Last night, as always, I watched the Presidential debate. Usually, it is easy to tell who will win, but last night was a toss-up, and the winner was not as easily defined as it might appear.
Since 2016, I have been staunchly anti-Trump for many varied reasons; the most obvious is that he is not a nice human being. I was not a Hillary supporter until she became the de facto nominee in 2016. I have said since about that time that we need someone other than old white guys running. And while that may seem racist at first, the reason I said that is that America is made up of many people of different colors, nationalities, creeds, and of more than one gender.
I looked at Hillary like I looked at Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. None of them are/were good people, but in the case of the Clintons, both were well-qualified. In the case of Reagan, his policies were crap, but he was a great communicator, and he did manage to usher in the fall of the Berlin Wall that his VP ended up overseeing.
In 2020, I was avidly anti-Trump because he had far exceeded my expectations of his ineptitude, and his handling of the Pandemic caused many lives to be needlessly lost. I was not a Biden supporter until he was the actual nominee.
However, Biden was a very qualified candidate, and I realized we needed him for what I thought would be a gap presidency. He was a decent man with good morals and genuinely cared about America and her people. He was the breath of sane statesmanship that we needed. He was a bit grumpy at times but brought dignity back to America in the eyes of other nations. We were no longer the laughingstock of the world stage.
Surprisingly, he managed to do a lot of good in those four years despite being blocked by both the Senate and Congress the first two years and by Congress the last two years. He has made mistakes, the Israel/Palestinian war being the most egregious. However, he has been perfect for America regarding the morale and the economic impact he has made. Inflation still exists, and part of that is beyond the control of any leader (see other countries’ inflationary woes). Part is because of corporate greed. When your CEO makes multi-millions, your prices rise, and your company makes record profits; that is corporate greed.
However, I did not expect Biden to run again this term. I honestly expected he might die in office or step down and allow his VP to try to be the nominee. Once it became clear that Trump would run again, I knew that would not happen. Biden was the person who beat Trump before, and he was the most qualified to do it again.
So here we are again: 2020 Redux—two grumpy old men. One is a convicted felon who only cares for himself and his cronies. The other is a man who, despite his accomplishments, is showing signs of slowing down. If re-elected, one has promised retribution on his “political enemies” (meaning Biden). If he makes it to January for the inauguration, the other will most likely die in office this time.
On the one hand, we have a career criminal, a convicted felon, and an authoritarian wannabe who has a playbook called Project 2025 that will most likely guarantee the end of the American Experiment after 248 years.
On the other hand, we have a man who, while a decent human being and a pretty good statesman, is obviously past the expiration date of usefulness in office. Last night’s debate was painful to watch.
Trump has not changed. It was all about how great he was and how bad America is without him. He lied at every turn. Biden had a lousy night, tearing the confidence of many Democratic backers. This leaves the backers asking if we should get him to resign and put someone else in as a candidate.
Not in modern history has a candidate been replaced this close to the election, and if it did happen, without him willingly stepping down, it would most likely seal a Trump victory. A felon would be elected President. However, if Biden stays on, has the confidence been eroded that he might lose anyway? It is a tough choice.
It should be an easy choice. The difference between the two is night and day. A difference between, dare I say, Good and Evil? A difference between Fascism and Democracy. Even if Biden wins and dies the day after the inauguration, he has a VP who is selected to be able to take over in the event of his death.
It is not an easy decision, though. You vote for someone you believe can do the job. You don’t vote on who can step in if they can’t. The debate last night did a lot to shake the confidence in Biden. Some might choose not to vote at all (a big mistake); Others might vote for a third party (a better choice than Trump, by a slight margin, but still a guarantee of a Trump Win). If Biden did step down this late in the game, it was too late to find a candidate people could gather around and support. And there are a lot of the Independents needed to defeat Trump who would not vote for Kamala Harris because she’s seen as too liberal.
It is a mess, and America deserves better. Let’s hope it is not to late to save Her.