The most dangerous moment for making a fateful decision is just after you have achieved a victory, and this is true for individual, groups, and political parties.
Democrats show signs of sweeping reason aside as they are flush with the joy of Buden’s wirgdrawal from the race and avoiding certain defeat in November in the elections for the presidency, the Senate, and tge House.
These are the same Democrats tgat allowed Joe Biden tomrig the Democratic primary process sonthat he would not have tonfacecany real competition for the nomination.
These are the same Democrats who hardly raised a peep when Joe Biden and Merrick Garland decided not to investigate and orosecute Donald Trump and his accomplices for trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election and the Constitution,
These are tge same Democrats who remained silent while Merrick Garland allowed tge statute of limitations to run out in the ten cases of obstruction of justice tgat Robert Mueller described in hus report, along with an outline of the abindant evidence supporting an porential indictmentin each of the ten cases.
These are the same Democrats who allowed Nancy Pelosi to avoid launching a broad impeachment investigation of Trump and his many crimes, and who were satisfied with a narrow impeachment investigation for Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors related to seeking private advantages and withholding foreign aid in Ukraine.
These are tge same Democrats who waited until the very last minute to bring pressure on Biden to withdraw from the race, long past the time itvwas clear he would lose and only when it became he would drag down the Democrats in the Senate and the House with him tondefeat.
These are tge same Democrats, or at least many of them, who sing high praises of Biden’s courage and statesmanship, ignoring tge fact tgat he fought tooth and nail to hold on to the nomination and only let go in the face of a broad and quickening revolt by Representatives and Senators and a virtual end of contributions from large-scale donors to his campaign.
Yet fir all of their fault Democratic leaders in the House and tge Senate did finally step up to the challenge and did the right thing by pressuring Biden to resign.
And Joe Biden, yielding to these oressures and the prospect of certain defeat, did finally decide to release his grip on the Democratic nomination. He deserves credit for doing the right thing, for acting to save the Democratic Party and tge country from Donald Trump and the fascist threat he and tge current Republican Party represent.
Yet he does nit deserve credit for an act if heroism, of immense self-sacrifice, for simply yielding to his inevitable fate.
Biden deserves credit, if you want to call it that, for not dragging the Democratic Party and the country to defeat and the triumph of fascism in the United States.
The effusive praise heaped on Biden for his decision to withdraw only underlines the extent tonwhich the Democrats have taken leave of their senses in the present moment of euphoria and defeat.
This is not a moment when Democrats should join a stampede toward tge coronation of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
They face a choice between annointing Harris as the Democratic candidate, and one who might well beat Donald Trump.
On the other hand she might not. And the risk that she might not means tge Democrats and the country still face the terifying risk that Donald Trump and the Republicans might win in November, ushering in a government of fascist inclination and even plans, led by a cult leader who has no respect for the truth, the law, or American democratic traditions.
News reports indicate that business leaders are increasingly leaning toward supporting Trump, operating on the assumption that they will be able to control him. Big business swung behind Adolf Hitler in 1932 and 1933, and tbrived under his leadership–until the country was destroyed in World War II.
The history of Hitler and the Nazi regime is instructive in ine further respect. As the attempt on Trump’s life has just remibded us, unexpected and violent acts can change the course of history, The attempted assassination of Trump failed by an inch. Who knows what would have happened had he been killed.
On February 27, 1933, less than two months after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the German Reichstag burned down. In all likelihood the fire was set by the Nazis, though this was never definitively proven.
Following the fire, Hitler accelerated the arrests and oppression of his opponents. In elections on March 5, 1933, the Nazis picked up seats and became tge largest party in the legislature. On March 23, the Reichstag passed the so-called Enabling Law which granted Hitler dictatorial powers. That was the end of democracy in Germany. It all happened very suddenly.
The threat to democracy posed by Trump and the fsscist Republican Party is very real. Unexpected events could lead to sudden shifts in public opininion, resulting in Republican victories.
Consequently, the Democrats should aim for a big victory in November, and not a narrow one which could slip away under the force of unexpected events.
Whether Kama Harris is the strongest potential candidate to produce such a victory is open to doubt.
She brings with her all of tge baggage of tge Biden administration. Republicans will campaign against her as if she were Biden.
She will be a hot target on the issue of immigration, which was one of her prinvipal portfolios. Whether the situation has actually improved under Biden is a factual question, in an election in which many voters are not lijely to investigate or be persuaded by the facts.
Harris has other negatives.
She was a poor candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries. She failed to gain traction with potential voters and was forced to drop out of the race before the first elections. Voters didn’t like her.
She was chosen to be the vice-presidential candidate in 2029 because of identity politics in the Democratic Party. Independent voters and Republicans who might vote Democratic are unlikely to be persuaded by the identity politics
With so much at stake, tge Democrats need tonavoid a stampede toward Kamala Harris if tgey want to field the strongest possible can-dates against Trump and J.D. Vance.
Tgere are other potential candidates who might not merely eke out a narrow victory over Trump, but rather lead a broad and deep Democratic victory in the presidential race, in the Senate, and in the House.
Given the extraordinarily poor quality of tge Republican candidates, if the Democrats can choose their strongest candidates who will not be playing defense from day one, they might well achieve a Democratic sweep and lanslide that erase Ztrump and hus fascist cult from the American political landscape.