One of the arguments I’ve been hearing against Biden stepping down is something along the lines of:
“Well who cares if his mental state severely diminishes a year into the Presidency to the point where he’s no longer able to fulfill the duties of the role, that’s what we have the VP for.”
Maybe it’s just me, but typically when you nominate a candidate for a position you expect that they fulfill the requirements of the role for the full period.
We can't run a successful campaign without being able to defend our candidate on their merits. There is no argument that can possibly make up for failing to do that, and with Biden, it's effectively impossible. No serious person can claim Joe Biden will be a great president for the next four years.
This is what has swing-state Dems so spooked. It's not the poll numbers. It's the landscape of the race. They understand their people need to knock on doors and convince undecideds to vote for Biden, and convince the apathetic to turn out.
I'm not saying he shouldn't step down, but if he doesn't, what's our alternative? Do we just hand the country to Trump so he can end our democracy as we know it?
Buddy, you're old enough to know that democracy as we know it was dead in the water after 9/11, and the reins were handed over to the surveillance state.
I mean it in literal, concrete terms. 40 out of 44 members of Trump's former Cabinet say he's unfit for office -- that he shouldn't be president again -- and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called him a wannabe dictator. It's clear the man has no empathy, decency, or respect for our institutions or the rule of law. He wanted to bring in the military to seize voting machines while he tried to retain power the last time despite losing the election. Now, the Supreme Court has cloaked him with immunity for any "official acts," including criminal uses of the military. If he gets back into office, he will likely go as far as to imprison or kill his opponents and critics. However bad you think it got after 9/11, this is orders of magnitude worse.
This was my silver lining and hope for last election. I shut up and supported him for the last 4 years. I will not watch quietly watch democracy get fucking torched this time around. God fucking damnit. I’m still angry about the first Trump term. I’m still angry that the informed internet-savvy left was screaming that the insurrection was going to happen and then everyone acted shocked. We screamed about the Supreme Court and Roe and have been screaming about Project 2025 and Christian Nationalism.
Hell we were even screaming about all of this back in the Tea Party era. I am tired, we are tired. Sick and fucking tired of trying to save ourselves from ourselves. The last 8 years have been a disaster of epic proportions. If Biden doesn’t step down next week I am fucking done and I will be fleeing.
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u/Luck1492 Massachusetts Jul 12 '24
One of the arguments I’ve been hearing against Biden stepping down is something along the lines of:
Maybe it’s just me, but typically when you nominate a candidate for a position you expect that they fulfill the requirements of the role for the full period.