Some voters in recent elections have complained about being forced to choose between “the lesser of two evils.” In the 2024 election, it appears we are heading for a worse choice — the evil of two lessers.
Donald Trump continues demeaning and defaming anyone who disagrees with him. He repeats unproven claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.” A myriad of other inaccurate statements have apparently had a negative influence on President Biden, who has joined him in the mud pit. Recall it was Biden who promised to “bring us together” — always an impossibility given the conflicting ideologies of Republicans and Democrats.
In his speech last week near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Biden invoked George Washington as an example of a selfless man who refused to be crowned a king, resigned his commission as an Army general following the Revolutionary War, and limited himself to two terms as president. An aside — Washington engaged in an insurrection, according to the definition of that word: “an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.” Wasn’t the British government “established” over the colonies, however tyrannical it was? Some insurrections turn out better than others. The insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — whether one believes it fits the definition or not — was still a rebellion against a legitimately established government with the express purpose of changing the election results. But I digress.
Biden’s speech shows voters that 2024 is shaping up as a contest between two lightweights pretending to be heavyweights. If Trump is elected, Biden said, America will become like Germany in the ’30s. The very future of democracy is at stake, he claimed. This is how Democrats think. Only when they win elections is the country safe.
This isn’t Biden’s first trip into the mud. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Vice President Biden told a Black audience that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney “would put you all back in chains.”