again?
Biden or trump or someone else …
How do we face the prospect of a Biden against Trump election all over again in 2024? This presidential election year is when most Americans prefer someone else to be their party’s standard-bearer.
With the future of American democracy undeniably at stake in this election cycle, is this the best our politics and politicians can give us now? Have our standards for who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fallen this low? Are we indeed witnessing the dying days of American democracy?
Look at the two candidates we are asked to support with our vote on November 5th:
Former President Donald J. Trump
The once-45th president of the United States has a history littered with personal transgressions that have landed him in multiple state and federal courts of law since leaving office on January 20, 2020, in an unsportsmanlike fashion, to put it gently. Nevertheless, Trump is leading his opponents overwhelmingly in nearly all of the states that will be voting this primary season, and he is at least even or ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden everywhere else it appears.
How does someone like the twice-impeached, dictator-promising Donald Trump become the most-favored candidate of the Grand Old Party in 2024?
President Trump is accused of inciting an attack on the United States Capitol, televised for all to see, to stop the Electoral College vote from being certified by the United States Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on January 6th. Americans saw the Trump send-off event on the ellipse of the White House. Then, the red-hatted MAGA supporters brutally beat Capitol police officers a brief time later with everything they could get their hands on. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that 140 police officers were assaulted, including some eighty from the U.S. Capitol Police and about sixty from the Metropolitan Washington Police Department. The arrests and indictments related to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol have surpassed 1,050 thus far. More than half of these individuals have pleaded guilty to various federal charges. The DOJ reports many to have faced or will face incarceration at sentencing. Trump himself has been federally indicted and is pending trial for his arguable role in subverting the 2020 election. Was this an insurrection? The currently planned trial date is March 4th.
A separate federal indictment in Florida accuses former President Trump of withholding and even hiding top-secret documents from federal officials that were hidden at his estate, Mar-a-Lago, despite federal subpoenas demanding their immediate return. The currently planned trial date is May 20th.
The state of Georgia has indicted Donald Trump on thirteen charges for allegedly trying to undo election results in the Peach State. Eighteen people were charged in addition to former President Trump. Four of those charged with Trump have pleaded guilty. No planned trial date has been announced.
Former President Trump has already been found liable in a New York court for financial fraud that includes his company and his charitable foundation. The financial penalty for the court-confirmed fraud is pending a decision any day now. The trial is currently in progress.
The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear arguments on whether former President Trump can be excluded from ballots under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, particularly in two states where such judgments have been handed down already by lower courts in Colorado and Maine. Courts in Michigan and California disagreed that the 14th Amendment restriction applies. SCOTUS will also consider Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for his January 6th actions.
Former President Trump has also already been found civilly liable in a New York court for sexual assault and has been implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein child sexual abuse scandal. This after having been accused of paying off two porn stars during the 2016 campaign, admitting to cheating on two of his three wives even though the porn star allegations came with current wife number three, and being heard on that infamous Access Hollywood tape essentially claiming that he can grab women where he wants when he wants. Thirty-four hush money trial charges are scheduled to begin on March 25th.
Former President Trump is contending with four separate indictments and ninety-one current felony charges. Why, then, is his popularity growing despite the substantial number of charges he is facing, several of which he is highly likely to be found guilty or liable on once his trials are complete?
On non-legal issues:
Donald Trump promised to build a wall on America’s southern border and make Mexico pay for that wall – he failed.
Trump promised to end Obamacare and replace it with a better program - he failed.
He promised to drain the swamp of unethical political leaders, but Trump failed and even contributed much of his own during his Administration.
Candidate and then President Trump promised to release his taxes once an audit was completed – he did not.
Donald Trump relentlessly attacked and undermined American institutions, failing in each case to reform or improve those entities.
None of this considers the unnecessary political drama Trump invited during his presidency:
By inviting Russia to interfere in his election against Hillary Clinton (for which we got the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation report); or his 2019 Impeachment for obstructing Congress and abusing power (the Senate acquitted Trump on a 52 to 48 and a 53 to 47 vote on the two Articles of Impeachment).
Or his 2021 Impeachment for his incitement of the Capitol insurrection (the Senate vote was fifty-seven guilty and forty-three not guilty votes but short of the two-thirds needed to remove him from office).
Or the lawsuit alleging Trump violated a constitutional provision that a president may not accept any economic benefit from foreign governments or the United States government beyond a salary (congressional Democrats later reported that Donald Trump-owned hotels received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments and their representatives during his challenging presidency).
Or the friendly response he gave to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (in which people were intentionally wounded and one was killed).
Or made thousands of fact-checked misstatements about a wide variety of issues including many debunked claims such as bleach could prevent COVID-19 (Trump was stricken with the coronavirus and was hospitalized for several days in October 2022).
Or the disputed size of his Inauguration crowd size (photos demonstrated that it was not as large as claimed and would not have been necessary had he not argued otherwise).
This list of Trump controversies goes on and on.
Therefore, asking whether Donald Trump’s behavior is acceptable to the American voter is fair. Is the GOP as a party okay with the fact that under his tenure, Trump lost control of the U.S. House in 2018, lost the White House in 2020, lost control of the United States Senate in 2022, and operational control of the U.S. House as well when the much-expected Red Wave failed to materialize? Are Trump’s repeated moral violations forgivable to GOP evangelicals? Given all these factors, is this candidate worthy of his party’s nomination? Does America have to suffer similar indignities through yet a second Trump Administration?
Thomas invites you to read: Is Public Service Dead?
Incumbent President Joseph R. Biden
The 46th president of the United States has been embattled since he took office on January 20, 2020. Inflation and COVID-19 ravaged the country. America fled Afghanistan, suffered under a crushing surge of undocumented migrants at the Mexico-U.S. border, incurred yet more massive deficit spending, and saw war in Ukraine and Gaza break out. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is entertaining impeachment proceedings against him and his son, Hunter Biden, who has been the focus of intense investigation over his finances, which may or may not have benefited his father as it is often alleged. Ageism continues to dog the 81-year-old president with allegations that he walks feebly and must be escorted off stages by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.
How does someone like the not-yet-impeached Joe Biden remain the most-favored candidate of Thomas Jefferson’s party in 2024?
Inflation rose to over 9% on President Biden’s watch, the highest rate in some 40 years.
The national debt has risen under President Biden by more than $6 trillion and does not offer hope of slowing anytime soon.
Household income in the U.S. has dropped by more than $4,000, and housing itself is highly unaffordable for the next generation of Americans who want and rightly expect to live their American dream.
President Biden promised to forgive student debt to America’s youth only to fail to secure court approval where necessary.
The war in Ukraine illegally provoked by Russia is costly, and there is no agreement in Congress on whether to continue funding Ukraine’s defense.
The war between Israel and Gaza is unpopular among America’s younger voters; much of the Arab nations where U.S. relations are critically important threatens to expand thanks to Iran’s actions against the United States in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen regionally.
Against the advice of his military leadership, President Biden ordered a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which resulted in the reported deaths of 13 U.S. military personnel at Kabul airport and the loss at Bagram Air Base of tens of billions of dollars in military equipment.
President Biden has not managed America’s devolving trade policy with China consistently, nor has he been able to mitigate the rising tensions with that powerful communist nation.
Undocumented immigrant border crossings have risen above 2.3 million since Joe Biden took office and are inundating American cities that have not been able to shoulder their share of the estimated $150 billion it has cost to manage the immigrant population since.
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, which resulted in national restrictions on a woman’s right to choose where her health is concerned.
On his first day in office, President Biden killed the Keystone Pipeline, which, together with inflation, helped increase gas prices in America substantially over President Trump’s time in office.
Biden has failed to stem the tide of illegal fentanyl into the U.S., which now accounts for more than 100,000 American deaths.
Unlike former President Trump, Joe Biden is, however:
Not threatening to govern America as a dictator or authoritarian.
Embracing the philosophies of foreign dictators.
Nor promising to use law enforcement and military agencies to exact revenge against his opponents, real or imaginary, domestic or international.
Nor planning to dismantle relations with NATO, American intelligence agencies, or foreign allies again.
Nor claiming immunity for criminal acts while in office as president.
Thomas invites you to read: Presidents Ranked
Also read: Rise Up Independents?
So, what does an election rematch 2024 between Joe Biden and Donald Trump give us?
There are few viable choices regarding who will be president in 2025, a natural and urgent need to protect and improve American democracy, and the possibility of a meaningful third party for future elections.
If you do not like your choices for president in 2024, it may be time to join a viable third-party effort to unite America again!
IT’S A RACE!
Donald J. Trump Thomas Rank: F
Joseph R. Biden Thomas Rank: C
Keep an eye on this space. We will let you know how these issues develop as America prepares for the polls this November.