Why I am Endorsing Joe Biden for President
I am committing to vote for Joe Biden, campaign for Joe Biden, and encourage young people to vote for Joe Biden. Here’s why:
In the past few months, it’s become increasingly clear that my fears about Donald Trump were correct. From the moment he began his campaign spewing racist bile against Mexicans, I saw a power-hungry demagogue completely apathetic to the consequences of his actions. He has repeatedly proven me right but no more so than in his response to COVID-19. Reports indicate that Trump was informed of the threat of the virus as soon as December 31st 2019, and on January 22nd, 2020, he received a briefing that warned of a global pandemic. He chose to deny and downplay the threat of the virus for months while the virus spread to the United States unimpeded. When it became clear to governors and mayors that federal action was needed to supply healthcare providers with PPE and ventilators, he failed to implement the Defense Production Act and nationalize the supply chain. Thousands of Americans are dying every day because of Trump’s obscene dereliction of duty. This was a choice. He explicitly chose a course that he thought would play better for him politically. The consequences were deadly and could end with a body count in the hundreds of thousands if not millions. Electing a demagogue left us vulnerable, and the fruits have come to bare. An insurmountable level of pain and suffering is ahead of us as we prepare to attend funerals through Zoom. Demagoguery has caused harm throughout the Trump presidency.
Trump-Inspired Hate Crimes
Throughout his tenure in office, Trump has inspired hate crimes against religious minorities, communities of color, and immigrants. Cities that have hosted Trump rallies consistently report a surge in hatred crimes. Overall, hate crimes across every category have risen dramatically throughout the Trump presidency. The two most deadly acts of Trump-inspired brutality are the shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue and the Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand. The Tree of Life shooter specifically selected that synagogue because of their support for refugees and migrants. At the time, Trump had been promoting a conspiracy theory that anti-Semitic dog-whistle favorite George Soros was funding caravans full of Mexicans across the border. The shooter cited this theory in his manifesto as his reasoning for his act of violence. Less than six months later, a man open fired on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Police later found his manifesto listing Trump as his inspiration. You cannot assess the full degree to the damage done and the lives taken because of Trump’s actions without a calculation of the acts inspired by his violent, inflammatory rhetoric.
The Case for Joe Biden
It’s no secret that I supported a different candidate in the Democratic primary. I fell in love with Elizabeth Warren’s plans for big, structural change. Her policies and her rhetoric met the moment and delivered the promise of a future in we could build a socially inclusive, environmentally resilient future. I was heartbroken when she dropped out of the race. I completely empathize with the grief that those who supported Bernie Sanders are feeling right now. It is incredibly painful to place your hopes and dreams on a candidate and see them defeated. Beyond that, for progressives like me, Joe Biden falls wildly short of what we would want in a candidate. Frankly, Joe Biden was at the bottom of my list of Democrats I wanted to win the nomination (excluding Bloomberg who was not a Democrat). However, I accept that, for whatever reason, Democratic primary voters chose Joe Biden. Joe Biden has cast votes I don’t like. He has made statements I don’t like. He is still a million times better than Donald Trump.
Conversations about Joe Biden’s record are fair, but it is worth recognizing that he has evolved with the times. Joe Biden has throughout his career attempted to position himself at the center of the Democratic Party. We are not dealing with your grandpa’s Joe Biden. We are dealing with the Joe Biden of the Obama years who supports LGBTQ rights, decriminalizing marijuana, a $15 minimum wage, expanding social insurance, and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. As the Democratic Party has moved to the left since the financial crash of 2008, so has Joe Biden. Just yesterday, Biden announced a plan to cancel most outstanding student loan debt. While the details are unclear, this is a remarkable shift towards a more progressive position. We can expect more of this.
One of the most critical outcomes of the presidential election in November is the fate of the Supreme Court. Liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer are both very old and would likely not survive another Trump term. If Trump gets a second term, we will have a 7–2 conservative majority court which will stifle the progressive agenda for a generation. It won’t matter if we elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes in 2024. We will still be faced with a court bent on turning back the clock on racial, social, and environmental progress. In recent years, we’ve seen our 5–4 conservative court strike down the Voting Rights Act, allow states to reject healthcare aid for the poor and indigent, allow corporations to spend unlimited dark money in campaign contributions, uphold Trump’s Muslim Ban, and mostly recently force Wisconsin voters to chose between voting during a pandemic or not having their voice heard. If Trump is able to chose Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer’s replacement, you can say goodbye to legal abortion, LGBTQ rights, the EPA, voting rights, workers’ rights, and the Affordable Care Act.
It is certainly true that Biden can attribute his win largely to older voters, African-American voters over 40, and ex-Republican Moderates from the suburbs (Romney-Hillary voters). This is Joe Biden’s base, and they are not going anywhere. He knows that in order to win, he must reach out to the diverse group of young people that voted for other candidates in the primary or didn’t vote at all. Young people and progressives have a tremendous amount of leverage, and we can use that to compel Joe Biden to embrace bolder policies that best meet the needs of the moment we are in. This week, a coalition of progressive organizations including March For Our Lives, Justice Democrats, and the Sunrise Movement sent an open letter to the former vice president urging him to support bold policies such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All and to support structural changes like abolishing the filibuster and passing Elizabeth Warren’s anti-corruption bill. These groups promised to leverage $100 million to elect him should he embrace their agenda. While I doubt Biden will run on all of these policies, I do believe we can get him to evolve on a heck of a lot. Joe Biden is not the progressive we need, but he is the moderate-progressive we’ve got and his policies would be a dramatic improvement over those of Donald Trump. There are some forces on the left that are proclaiming that Trump has no ideology and is likelier to support Medicare for All then Joe Biden. Let’s squash this bug once and for all. Donald Trump strategically targets progressives by teasing that he might support their policies, but he never will. Donald Trump is a plutocrat only interested in increasing his wealth and that of his rich friends. He will never be a friend to workers. He will never be a friend to the LGBTQ community. He will never stand up to the big corporations. His allegiance is to the racist, corporatist extreme right; don’t get it twisted.
What about Tara Reade?
In late March, Tara Reade accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her when she was his staffer in the mid-90s. I am attaching the Salon.com story here to provide greater context (https://www.salon.com/2020/03/31/a-woman-accuses-joe-biden-of-sexual-assault-and-all-hell-breaks-loose-online-heres-what-we-know/). Joe Biden has called for law enforcement and journalists to investigate this allegation. I think that’s appropriate as well. Throughout most of human history, when women have come forward accusing men, particularly high-profile men, of sexual misconduct and/or gender discrimination, they have disregarded, belittled, and retaliated against. We cannot allow that to happen here. We should take these allegations seriously and treat Tara Reade with respect and dignity. Should Joe Biden win the election, I support the House Ethics Committee opening an investigation into this allegation.
Moving Forward
I am committed to electing Joe Biden president for so many reasons. If he wins, we have a shot at defeating climate change. If he wins, we have a shot at passing common sense gun legislation. If he wins, we have a shot at passing the Equality Act and ending legal discrimination for the LGBTQ community. On so many issues, Joe Biden is miles closer to my views than the man in the White House. Beyond that, Joe Biden is not a demagogue. When it’s difficult to be passionate about voting for a candidate, remember that voting is also about harm reduction. Vote for the victims of the Tree of Life shooting. Vote for the victims of the Christchurch shooting. I know I will be voting for the victims of the Parkland shooting. But I won’t stop there. I will commit myself to doing everything in my power to register people to vote, particularly young people, low-income people, and people of color, and I will work to mobilize the youth vote for Joe Biden. I hope you will join me in this fight because this election isn’t about one candidate; it’s about improving the quality of life as much as possible for as many people as possible and making this country safer for everyone. And I have another ask for you. Join me in standing with the progressive organizations demanding Joe Biden embrace big, structural change and appoint progressives to his transition team and his Cabinet and his running mate. Read this letter (https://nextgenamerica.org/Biden-letter/) and amplify its content so that we can secure a future in which young people can succeed in a more just and equitable society with a livable planet and an economy that works for all.
