Break the Biden Death Grip
Milwaukee progressives, leftists, and antifascists are well situated to prevent a Trump presidency. First, we are living in a swing state. We are also (unfortunately) hosting the Republican National Convention, and only an hour and a half from the Democratic National Convention. Poll margins and political dialogs here are watched closely by election strategists and pundits. What Milwaukeeans say and do during the campaign season matters. Now, I don’t want to overstate our power, but we do have more than other people who live in deep blue states, or left enclaves far from the conventions. With this power comes responsibility.
We did not ask to be put into this situation. The responsibility was thrust upon us due to poor decisions by convention planners, the purpling of our state under an egregiously gerrymandered legislature, and the arcane foibles of an obsolete electoral college system. It is actually really dumb that we have this power, but we do. Regardless of where the responsibility came from, it is ours to shoulder.
We, more than most antifascists, need to take a role in defeating Donald Trump. As much as some of us might hate this: that means we need to take a role in ensuring Democrats win, because one else can. Fortunately, after last Thursday’s debate, we have an opportunity to fulfill that responsibility in a way that will make us a little less conflicted and maybe even hopeful.
Since Thursday night, after Joe Biden’s pathetic debate performance, the Democratic Party is in a crisis. The entire New York Times editorial board joined Ezra Klein’s position that Joe Biden is clearly unfit for the campaign trail. Jon Stewart doubled down on the arguments from his first return to The Daily Show, ending his post debate segment with “this cannot be real life, it just can’t! Fuck!” Many other democratic pundits and strategists also called for Biden to withdraw, stand down, and have a contested convention.
All of these pundits were finally joining what the voting public has been saying about the Biden candidacy for months. He is too old. He is uninspiring. He disappointed us during his term.
The pressing matter for everyone is defeating Trump, and defeating Trump requires a better candidate than Joe Biden. The debate crisis is an opportunity to make this change. We, the people of Milwaukee, need to use our swing state sway to seize that opportunity. We must demand a contested convention.
From Crisis to Opportunity
We are not the only ones looking to turn Thursday’s crisis into an opportunity. The centrist demagogues, overpaid consultants, and conservatives in liberal clothing have mobilized hard following the debate. These are the same people who have been telling us over and over that this is the most important election of our life time, and we must give up on caring about genocide, the climate, immigrants, and police violence for the sake of beating Trump. Now, they want us to believe that protecting Biden’s legacy and feelings (and their reputation as advisors) is worth risking a Trump victory for.
While our goal is to shift from this crisis to a new candidate with better chances against Trump, theirs is to silence dissent and force everyone into lockstep behind their miserly, self-interested, and very likely doomed strategy.
Thus far, Biden’s 2024 campaign strategy seems to have been neglecting the coalition that elected him in 2020 and focusing on corporations, the donor class, imperialist ideologues, and that most fantastical of unicorns: moderate Republicans willing to break party ranks. They’re hell-bent on white-knuckling through the campaign season without the backing of young people, low income people of color, Muslims, immigrants, and the rest of the disgruntled, disenfranchised working class. Biden’s team are betting that fear of Trump will eventually strangle all the hopes and dreams of this neglected coalition. We will cede our demands that the Biden government provide minimal basic services, follow its own laws, and stop practicing genocide in fear of a Trump government that imposes an outright fascist dictatorship.
Biden’s team knows that this narrow focus is less likely to win than a broad coalition would be, but to them, risking a loss is preferable to winning with commitments they don’t want to keep. Their vision of the future is one where corporations and billionaires zoom around on spaceshuttles and super yachts while the rest of us choke on their exhaust and die. That vision is impossible if progressives and socialists win control of the Democratic Party, which we almost did the last two primaries, and likely would have if we’d had a real primary this year, which is probably why we didn’t.
Oh, its a death grip, alright
The other trouble with Biden’s refusal to step down is the pickle it puts his allies in. During her post debate interview with Jake Tapper, Vice President Kamala Harris evaded direct questions about the debate performance and whether or not the Biden we saw on stage is “the same man you see in meetings every day.”
Harris has to dodge this question, because there is no credible way to answer it. If she said the debate was a stunning change from Biden’s normal acuity, then she’d be admitting that he is no longer qualified. If she said she’s not concerned about his debate performance, she’d be dismissing the alarming situation we all witnessed. If she said that Biden has been like this, she’d be admitting that she’s been lying to cover for his decline for some time. Any response she gives to defend Biden burns her credibility with voters.
This same pickle confronts every democrat currently running for office. The longer Biden holds on to the top of the ticket, the more often every other Democrat will be confronted with these questions. They cannot maintain strong support for Biden without looking like clueless sycophants or liars. The credibility of the entire party takes a hit and Democrats risk losing down ticket races they ought to easily win.
Here in Wisconsin, Joe Biden has already been leaning on popular senator Tammy Baldwin’s campaign rather than boosting her like a top-of-ticket candidate is supposed to. After Thursday night, he’s gone from riding her coattails to dragging her down. Biden’s persistence in his race is becoming carpetbagger Eric Hovde’s best hope for victory against Baldwin. Fortunately, it looks like Baldwin recognizes this and is already stepping back.
If we cannot wrench off Biden’s death grip, our risk of losing the senate and the house rises. We might end up with a unified fascist government under Trump. Biden’s death grip could also cost Wisconsin our historic opportunity to have a representative legislature under new maps. This election is too important to leave in the hands of a stubborn boomer who has so publicly demonstrated his weakness as a candidate.
A contested convention, though?
I’m not going to try and describe how conventions work here, but a contested one is not as scary as it sounds. No one is going to believe Old Dan about this. I’m just a sad dog who got his guts tore out by a mountain lion in a prior life. Instead, I’ll send you to a very popular, very mainstream liberal egghead who explained it very thoroughly back in February. If you’re scared of getting off the sinking, burning Biden ship, give Ezra Klien a quick listen or a read, take a deep breath, and hop onto the contested convention rescue cruise.
I don’t expect to get a real leftist at a contested convention. I’m not naive. It’ll probably be Kamala Harris, maybe Gavin Newsome, or Gretchen Witmer. Any of them have a better chance of beating Trump than the man who cannot complete sentences, and who shifts off his strongest policy position to repeat his opponent’s favorite talking point. What matters as much or more than which of them gets chosen is that the corporate centrist death grip on the Democratic Party will be broken. The people who said Biden is the only choice will have to shut up and whoever his replacement is, will have to listen to progressives, working class people, and young people, instead.
Biden’s disastrous debate is our chance to turn 2024 from the worst, most uninspiring, fear-mongering, depressing dumpster fire of an election year into one where we can fight for things we actually believe in, and win.
To that end, we slapped together some graphics! Anyone who follows our instagram may have noticed that we aren’t graphic designers, but we did our best on short notice to bring you these.
Download our “Break the Biden Death Grip” poster pack and social media images.
Please share these images, print the posters, hang them up around town. Even better, use your creativity and your voice to make better ones on your own. You can also post things to social media, if you must.
Another action is to contact your Democrat representatives and demand they publicly call for a contested convention. There is sample language on one of the posters, but it works better if you speak from the heart about how Biden’s debate made you feel.
