A Step in the Right Direction

A Step in the Right Direction

Y’all knew I was going to have to chime in on Joe Biden’s decision to step down as the Democratic candidate for the 2024 Presidential election, right? I have, after all, been calling on him to do so since I first wrote on this subject back in 2022. I thought about writing about it again after his disastrous debate performance back in June, but then my girlfriend reminded me that I had already written about it twice. What was there left to say? Well, now that he has finally done so and opened the door for Kamala Harris to become the party’s nominee at the DNC convention in August, it’s time to evaluate where this leaves us just over 3 months away from an election that really could determine the fate of the country going forward.

Normally, I am loathe to engage in histrionic rhetoric such as that, but Trump really is an evil of a different color. I know both sides of the political aisle are framing this election in such sensationalized terms, but only one of them has any merit to their case. If Biden, or now Harris, were to win this presidency, they would certainly champion an agenda that cuts against Republican values and beliefs. Conservatives have pointed at inflation and immigration since Biden and Harris took office and suggested that they represent a catastrophic lack of leadership in addressing these issues. But those are just normal political issues. They do not represent an existential threat to democracy itself, a potential to plunge our nation into an irrecoverable autocratic abyss. Trump, on the other hand, still refuses to concede the last election he lost in 2020 and has made it clear that he has every intention of using the office of the Presidency to avenge the attempts that have been made since to hold him accountable. In case you all forgot, he started an insurrection last time and somehow found far too many accomplices on his side of the aisle who were willing to do or say whatever it took to unjustly abet his fraudulent attempt to hold onto power. We were on the brink of a complete collapse of our fundamental institutions in 2020 as Trump and his cronies schemed to send fake electors and refused to certify the election, so it is not hyperbole to suggest that if this motherfucker ever comes within steps of the White House again, he ain’t leaving. When your options come down to a would-be dictator and a candidate whose policies you don’t like, you take option B each and every time.

So this really is a massively consequential election, with democracy itself hanging in the balance. Democrats could not afford to run the risk of allowing Biden to face off against Trump because it became more and more clear that he was going to lose. They had to move on to a candidate that could keep Trump out of the White House. They chose to roll with Kamala Harris.

Now, I am neither a fan of Kamala Harris nor the process by which she was selected, but I get it on both fronts. I admire Harris for her straight, no-bones approach to public speaking, and I appreciate her centrist position on most issues, but I just hear too many people who find her unlikeable, much in the same way Hilary Clinton rubbed folks the wrong way. Of course, some of this stems from a latent sexism, but a lot of that negative perception is coming from women voters as well. I would have preferred to have seen Gavin Newsome or Gretchen Whitmer running against Trump, but given the financial and political ramifications, I am not sure Democrats really had that choice. Campaign finance laws allow all of Biden’s campaign funds to be directly transferred only to Harris because she was already on the ticket, so any other candidate would have been in a huge fundraising disadvantage right from the get-go. Moreover, primaries in most states have already been completed with no time to redo them in advance of the convention. With those delegates pledged to Biden, it would have difficult to impossible to manage to advance a coalition towards any other candidate. No, what the Democrats needed immediately was unity and energy, and the rapid rallying around Harris as the new nominee provided both.

Do I believe Kamala Harris can win come November? Yes, I do, but that is as much a statement about her opponent as it is about her. For months now, I have been saying that a trained chimp could beat Trump in this election. He lost in 2020 and all he has done since then is lead a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol, encouraged his supporters to hang his own VP, and been convicted of 34 felonies. People in the middle, the folks who will ultimately decide this election, don’t want to vote for him, but when confronted between the choice of Trump and a doddering old man who many began to see as unfit for the job, swing voters in key states seemed to begrudgingly opt for the former. But now that the Democrats have a smart, capable candidate who isn’t on the verge of eating her dinner through a straw, and doesn’t carry the baggage of the past four years the way Biden did, I have to believe that America may yet avoid the catastrophe that has been looming on the horizon.

We better- because the implications here are dire indeed. With far too many in the GOP proving more than willing to sell their souls and the fabric of our nation’s democracy down the drain for the purposes of personal gain and foisting a minority-driven agenda onto a nation that has consistently rebuked those ideals, we need to send a message loud and clear to these folks that we will not allow our country to be undone for their benefit.

Nothing less than our democracy hangs in the balance.

Steven Craig is the author of the best-selling novel WAITING FOR TODAY, as well as numerous published poems, short stories, and dramatic works. Read his blog TRUTH: In 1000 Words or Less every THURSDAY at www.waitingfortoday.com