter of time before a hard left emerges in US politics. And no, I don’t mean Bernie or AOC (they won’t be allowed join most socialist parties in Europe!). I mean people who are well to the left of that. Who don’t just want to tax the rich, but take away all of their money. And not because there’s a good economic argument for the rich paying more taxes, but purely as an act of class revenge.
And if this sounds far fetched, its something that’s happened throughout history, such as Europe in the 1930’s, post-colonial Africa, post war South America, etc. When the regular politicians proved unable or unwilling to fix the problem, the public desperate for solutions, turn to the extremes. And its basically a coin toss who you end up getting, a hard left or hard right demagogue. That’s the real danger with the 2024 election.
Even if Trump is defeated, it doesn’t mean 2028 will be business as usual. Actually it will probably get worse. And if those on the extremes can’t get power via the ballot box then sooner or later they’ll resort to “alternative means” to achieve that. As Kennedy once said “those government’s who make democratic change impossible, simply make violent revolution inevitable”.
And speaking of which, revolutions can come in many different forms. For example, there’s a global trend of millennial’s quietly quitting the rat race and going for entry level jobs or part time work. Some have moved back in with the parents or taken to van life. I’ve encountered a bit of this with some students and the view is what’s the point in me working my butt off just so some corporation can get rich? If I’m never going to be able to afford a house or retire, I might as well take it easy.
The trouble is that neo-liberal capitalism only really works if everyone who can work is working at their maximum potential. Then blowing their paycheck on nights out, paying a mortgage/oppressive rent, visiting IKEA, investing in the stock market, etc. Recall that pensions (both public and private) are funded by young workers paying into the scheme (whatever you contributed was likely spent a long time ago). Also worth mentioning that what brought down the soviet bloc was the economic mismanagement of the economy by the leadership and the fact that many soviet citizens basically gave up on communism and did the bare minimum to get by.
It is therefore imperative that the democrat’s don’t fu*k this one up again. They need to give people a reason to vote for them, other than the fact that Biden isn’t Trump. And defeating Trump is the easy part. Giving people a reason not to vote for demagogues like him should be the real goal. But that will only happen if the elites in the democratic party are willing to concede some of their power and stop pandering to corporate special interests. Else they only have themselves to blame when the inevitable happens.
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