Politics: Joe Biden will be Reelected Barring an Unforeseen Calamity
Abortion and the Youth Vote to be Deciding Factors
Joe Biden is running for re-election. He has my vote – and I predict he’s going to win, possibly by a wide margin. In his campaign video Biden said:
“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.”
Biden is clearly drawing a vivid contrast with Republicans who only seem capable of nominating an extremist – with the most likely scenario a rematch with disgraced, twice-impeached president Donald Trump.
If Biden and Trump go head-to-head, it would be the first time that the same nominees faced each other in consecutive presidential races since 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson for the second time.
Republicans are delusional if they nominate Donald Trump. What has Trump done to attract moderates since leaving office?
Unless you think getting fingerprinted in jail for botching a hush payment to a porn actress is going to help win over suburbanites. Or dining with anti-Semites and white supremacists will help in swing districts.
In the same way Americans preferred “No Drama Obama”, they will again vote for “No Batshit Biden”, contrasting him with the insane policies and pathologies that come with the chaotic Donald Trump. A New York magazine article captured the potential race in a headline: Old Beats Crazy.
Any potential Republican presidential candidate will have to contend with the abortion albatross. Wacky right wing zealots will force any GOP nominee to embrace the most radical position on reproductive freedom. This alone will likely cause any potential Republican to lose to Biden. This issue is so fundamental to winning, that I think the Democrats slogan for 2024 should be “Abort the GOP”.
Indeed, abortion is even dividing Republicans in traditional GOP bastions. In South Carolina, Sen. Sandy Senn helped undermine a strict abortion ban, comparing it to a bill out of “The Handmaid’s Tale”. She and other wavering Republicans were sent plastic spines by anti-choice activists with notes urging the recipients to “grow a spine.”
In Nebraska, 80-year-old Republican Sen. Merv Riepe helped stall an abortion bill because he was uncomfortable with a six-week ban that might not provide women enough time to realize that they are pregnant.
The GOP’s anti-abortion fervor, attacks on LGBTQ equality, aggressive efforts at voter suppression and hostility to addressing climate change will energize the youth vote. In The Atlantic, David Frum explained the importance of young voters to Democrat’s prospects in 2024:
In 2018, 36 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds turned out, the highest level recorded. Their votes helped change control of the House. Turnout of this cohort in 2022 finished second only to what it had been in 2018, and those votes altered the political complexion of many state legislatures.
The state that had the highest youth turnout in 2022 was Michigan—not so coincidentally, the state where Democrats scored some of their biggest gains, flipping both chambers of the state legislature from red to blue.
The most powerful argument in favor of Biden running again is the advantage of incumbency. The New York Times reported:
Across more than 230 years of American history, 26 presidents have run for re-election after a full term and only 10 have lost. A mere four have lost in the past century.
Those unlucky four were Herbert Hoover in 1932, Jimmy Carter in 1980, George Bush in 1992 and Donald J. Trump in 2020.
In the case of Hoover, he caused the Great Depression and presided over prohibition, which was very unpopular.
The first President Bush famously said, “Read my lips, no new taxes”. Then Bush was elected and raised taxes, upsetting conservatives. He led the country into a recession and Independent Ross Perot got 19% of the vote, possibly handing the election to Bill Clinton.
Jimmy Carter lost because of the Iran hostage crisis and a stagnant economy with 8% unemployment. Trump was defeated because of his polarizing personality, combined with disastrous Covid polices that caused more than 200,000 American deaths on his watch.
Without some unforeseen calamity, history is on Joe Biden’s side, and this makes him the Democrat’s safest bet.
Finally, Joe Biden is a consequential president with real accomplishments to show the American people. Here is an example, in The New York Times, of how Biden’s forward-thinking policies are jumpstarting America’s economic future:
In an effort to make electric vehicles more affordable, last year’s Inflation Reduction Act included tax credits that give American automakers like General Motors and Tesla an advantage over foreign competitors. A total of $135 billion in government funds will be directed to vehicle electrification and new factories.
In the same way he’s helping the electric car industry, Biden is greatly expanding microchip and semiconductor factories in the U.S. Biden passed an $1 trillion infrastructure law to rebuild airports, bridges, ports and roads, while Trump embarrassed himself with numerous infrastructure weeks that became a laughingstock.
Biden stood up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and reinvigorated NATO. Meanwhile, Trump kissed Putin’s ring, when he wasn’t kissing his ass.
Other Biden accomplishments: A $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package; significant investments to counter climate change, decreased prescription drug costs for senior citizens, and medical treatment for veterans harmed by toxic burn pits.
Biden is a statesman who has achieved significant victories for America. He deserves a second term. Especially, when all the Republicans offer is political toxic burn pits like Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis.
Tucker Plays Victim and Pretends to be a Truth Teller In Whiny Video
Freshly canned from The FOX, but far from contrite, Tucker Carlson posted a short Twitter vanity video. Laughably, the notorious right-wing propagandist posed as a purveyor of truth in a corrupt world.
The only time truth has prevailed with Tucker Carlson is when his private text messages came to light during the discovery phase of the Dominion lawsuit against FOX.
In these lurid and revealing text exchanges, we learned that Tucker Carlson believed that a key Trump lawyer promoting the Big Lie was being dishonest with the American people. Carlson texted FOX host Laura Ingraham and said:
“Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.”
Ingraham replied: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].”
Yet, Carlson gave a platform to these Big Lie promoters, helping to degrade confidence in America’s democracy. Some, patriot!
Tucker Carlson regularly used his television perch at The FOX to bash the LGBTQ community. His viewers surely believed that he was a staunch homophobe.
Yet, his executive producer—and the brains behind Carlson’s bloviating—was an openly gay man named Justin Wells. Wells had been a member, in good standing, with the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
How positively “woke” of Carlson to let a proud and very out gay man craft his show and manipulate right-wing rubes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they toasted their successful charade by bumping Bud Lights.
Carlson also led his viewers to believe that he was a fervent supporter of President Donald Trump. But, in his private text messages, Carlson referred to Trump as a “demonic force, a destroyer.” Even Rachel Maddow never went that far.
If only Tucker Carlson’s text messages were actual show scripts, he’d finally be the honest and transparent host he purports to be.
In Carlson’s video message—where his voice cracks like a pubescent teenager-- he tries to portray himself as a forlorn victim of conspiratorial forces who are out to get him. He said the unnamed “people in charge” were “afraid” of his message.
Tucker, the “people in charge” canned you, because you’re a loose cannon and more trouble than you’re worth. Your truth allergy cost Rupert Murdoch, your old boss at FOX, $787.5. million. Did you expect to keep your job?
His wreckage at FOX is an ongoing calamity. The network is currently being sued by Carlson’s former producer, Abby Grossberg, who claims that the host subjected her to a hostile and discriminatory work environment.
Grossberg said in a lawsuit that personally named and shamed Carlson:
Male producers regularly used vulgarities to describe women and frequently made antisemitic jokes.
If that weren’t enough, a feature in the New York Times said that Carlson, “has constructed what may be the most racist show in the history of cable news.”
Tucker Carlson is not a victim of shadowy outside forces conspiring to bring him down. He was fired by conservative inside forces who could no longer tolerate his cynical and shady behavior.
No doubt he and his openly gay producer will resurface with a new sinister show or propaganda podcast. Maybe Carlson will run for president. But his hoodwinked viewers should never forget: What Carlson publicly tells them and what he privately texts his friends are diametrically opposed. He’s telling his fans what they want to hear, not what he truly believes.
Zooey Zephyr and Montana’s Backsliding on Democracy
Proud Boys Blame Trump for Their Role in January 6
Leaders of the right-wing Proud Boys are on trial for their role in the failed January 6 coup attempt in Washington. Instead of taking personal responsibility for their violent, seditious actions – like proud grown men—they are behaving like shameful little boys in the principal’s office.
Their pathetic, weaselly defense: Donald Trump made me do it. Which is reminiscent of when religious zealots commit heinous crimes and seek absolution by saying, “the Devil made me do it.”
Whether crimes are committed due to a warped sense of faith, or inspired by obsessive cult worship of Trump – a person is still responsible for their actions. When you participate in a coup against democracy, it better not fail, or you go to jail. No excuses.
Nevertheless, defense lawyer Nayib Hassan pinned the blame on Trump. He argued that the former president gave marching orders to "fight like hell” at an overheated rally outside the White House. In court, Hassan argued to jurors:
“It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6th in your beautiful and amazing city. It was not Enrique Tarrio [leader of the Proud Boys]. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J. Trump and those in power.”
Meanwhile, prosecutor, Conor Mulroe, argued the Proud Boys were ready for “all-out war” and told jurors:
“These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it.”
I agree with both the defense attorney and the prosecutor. Donald Trump is uniquely responsible for instigating January 6. The former president should be arrested, prosecuted, and when certainly found guilty, sentenced to prison.
As for the Proud Boys – sure the Trump Devil made them do it, but they still did it. To discourage future hooligans from following undemocratic orders from authoritarian demons, we need to establish strong legal deterrence.
I guess you could call me, “a law-and-order liberal” who took conservatives at their word when they said they believed in “personal responsibility. Now it’s time to put up or shut up.
Conservatives are also traditionally strong advocates of “broken windows” policing. This theory holds that it’s important to aggressively punish petty crimes—such as jumping subway turnstiles, graffiti or smashing windows—to stop perpetrators before their behavior escalates to more serious crimes.
Last time I checked, there were broken windows at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. So, right wing conservatives, do you still stand by your theory?
The way to prevent the next January 6 is to put both the autocrat and the foot soldiers behind bars. This is truer than ever, considering Trump is campaigning to return to power. If the perpetrators of this heinous crime against our democracy aren’t severely punished, history may be doomed to repeat itself.