#WTH The crisis of courage in politics

The Democrats

There’s a reason good people don’t go into politics these days. Diving into the political game takes much more than good ideas, a yen for public service, a hefty bank balance, and a hankering for punishment. It takes the kind of courage I don’t have, and from what I can see, that most of America’s leading politicos also lack. Which brings me to the problem of Joe Biden.

Let’s take it as a given that most of us have eyes, and that they don’t lie to us. Ditto for our ears. As a result, most sentient denizens of Washington DC know that Joe Biden royally screwed up his first debate with Donald Trump. And then failed to reach out to his most critical D supporters on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. And then did a really meh interview with George Stephanopolous, plus a couple of cutesie cameos replete with teleprompters, and otherwise failed to assuage anyone’s concerns.

Notwithstanding this feast of Biden debacles, at last count, only about seven members of Congress (and a late-breaking Nancy Pelosi) have told Joe he must go. There are 260 Democratic members of the House and Senate. Do 253 of them think Joe Biden is A-OK? Good to go till January 2029? Let’s estimate that half of them are more partisan than they are sentient. Do 126 of them think that? 63? Bueller? There’s no way.

Now, you can posit a few reasons for their unwillingness to stand up and announce clearly that Emperor Joe is buck naked:

1. They think he’s the best man to beat Trump (polls notwithstanding)

2. They think Kamala is a dope (well, ok)

3. Biden has pictures of them naked with a sheep (possible)

4. They are afraid. (Yes, this is the point of my piece.)

Fear is the name of the game. And it isn’t crazy to be afraid, but it is ignoble and irresponsible. Sure, they don’t know how to make Joe go, and he’s not going to make it easy. They are also full of trepidation about the process of leaping into a convention without a clear or tested nominee. They’re worried that if Joe goes out kicking and screaming (or, presumably, that Mrs. Dr. Biden will kick and scream for him), that there will be a terrible cost to the party. What are they not worried about?

1. The nation.

2. Our democracy.

3. Donald Trump

Right now it looks like Trump will beat Biden handily. That’s what Nate Silver and Amy Walter say, and I trust their analyses. So, if you think Trump is a threat to our nation and the very fabric of our democratic constitution, presumably you want to beat him. But Joe won’t.

If you think Trump is a fascist (yes you, my former D colleague who trolls my every post on Linked In, and all of your fellow travelers), then you should want Joe to go. (You should also want an education in what fascism really looks like. Defining fascism down is a crime against truth and history.)

Another excuse is that many of these reticent Dems know Biden is going to lose, but reckon that the odds are he’ll still be on the ticket, so they don’t want to queer their pitch with the White House or D voters by saying he must go. Fair enough; that’s the kind of excuse-making Republicans who loathe Donald Trump engage in. Sure, they can’t abide him, but he’s going to be the candidate, so they keep their doubts to themselves. What’s the difference between those Rs and the silent-on-Biden Ds? The Ds insist that Donald Trump will be THE END OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

If that’s the case, then petty fears about blowback should fall by the wayside.

Here’s what the courageous Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) had to say:

“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide and take with it the Senate and the House. For me, this isn’t a question about polling. It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country and I think it’s critically important for us to come to grips with what we face if together we put this country on the path of electing Donald Trump again.” 

If other Democrats agree with Michael Bennet (and how can they not), then why are they not standing up to say so? There’s only one credible answer: They lack the courage. The president has power, the Democratic Party has power, and they both have access to boatloads of cash which they can share or not share depending on the law and their judgment.

There are lots of things to say about everyone in politics these days. Some of them are yuck, some of them are sociopaths, some of them have so much money, they don’t care about public opinion, and some of them are just plain bad people. But not all of them. And many of them are doing what I suspect you and I — and certainly I — would not do: Subject oneself and one’s family to the braying mob of Left-wing-Right-wing-X-TikTok-fueled “public” opinion. So where are their principles? Where is their courage?

Say what you will about the Republican Party, or Donald Trump, or choose whatever whatabout you prefer. Notwithstanding, none of this excuses the Democratic Party from allowing Joe Biden to remain on the Democratic ticket this fall. And as we watch Biden cocoon himself behind the protective barrier of Lady Macbeth/Edith Wilson/Jill Biden (who literally made the U.S. Marine Corps write a Hail to the Chief-ette version for her) and Hunter Biden (convicted felon, drug addict, and all-around excrescence), isn’t it right to demand that the Democratic Party stand up to their failing leader and his dreadful family?