Democrats can't get out of their own way, as Republicans try to block all paths to democracy

Donald Trump cannot be President again. The guy was a complete disaster in his first term, and rest assured, a second term would be 45 times worse.

Here's Trump's track-record since becoming president:

- 38 times he said COVID would vanish

- 1 time he suggested injecting disinfectant could rid one of COVID

- 2.72M jobs lost

- Just 6.409M jobs gained in his first 3 years, prior to COVID

- 192k manufacturing jobs lost

- +/-0.0% inflation

- +14.8% wages (compared to +16.9% under Biden)

- +2.6% GDP (compared to +2.9% under Biden)

- +430.5% budget deficit

- +37.7% national debt

- +25.5% homicide rate

- +17.0% firearm deaths

- 30,573 lies told

- Just 28% approval abroad

- 2 impeachments (3 counts)

- 34 felony convictions

- 54 felony charges pending

- Once found liable for fraud

- Twice found liable for defamation

- Once found liable for rape

- Etc.

The guy was, is, and always will be a disgrace to the office. What has he said he'd do if he served a second term? 

Be a dictator on day 1.

Sure, he later said he was joking, but I've honestly never heard him joke, and I'll never trust that a guy is "joking" about being a dictator for a day, when he's previously tried to illegally overturn elections, and gone so far as to incite domestic terrorist attacks to do so.

Tariffs here, tariffs there, tariffs everywhere.

I swear he doesn't know what tariffs are. The tariffs he implemented in his first term have already cost taxpayers over $230B. It's projected his new proposals would cost each family approximately $2,500 each year.

Freedom of what?

He's said he'd go after those who have criticized him - politicians, media figures/outlets, social media personalities, etc. 

Revenge, revenge, revenge. That's all a second Trump term would be, Constitution be damned. Given his post-2020 election actions and pre-2024 election rhetoric, I don't feel it'd be hyperbolic to suggest, if Donald Trump gets a second term in the Oval Office, any and every semblance of American democracy would be dead. 

So, as I said at the outset, Donald Trump CANNOT be President again. He can't win, though, right? A 34x-convicted felon, who's been proven to be a fraud, and was found liable for rape? That's not even mentioning all his failures as President. The economy was weakening, even before COVID. Speaking of COVID, the guy treated it as a joke for 9 months after its inception, which led to countless deaths and job losses. There's no way a person with that kind of resume could win, correct? Well, as sad as it is to say, that's not what the polls suggest. In fact, as of now, the race appears to be a 50/50 toss-up. Why? Age.

While morally reprehensible, it wound up being politically brilliant for the Republican Party to obsess over President Biden's age. It's not like this was an overnight strategy. Think back 4 years. What were the GOP's main arguments against Biden? Age and his son, Hunter. While the Hunter-strategy largely failed, outside the party's hardcore base, age has garnered a great deal more traction. Over the past 3.5 years, whenever President Biden could be caught making a gaffe or appearing awkward, the right-wing media would seize it; likely photoshop a picture or take a quote out of context, and then roll with it - to make Biden appear old, so old he may be suffering from dementia. This wasn't a new claim they conjured up at the debate a few weeks ago. No, I remember near the beginning of Biden's term, he waved to a person. How did Fox News and other right-wing outlets portray it? Oh, they zoomed in, so it appeared Biden was shaking hands with a make-believe friend. It was dishonest. It was despicable. It was effective. 

Fast-forward to today and roughly 70, let me repeat that, 70% of U.S. voters believe President Biden is not mentally fit to serve a second term. Even two-thirds of Democrats now believe he should drop out of the race. For over 4 years, right-wing media and politicians have continually lied to the American people, by feeding them edited clips to showcase the President as mentally deficient. Seven in ten voters have now bought into the propaganda, and it's left Democrats in panic-mode, muttering amongst themselves, "What do we do? Stick with Biden or try to get him to drop out, in favor of the Vice President, Kamala Harris?"

I don't have a crystal ball, but I don't like how things are going right now. An increasing number of Democrats have come forward publicly, saying they believe the President should bow out of the 2024 race. This includes some pretty big names. Even former President Obama has said he thinks it's probably time for Biden to step aside. On liberal social-media, anyone who says they believe Biden should drop out has typically been subject to the scorn of, "You're a Russian bot/Republican/fake Democrat, just trying to sow division amongst Democrats." This shouldn't be happening. Democrats should not be making these announcements publicly. Privately, sure. Their concerns are valid. Talk amongst yourselves and try to come to the best decision possible, but these public announcements are doing nothing but exacerbating the chaos already present inside the party. At the same time, Democrats/progressives, like myself, shouldn't be defamed due to questions and concerns we have. 

Biden loyalists want it. Biden detractors want it. We all want the same thing - to defeat Donald Trump in November. The race should NOT be close. President Biden has a stellar record in his first 3.5 years - arguably one of the best in the history of our nation. Unfortunately, we're often times more about Hollywood than common sense, and the optics of Biden's slow walks; gaffe-laden speeches; etc. are of greater importance than his actual resume. It's not right; it's not fair, but as my 5-year-old niece likes to say, it is what it is. I think President Biden may very well wind up being the best President in my lifetime, but I don't speak for the 70% of voters who think he's too old to serve a second term. It's not my one Democratic vote in the red-leaning state of Ohio which will make the ultimate difference on November 5th. It's the undecideds in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. It's the college kids. It's the minorities. It's the LGBTs. It's the women. It's the Independents. It's the never-Trumpers. 

So the question is, who gives us the best chance of defeating Donald Trump? The truth of the matter is we don't know. This is kind of unprecedented territory here. The only other viable option we have would be Vice President Harris. So, we have to weigh the pros and cons of each potential candidate. Biden has a great record, yet a lot of people don't know about it. His approval rating has been sub-40 for about as long as I can remember. I think this has a lot to do with his left-wing detractors, who have heavily criticized his (in)actions in the Israel-Palestine war. He did defeat Trump once and we basically know what to expect of him and what he needs to do to win in November - win the traditional blue states and carry the Rust Belt battlegrounds. That's appearing progressively more difficult as each day passes, yet is not nearly as impossible as many in the media have suggested. Sure, Trump has led in most battleground polls, but they've generally been within the margin-of-error of one another, and let's be frank - polls have becoming increasingly less reliable. So how much stock do we really want to place in these polls? Not a great deal, in my opinion, but we can't completely ignore the data either.

The one number which bothers me more than any of the battleground polling is the fact between 65 and 75% of voters regularly say President Biden is not mentally equipped to serve a second term. That's the one number I can't ignore. The election no longer becomes one between a Democrat vs. a Republican, or more specifically, an experienced, qualified Democrat vs. a 34x-convicted felon Republican. No, it becomes about the dementia Democrat against the felon Republican. The question which will be asked isn't, "Who has proven themselves as being the better president?;" it's, "Would we rather have a felon in office or one who may not know where he is half the time?" Again, that's not my opinion. Biden may not be as quick as he once was, but he still comes across as the same ol' Joe to me. That's not the vantage point of 70%, however. So, who gives us the better chance in November, President Biden or Vice President Harris?

Kamala Harris isn't without her risks either. Like with Biden's age, it's not her fault she so happens to be black and female. How would said inherent risks impact voters' decisions on election day? We just don't know. We've had one black President, in Barack Obama, and the only female nominee - Hillary Clinton - narrowly lost the 2016 election. We don't have any data on a black woman candidate, so while I'd like to say Vice President Harris won't be negatively affected by her sex nor skin color, I know, at least amongst a sliver of voters, she will be. On the flip-side, however, she wouldn't be hounded about her age; her memory; her speaking; etc. There's a chance she could increase voter enthusiasm and turnout amongst women, college kids, minorities, etc. At the end of the day, though, we just don't know.

Regardless of who the eventual nominee is, the Democratic Party needs to decide and decide quickly, so they don't extinguish all hopes of a victory in November. President Biden needs to talk to Democratic insiders/operatives and decide for himself what the best chance is for the party, and with that, the country. When the delegates decide the nominee, we need to stand behind him or her and vote on election day like it's our last one, for, if Donald Trump wins, it could very well be.