Grow the fuck up: claiming Biden & Trump are equally flawed is a childish fantasy.
A small but vocal faction of left-leaning voters is vowing to withhold support for Biden in 2024 unless he radically shifts US policy toward Israel and Palestine. These activists demand forceful condemnation of Israeli security measures in Palestinian territories, coupled with sweeping defence cuts for Israel. They threaten to defect to third parties or abstain altogether if a harsh anti-Israel line goes unadopted.
By staking an absolutist stance on a polarizing foreign policy issue, these ideological purists are jeopardizing unity against the grave Trump threat. Their rigidness regarding Israel-Palestine risks a repeat of 2016 when Jill Stein voters and non-participants in key states enabled Trump’s sliver-thin victory.
Just as America cannot afford four more years of instability and democratic backsliding under Trump, Biden cannot pursue the sharp foreign policy pivot the hardline left demands. Their single-issue focus in a complex geopolitical arena is well-intentioned — and in the face of violent, innocent deaths, even admirable — but it shows a politically reckless lack of judgment.
Americans of conscience can and should debate America’s support for an ongoing war in Gaza. But not at the cost of democratic principles themselves. Voters must recognize that protest gestures over Israel endanger countless vulnerable groups under a second Trump term. And they threaten the very fabric of liberal democracy in the face of a leader who has already demonstrated his utter disdain for democratic principles and the rule of law.
Donald Trump’s volatile presidency haunts the body politic. Trump corroded democratic guardrails, routinely attacked civil servants and institutions, displayed open admiration for authoritarians abroad, and stoked division rather than sought national convergence.
His rampant lies and demagogic rhetoric inflamed tensions as he clung to power. His enablement of a far-right Supreme Court has damaged decades of social progress and endangered minority Americans; Trump aggressively packed federal courts with ideological allies after Republican leadership stonewalled an Obama appointment to the Supreme Court. Another Trump term could well deliver irreparable damage by emboldening further assaults on voting rights, civil liberties, and the Constitution itself.
Trump favours spectacle over substance, grievance over governance, and abuse over viable policies improving wellbeing. He nurtures a vortex swallowing civic discourse into accelerating nonsense. Trump’s narcissism inhibits considering constructive critiques or acknowledging error — with sycophants ever available to confirm his self-anointed brilliance. Ethics and law pose mere inconveniences to his self-gratification rather than guardrails safeguarding democracy.
Trump’s actions confirm anti-democratic leanings. Through his judicial appointments, he has enabled grievous harm, including effectively gutting the Voting Rights Act and forcing women to bear rapists’ offspring. And perhaps most dangerously, Donald Trump’s brazen efforts to cling to power despite losing the 2020 election remain shocking over two years later. Having shown little regard for democratic principles and norms throughout his presidency, Trump escalated assaults on bedrock institutions following his defeat.
He aggressively pushed voter fraud conspiracy theories without evidence, brought dozens of frivolous lawsuits seeking to overturn results, and viciously attacked election administrators upholding voting integrity.
Trump recklessly, baselessly sowed doubts about ballot counting and tabulation processes long considered gold standards globally. When lawsuits failed, Trump dangerously attempted extralegal means to reverse election outcomes, demanding Georgia’s Secretary of State “find 11,780 votes” to flip the state in a recorded phone call. Most alarmingly, Trump masterminded the violent January 6th insurrection, aiming to physically stop Congress’s electoral vote certification.
As the Capitol was invaded, Trump resisted calls to condemn violence or deploy force protection. Over 150 law enforcement officers suffered injuries quelling the mob Trump incited toward mayhem in a last-ditch illegal coup attempt long telegraphed. Throughout the transition, Trump shirked basic governance duties, denying the incoming administration access and resources traditionally afforded presidents-elect. Trump’s conduct displayed stunning disregard for the Constitution, established legal remedies, and the will of American voters in his megalomaniacal bid to retain presidential power unlawfully. His deliberate sabotage risks inflicting lasting damage by eroding public faith in elections and peaceful transitions central to democratic self-rule.
Non-participation or protest votes will enable Trump’s re-installation. To abstain from this contest is to forfeit a voice at a critical moment. Trump represents an extraordinary danger; to sit this election out is to ignore that reality. Abstention is as tacit an acceptance of Trump’s corruption and vitriol as a direct vote for the GOP. Silence will sanction an administration that brazenly prosecuted self-interest over national interest, ravaged norms other democracies hold dear and left global alliances in tatters. This is a time for moral courage, not passive assent, superiority complexes or purity politics.
For all talk of freedom, Americans have long taken democracy for granted. Talk of democratic decline previously centred on fledgling counterparts abroad, not fractures within the world’s oldest modern democracy. The pillars of inclusive governance, accountable leadership, and safe institutions now face external sabotage and internal neglect.
Enemies, foreign and domestic, openly challenge the American experiment’s viability. Hostile regimes gleefully exploit and exacerbate polarization. Extremists spread disinformation to erode shared truth. Cynics in power pursue myopic self-enrichment over sustainable, equitable growth. And a weary, distracted populace turns inward, forfeiting communal bonds essential for pluralistic self-rule.
These gathering storms compound the routine squalls of democracies, whether by design. And the Ship of State now sails rough waters with depleted ballast after years of intensifying tribalism. Americans too frequently view opponents as enemies, not rivals locked in good-faith disagreement. A winner-take-all mentality has infected politics, business, and beyond — corroding notions of the common good. Continuous user-friendly civic participation wanes as distraction and disillusionment swell. And racial injustice’s deep roots still fail to receive the sustained, thoughtful redemption our founding promises demand.
Meanwhile, a radically unconstrained Supreme Court wields wildly anti-democratic power. An economic system funnelling outrageous returns to the top sliver erodes equal opportunity and faith that effort bears fruit. Legislative sclerosis grinds desperately needed action to a halt. And the empty, addictive calories of hyperpolarized cable news and social media supplant substance, nuance, and accuracy.
Layer by layer, tableau by tableau, the canvas portraying American democracy has noticeably, ominously darkened in recent years. The final brushstrokes remain unfinished, but voters can no longer ignore the foreboding shadows draped across an increasingly grim landscape. The 2024 election brings a chance to turn up the lights before darkness fully descends.
The misguided ultimatum from the far left imperils the delicate coalition essential to defeating Trumpism’s march. All Americans valuing pluralism and democratic governance must unite behind President Biden in 2024 — no sane alternative exists. Voters should push Biden toward progress across all policy realms, both domestic and foreign, yes, but laser attention to a single foreign conflict at the risk of total governance breakdown threatens American democracy itself.
The abstention of activist left will, ironically, extinguish the very causes its champions aim to advance.
The bloodshed and human suffering in the Israel-Palestine conflict should elicit anguish from anyone, everyone, across the political spectrum. Loss of innocent lives demands condemnation, period. But voters focused solely on the here and now risk burning down the forest to save the trees.
The next US administration will profoundly shape every policy issue directly impacting lives and liberties worldwide. When it comes to picks for federal courts, policies around healthcare and guns, stewardship of the economy, responses to climate change — arguably the greatest threat to humankind — and, critically, commitment to inclusive democracy itself — the two 2024 frontrunners differ enormously. However disheartening the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, Americans cannot and should not allow singular foreign policy disputes to distract from grave threats inside their borders.
The wiser choice remains clear, if difficult for some: unite behind the imperfect democrat rather than the authoritarian whose disastrous encore could shatter our democratic foundations for generations.
Joe Biden will never satisfy the purity politics demanded by the hard left. He fails to meet their litmus tests on issues from health care, education debt cancellation, Israel, and more.
Their criticisms hold kernels of truth — Biden leans incrementalist in a time demanding bold vision. But the activists’ all-or-nothing brinksmanship threatens the broad coalition essential to overcoming Trumpism’s extremism. They forget that in functioning democracies, sustainable change requires compromise.
So no, Joe Biden will not emerge as some flawless progressive saviour in 2024. He never campaigned as such. Biden ran on competence, experience and a return to democratic normalcy after Donald Trump’s endless chaos.
But the activist left weakens its credibility by hammering Biden and threatening to abandon the coalition against Trump. Defection may earn momentary catharsis through protest messaging, but it enables grave harm to the groups progressives aim to help. Perfection cannot define progress.
By backing Biden along with down-ballot candidates, it’s still possible to slowly nudge government in a direction that reflects equity, ethics and empathy. That is the nature — and the strength — of democracy.
A second Biden term won’t save the fucking world. It won’t conjure a political utopia. But it will push progress forward. No matter how incrementally.
A second Trump term could doom the damn lot of us.
