Why Don’t We Believe Our Own Eyes and Ears?

I wish that political marketing was more like marketing products and services. How long would it take any brand to change course quickly if it knew that two-thirds of its user base thought there were better products out there and were seeking alternatives? The Democratic party now has data indicating in no uncertain terms that two-thirds of its very own voters don’t want Biden on the ticket. Yet they dawdle. You don’t need to be a marketing or political expert to realize that that’s a recipe for going out of business.

In a July 2018 speech to a veteran’s organization, then President Trump warned that: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

Now people of all political persuasions seem to have taken this advice to heart.

The right wing began its descent into the cult of Trump nearly a decade now. Somehow, they believe that he will preserve our democracy and defend the Constitution despite that he and his MAGA acolytes tell us in plain language that they won’t. Nor will they tolerate dissent. They have been vocal about the desire to jail their political opponents, deport millions of people, dismantle the civil service, wreck the economy (see what economists of all stripes say about his 10% tariff proposal), appointing and supporting incompetent, corrupt hacks at all levels of the judicial system, pardon insurrectionists that stormed the Capitol, embrace violence, and cozy up to Putin. That’s just a partial list.

So far this week at the Republican National Convention, we’ve seen speaker after speaker evoke a world that just didn’t exist when Trump was president. One lie after the next. How can we forget so soon? His first term was one crisis after another. We were exhausted!

I hate, hate, hate feeble arguments about how there’s fault on “both sides.” No. The Democrats are certainly not perfect. However, one side promotes and indulges in violence predominantly. One side denies legitimate elections when they lose. They tell us that Joe Biden, the center/left institutionalist, wants to destroy democracy! That’s pure projection from Trumpers who actually do want to ditch democracy for a white, Christian nationalist dictatorship.

They’re telling us, in very plain language what they want to do. It’s not just “Trump being Trump,” shooting from the hip saying ridiculous things for effect. We need to take him at his word. It was especially striking how so many speakers singled out the press as enemies of the people, deriding dangerous “fake news” while talking about their own dedication to “free speech.” But you don’t need to read between the lines for the real message: Free speech is a good thing if you agree with us and disregard the facts. Otherwise, you’re “fake” or unpatriotic.

Alas, now there’s a glaring exception to “both sides” reasoning.

In Joe Biden, we have a candidate for president who would be 82-years-old when he takes office and 86 at the end of his term. His candidacy is not tenable and it’s just a matter of time now before he drops out. But how much harm has been done in the meantime? If the Dems were smart (they’re not), Biden would step down tonight or tomorrow morning to take the wind out of Trump’s acceptance speech and dominate the narrative for what could be several weeks. Dream on.

How could any sane person defend a Biden candidacy after the debate? Democrats who still believe that Biden is the best candidate are just as deluded as law and order, Christian Republicans, many of whom believe that Trump, twice-impeached, serial cheater, compulsive liar and convicted criminal is the second coming of Jesus. In Biden’s case, it’s not a question of an old man “pacing himself,” working 10AM to 4PM every day (with an after-lunch nap?) because that’s not what kind of job it is. Biden is not running for Greeter at Walmart. If you want to be the leader of the free world, you’re going to have to work some nights and weekends. Maybe all of them. (Not that Trump did. By all accounts he watched TV all morning and played a lot of golf.)

The image of old, feeble, “Sleepy Joe” does not compare favorably with Trump the fighter and survivor.

The polls don’t look good for Biden and they’re getting worse. Other Dems are outperforming him significantly in the critical swing states. Still, it’s not beyond belief that undecided center right voters, when it gets down to choosing between a proud dictator and a democratic (small d) institutionalist, will reject the dictator and his ludicrous and untruthful claims. But why take that risk?

We see with our own eyes what is going on.

I will echo Bill Maher’s perspective here. “I’d rather vote for Joe Biden’s brain in a petri dish than Donald Trump.” But I don’t want to.

As the polls now point out, there is a deep bench in the Democratic party of younger people who embrace the same values and policies as Biden. There are some excellent choices that most Democrats and independents could back with enthusiasm rather than defend as “the lesser of two evils.”

The Democrats blew it big time in 2016, when another flawed, unpopular candidate felt that she would coast to victory. She ran a lazy, unfocused campaign, not even bothering to visit important swing states like Wisconsin. Why they are trying to blow it again, working proactively to ensure a loss, is beyond me.

Every day that goes by without a new, younger and better candidate, pushes the Democrats further behind. The time when it’s “too late” will pass quickly.

While I would never vote for a MAGA candidate, I can promise the Democratic party that they’ll be losing a loyal, lifetime customer should Biden remain the candidate, or if they dawdle so long that his replacement loses. If the Democrats continue to act like cowards and resist change, I’ll look for independent alternatives.

It’s such a shame. The views of the Democratic party are clearly aligned with the majority of the nation on most major issues. Unfortunately, our Founding Fathers, in all their wisdom, devised a flawed, anti-democratic system where the popular vote, which a Republican has not won since W defeated Kerry 20 years ago, matters not in the least.

Still, there should be no excuse for a competent Democratic candidate not to win convincingly this year. Should the party choose to ignore the will of their own voters, they’ll get exactly what they deserve in November.

The idea of anyone, Democrat or Republican, telling us not to trust the reality they live every day and to trust them blindly, should be abhorrent.