So...Fetterman has been taking a more moderate turn since getting elected. Some of it I don't mind, but his comments today are cringe. Basically, he said:
"I don’t understand why, I don’t know what’s in it for you to do that whether you’re just chasing clout or you want to make it in the news or anything like that. But if you’re not willing to just support the president now and say these kinds of things, you might as well just get your MAGA hat, because you now are helping Trump with this.”
And I'm going to be blunt, as one gym shorts wearing loudmouth progressive, but not progressive enough for progressives to like me, Pennsylvanian, kindly shut up here. I'm getting SICK AND TIRED of this weird culture the democrats have that we can't criticize Biden or cast doubt on his ability to govern another term. We need to stop this tribalism we have on these subjects and have these hard discussions.
As for why I criticize Biden, 2 major reasons.
1) I didn't want Biden in the first place!
I did not vote for Biden last time. I voted for green candidate Howie Hawkins. I wanted more out of a president than Biden. I wanted things like UBI, and medicare for all, and free college, and full student debt forgiveness, and in 2020 I was more open to a green new deal than I am now.
I have progressive priorities. Biden fell short. And in 2020, he didn't even seem to try to appeal to voters like me. The democratic party line was the same line it always is "vote for me or else, fall in line or you're helping Trump."
And while I recognize that Biden has exceeded my expectations, and I have softened my position on him over the past 4 years, I can and will criticize him when the subject arises. I ideally would like someone else than Biden. Biden has never been my first choice for president, he was just who the dems foisted on us, and who they're continuing to foist on us this time.
Quite frankly, the democrats should be grateful that if it comes down to Biden vs Trump this time, I actually WILL vote for Trump rather than defecting to a third party. Because I've historically done that. And I make no apologies for it. My vote is my own, my voice is my own, and don't tell ME that I have to just fall in line behind your bullcrap or I'm helping your opponent. I'm not necessarily on YOUR side. I'm on MY OWN SIDE. Our interests just happen to align this time. Don't treat my support of Biden like I have undying loyalty to the guy. I just recognize he's been a better president than I expected, and I recognize that Trump is, himself, an authoritarian nutcase.
I will be voting for Dean Phillips in the primary. Make no mistake. He's the one guy still in who is challenging Biden, and I quite frankly, like his policies better. He's basically Biden but younger and more progressive.
2) Because there's serious questions as to whether Biden can win if he runs again
Look, I do polling projections. And I was gonna write an entire article just on this, but I might as well get this out now. Look, Biden's chances of winning ARE NOT GREAT. He currently has a 12% chance, and running those random number generator scenarios based on this months data? It's not great. The fact is, that "red wall" of states is a very difficult cliff for Biden to scale. He's about 50/50 in pennsylvania and wisconsin. Him winning those is a coin flip each, and he NEEDS both. And then from there he needs 15 more electoral votes to win. And then he faces a cliff of red leaning states with an 87%+ chance of going to Trump. Think about if. If you ran the election 8 times, Biden would win those states once, and lose them 7 times. He's in a BAD position.
There's also a lot of questions about his age, and his competency. Him not doing the normal superbowl interview and going on tiktok to talk about chocolate chip cookies is raising questions about his competence and fitness for the job. Can he handle another 4 years? These are legitimate questions. Should we be replacing the guy? I literally asked this myself and while I think the SAFEST choice IS to stay the course with Biden, we shouldn't be afraid to ask such questions.
I mean, the democrats really do have a culture of wanting to stifle criticism. They think criticism is bad, and helps their opponents. They just want unquestioning dedication to dear leader. They dont want people questioning if Biden is competent for the job. THey dont want someone asking if there's someone better for the job. They just want you to vote Biden and shut up unless you're gonna repeat their cringey talking points.
Speaking of which, something I've noticed about establishment democrats is that they're in a freaking echo chamber. They just keep repeating the same talking points about how Biden is the best/most progressive president ever, that he's the second coming of FDR, that the economy is great, and that Biden is gonna coast to a victory in november because they cant understand why anyone wouldn't like Biden, and why anyone would like Trump.
And I'm going to be honest, this is reality denial. Biden has an approval rating of like 41% right now. he was in the 30s not long ago. He's down in the polls several points, and the empirical data is, IMO clear: Biden is heading toward a loss. People aren't happy with Biden.
Now, we can discuss whether the feelings of the public are legitimate (as in based in evidence). I would say in a lot of ways no. By traditional standards, the economy is great, it's "the best" it's been since the 1960s by the numbers. But people are unhappy because of the cost of living. And of course, there's still a problem with being able to find a job because even in the best of times, youre still gonna have a hard time if youre not a good fit. The problem with the economy is, well....capitalism as its practiced. And simply getting good metrics makes things somewhat better, but not amazing. And again, there are issues about the cost of living. Things are 25% more expensive than they were just a few years ago, and people aren't happy, even if the core issues with inflation subsided. Because peoples' wages arent going up 25% to match. Peoples' social security isn't either. So purchasing power is down. Many people feel financially worse off. Those feelings are legit, even if the economy is "good."
Although I will give it to people on immigration and stuff like that. Totally manufactured crisis. And the GOP doesnt even wanna solve the issue when Biden goes to solve it. I admit, deep blue states are kinda going cringe over the issue. Like I heard about NYC giving cash to refugees, which is gonna stoke resentment and anti immigration sentiments, and googling gavin newsom and researching his healthcare policy, his crowning achievement is expanding medi-cal (california's medicaid) to give illegals eligibility. If you just give stuff to illegals for free, you're gonna feed into conservative resentment arguments. Even I dont do that and I'm basically the "free stuff" guy. You wanna give free stuff to citizens, not illegals. But I digress.
The point is, maybe it is a little bit of A, a little bit of B. Maybe there are some legit feelings and concerns, but at the same time, are people blowing it out of proportion? Yes. Are they unfairly blaming Biden? Yes. Biden has been your standard dem on the economy, and he has been pretty moderate on immigration, but people are just gonna blame whomever is in office whether they're connected to the issues or not, and yeah, Biden is getting blamed.
We can argue against this stuff somewhat, but democrats need to really learn how to get through to normies. What they're doing is essentially gaslighting. Like "your concerns arent legitimate, Biden is good biden is great, blah blah blah". Not gonna work. You're just gonna turn off voters.
I'm even seeing democrats trot out the same "but the court" argument they did with Hillary word for word talking about how Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are. Btw, the fact that I knew Thomas and ALito would have to eventually be replaced some time by say, 2035, is why I didnt really buy into the "but the court" argument in 2016, obviously theres always more justices up for grabs every election cycle, and obviously, given the current state, we dont want the right to get MORE or they will have a super majority for decades. But again, you cant just threaten people to vote for Biden based on that. It didn't work in 2016, and it didnt work in 2024.
The fact is, the democrats, and those who are ride or die supporters are in their own little world. They are hopelessly out of touch with political reality, and dont seem to understand the situation the dems are in. They ignore polls, they write off peoples' concerns as useless, they try to strong arm people into shutting up and not criticizing Biden. Do they not understand that the country isnt buying their arguments this time around, they dont like the guy, and that the dems are kinda screwed? I feel like we're heading toward a train wreck and these guys are just like "everything is fine." It reminds me of 2016 where they would hype up those blue polling maps where Clinton was supposed to win the south and the rust belt wasnt even in question. It reminds me of the groupthink that the republicans had with romney in 2012, where rachel maddow's big moment of all time for me was telling the GOP how out of touch they were and how they had to shape up.
We are there again. We are heading toward a train wreck. And if nothing changes, Trump is going to be elected in november. I give it 7:1 odds based on the current polling. We all know my own election analyses. I dont claim to know all the answers. Should we replace Biden? I mean, I'd like to, but will they poll any better? Everyone polled does even WORSE, turning the blowout into a double digits electoral nightmare. But can we stick with Biden and expect to win? Not really.
Democrats dug themselves into a hole with 2016 and 2020. They couldve chosen a much better and more positive direction, but instead they chose to push centrists no one really wanted, and ran a mostly negative campaign against trump. In 2016 it didnt work as people hated them more than trump. In 2020, they got away with it because people hated trump more than Biden. But now people seem to hate Biden more than Trump in net, and we're back to losing again. And unless we shape up, and unless something changes between now and november, we are screwed. let's not stick our heads in the sand. This is a real problem, and the first step to solving it is admitting we have one.
And I'm just gonna leave it there. Don't shoot the messenger. Your candidate is unpopular. Most people dont like him. Something has to change if you want to win. Burying your head in the sand is a coping mechanism, not a solution. it is reality denial. I dont know how to fix it at this point, but again, what ISNT gonna help is just pretending that the problem isn't there and attacking anyone who dares point it out.
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