A good friend called me a few days ago, a bit distressed. We’ve been friends for over thirty years and have seen each other through good and bad circumstances. After the recent debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he called to ask what ray of sunshine I could find to suggest that the Presidential Debate didn’t increase the possibility of a second Trump presidency. I consider myself a student of politics and am constantly researching and writing on the topic. He was hoping I could find an angle that could help him sleep a bit better. After deep reflection, I was forced to tell him, “I’ve got nothing!”
I am a Democrat, not die-hard, but a Democrat because the bar has been set so low by Republicans. I could get behind a couple of their policies, but as long as voter suppression is their goal, not one of them can get my vote. That they can overlook the criminality of Donald Trump and switch their views on any policy based on Trump’s whims means they have no integrity. I remember what they all had to say on January 6th and 7th, 2021. What changed to make you think all those insurrectionists were just vacationers who got lost?
That doesn’t mean I am turning a blind eye to Joe Biden. I can’t unsee the debate and, early on, called for him to be replaced, though I didn’t think then that it would happen. I’m resigned that Biden will be the nominee for the Party. To be clear, I would vote for Joe Biden in a coma over Donald Trump. With the aid of those around him, I believe Biden will be competent. Trump, on the other hand, will destroy Democracy.
My friends watched the debate, and some are touting the company line, “Biden had a bad day, but Trump has led a bad life.” While I agree with Trump's part, don’t try telling me Biden just had a bad day. I call bullshit. I’ve seen enough of Biden before and after the debate that I can’t lie to myself about his condition. Can I honestly tell my friend not to worry? It’s just a momentary lapse. I can’t do it.
I could tell him that America has survived bad presidents before. Andrew Johnson was drunk when sworn in as vice president and was an alcoholic during his term as president. Two other presidents, Franklin Pierce and Ulysses S. Grant, were alcoholics, and the nation survived. Presidents have reportedly been members of the Ku Klux Klan. Truman paid the $10 membership fee but was reportedly inactive. He also integrated the armed forces and federal government, so who’s to say what was in his heart?
Nixon resigned for arguably less than what Trump claims is a badge of honor. Clinton and Kennedy were womanizers. Clinton was accused of rape, and Trump was found liable for rape in a court of law. Reagan secretly sold missiles to Iran and used part of the proceeds to bankroll the Contras. George W Bush gave us fake weapons of mass destruction. For all that, no previous president tried to overturn the peaceful power transfer. We’ve entered a new era.
My friend isn’t worried about Joe Biden remaining in office despite concerns about his succumbing to the aging process. An old Biden is no worse than Woodrow Wilson, who suffered a stroke while in office and was denied for two years. The public didn’t know that Franklin Roosevelt had to spend most of his time in a wheelchair. He also had hypertension, heart disease, and bronchitis, besides the polio he’d been diagnosed with years before becoming president. Roosevelt died while in office, but we’ve had presidents succumb previously. We have mechanisms to deal with sick presidents, even dead ones, but few to deal with a madman surrounding himself with those pledging loyalty to the man, not the office.
I have no doubt that a second Trump term will result in erasing what we believe to be normal. He might stay in office upon completion of a second term. He has the examples of China and Russia, where elected presidents have made themselves dictators for life. The checks and balances of the other two branches of government now prove worthless. Congress can’t be counted on to protect the country, and the Supreme Court has declared Trump immune to “official acts” and told us to presume most of his acts are official. Nobody is coming to save the day. We no longer have a president; we have a king.
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I wish I could tell my friend that the American people would never elect a felon, also found liable for rape and sexual harassment. I can’t pretend he’s virtuous, having cheated on all three wives. His business has been found guilty of fraud, as have the charities he once operated before they were forced to shut down. I could say America would never elect such a man, but I don’t believe it to be true.
I’m the one people turn to for the bright side, but I have no rays of sunshine to offer. As I mentioned, I couldn’t unsee Biden’s performance in the debate, and I also can’t unsee how poorly Trump did. All presidents lie, sometimes to protect the national interest, sometimes to protect their own. What can you say about a man incapable of telling the truth? Everything he said he’d accomplished was both wrong and the best that had ever been done. He didn’t attempt to answer the questions asked of him. No need to worry about him fumbling for a statistic, he just spouted the same rhetoric as usual. My concern isn’t necessarily for Trump but for the people for whom that’s enough.
The main reason I have no hope for my friend is the combination of people who worry about Biden yet see nothing wrong with his felonious counterpart. His whole campaign is a hope to stay out of prison if finally convicted in his upcoming trials. The 34 felonies he’s already convicted of and his contemptuous behavior throughout the Manhattan trial likely won’t lead to jail time because of the fear of what would happen if he were treated like any other person.
I have little hope because he is already above the law, which the Supreme Court just etched into stone. In the same way, we’ve had bad presidents, and America has had a populace more than willing to support bad men and bad policies. I could give examples, but I’d rather readers come up with their own. A commentator on another story said we survived four years of Trump, and “nothing bad happened.” This is why I’ve got nothing.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.
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