You’re really good at identifying and then toeing the line in your writing. Like with your Anthem piece last week, you look at both sides of Biden’s withdrawal and omnipresent political awareness, respectively, and you meaningfully dance between each issue’s opposing “sides” without telling me what I should be thinking as though there is one singular answer. I always finish reflecting. Thank you.
I was 17 years old and working in a cotton field in August 1974 when I heard about Nixon's resignation I don't remember being as concerned about Nixon in those days as I am today worrying about another Trump Presidency. Maybe it's the difference being 67 instead of 17. If Biden is replaced, I don't know how the Democrats will proceed to replace him. All the primaries are essentially over. Can they pull off a process that will unite the party and bring in Independents to defeat Trump? I don't think Harris is the answer. But I don't have a favorite candidate to offer.
re: Nixon's resignation: A lot of us were very happy to see him go. I was at a campground in Nova Scotia when Filthy Richard said good-bye. The Canadian kids with us wanted to know what the big deal was. As they said, ministers in their government were always resigning. Exactly.
Immediately after the debate, I was Team Stick With Biden. But the more time passes, and the better I understand what's been happening here, the more I think he has to go. It makes me sad, because I do think he's a good man and has been a good president. I just think he can't win now, and even if he wins, he won't be able to do the job for much longer. Time has just caught up with him. That being the case, I was persuaded by Adam Serwer's piece in The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/biden-resign-kamala-harris-presidential-candidate/678886/) that the best course of action is actually for Biden to resign and have Kamala take over now. It'll probably never happen, but it might be our best chance to save our democracy.
To your other point about life going on, I do think all our lives have to go on, in the day-to-day. But I also wonder if we should actually be marching in the streets to advocate for what we, the citizens, know needs to happen to keep this country intact. I wonder if people in other countries would not have been in the streets after the seismic Supreme Court decisions last month. I wonder if history is going to look back and say that all of us did nothing but tweet while the American Great Experiment crashed and burned. And I am not in the streets - I'm sitting at my comfy middle-class desk writing this comment on a blog, so I am complicit in this. But I have no ability to rally any large number of people, and if those who do have that ability don't exercise it soon, I fear we're doomed.
For the first time in my life, rather than charging ahead with an action plan, I have accepted that the really important decisions will be in the hands of Washington insiders. All I can do is vote—and encourage others to do the same—this November.
Seeing him at the debate, I’m confused how anyone in Biden’s camp thought this campaign was going to work. Surely they know he wouldn’t be able to handle a typical presidential campaign, and even if he did and managed to win in November, there’s no way he’s making it through 4 more years. Did they think they could just sort of hide it?
My cynical side says this re-election campaign is more about the people around Biden who rely on him for their jobs and privileges. Easy for me to say his advisers should tell him not to run, when they draw their paycheck from his presidency.
Ultimately, I don’t intend to knock Biden - 81
years old is old. People in their 80s shouldn’t be sitting in these powerful, demanding positions.
I ask myself these same questions about my political obsession all the time - thanks for sharing. I feel like I’ve been going mad reading and scrolling in the days after the debate, but I can’t stop. I can’t convince myself that I shouldn’t be so angry and terrified about the increasing likelihood of another Trump Administration. 😔
Yes Trump , the felon, the habitual liar, the one with the foul mouth, and...mind, is going to win..., IF all these in name only democrats keep whining about President Biden. Oh well.... what is new?
I feel the same, Will. What I have found interesting in the commentary on Threads is that many Dems perceive this as an MSM driven campaign to hand the election to Trump a la Hillary’s emails. They think Biden withdrawing equals defeat. Whereas like you I think it’s risky but still the best option.
Every time I read one of your newsletters, it pays off. How obsessed we should be exactly about the slow-moving/fast-moving trainwreck that’s happening in front of us/in the background MIGHT be the key dilemma of our time! I ask myself this constantly! And I always come back to the same thing: If I set aside what I love to do to instead be an activist, say, would I be able to effect meaningful change? I’m not convinced I would. Because a lot of other people who have devoted their lives to it have not been able to prevent our being in today's situation. (And those kids behind the Sunrise Movement are legends!) Anyway. It helps to know someone else is tortured by the helplessness surely most of us feel right now.
When Nixon left the White House and waved good bye and received a pardon all in short order, my family looked at each other and said " Good we don't need a liar as President." How we got from there to where we are today where If you repeat a lie over and over, people will believe the lie and vote for for that person , that party, is a far cry from the Nixon years. I am older than Joe Biden and I would make a hell of a president. But I would go to bed every night wondering if I was a little less able to keep up the pace and do the right thing tomorrow. I bet Biden feels the same way. America is in a bad place.
Will, yes, a lot of people have tuned out of politics. But think about this, TFG* won the Electoral College not just by getting more votes than Clinton in 2016, but by having more people vote for other candidates (Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Evan MacMullin, combined, totaled nearly six million votes). In Michigan, where I live, Stein got 60,000 votes, Clinton lost the state by a little less than 10,000 votes.
Okay, at 83, I vividly recall Nixon’s decision to step down as president. He was in a box, really. If he didn’t leave members of his own party intended to impeachment him, demand he resign and toss him to the dogs. He would have ended up in prison. And he should have. He left because he stupidly thought that because he was president he could do anything and never be held accountable for it. Sadly, the current Supreme Court would have told him not to stay put. We’ve got your back.
Fast forward to today where an ethical, honorable, fantastic president had a bad debate. He committed no crime. He had a very bad cold and he had a horrible debate against the 34 times convicted felon he is running against. I thought that debate was a very bad idea in the first place because Biden didn’t do well the last time they debated. I think on his worst days , Biden is a better president than Trump could ever hope to be. I personally think he is perfectly capable of doing this job for the next four years. And, I think he can beat Trump if the pundits give the “Biden isn’t fit” stories a rest and let this play out for a week or so. And, good lord Democrats, stop helping Trump come up in the polls by continuing to focus all your negativity on the hero here and give some attention to the real villain, who is a criminal, Donald J Trump. And take a real good look at Mandate 2025 which Trump now claims he’s never heard of but only weeks ago suggested we all read it. Now that should make anyone who would like to see our democracy survive, vote for anyone the Democrats run as president.
One last practical reality to consider is this. If we all get behind Biden, he will win and we will have in place a seasoned, brilliant VP in Kamala Harris. If, God forbid, he were unable to complete his term in office, she is there prepared to take over. Please let’s put the focus back on Trump where it should be. His performance at that debate was beyond bad but did highlight all the reasons he can never be president again. It is historic that a man running for the highest office in the land would utter the words “I did not have sex with a porn star.” in response to a debate question. Let’s put that spotlight back on the monster who would be chief where it belongs. Please.
I definitely agree with the fact that Biden on his worst day is a much better president that Trump ever was and will be. But after the debate, I'm just no longer sure he's going to get that chance after november.
You may be right but I think he may lose not because he can’t do the job but because his own party is abandoning him. I was listening to Michael Moore yesterday and he echoed my thoughts exactly. You’ll notice Trump isn’t saying anything lately, I imagine his advisors have told him to shut up and let the Dems destroy themselves. The Republicans stand behind that crook 100%. Crime, what crime? they say. A few more days of dragging Biden down and Trump may just waltz right to victory and we can look back fondly at the country we once had and couldn’t keep. The tragedy is not Biden, it’s his party. Where is the loyalty?
Enjoyed your thoughts today. I suppose we let November take care of itself, today. We will all get to contribute politically, on a day that month. In the meantime, enjoying and loving our family and friends is a good investment of time. There’s no question you’ve set an example for your family.
Curious about the photo of the dancing red head with person in the wheelchair in motel parking lot. Don’t know why but I love it. Must be from a recent movie review? Guessing it’s not from Horizon-Chapter 1.
Wow, I’m old. Nixon resigned one week after my 15th birthday. It was a big deal, although the day he resigned was almost a little anti-climactic. Today’s problems are serious, but our country will survive. We’re on a bad path, both parties are broken, and it will take generations to repair the office of the presidency, but somehow, some way, we will eventually pull together for the greater good. I hope this happens in my lifetime. I don’t see it happening this decade, but I hope I’m wrong about that.
Right there with you.
You’re really good at identifying and then toeing the line in your writing. Like with your Anthem piece last week, you look at both sides of Biden’s withdrawal and omnipresent political awareness, respectively, and you meaningfully dance between each issue’s opposing “sides” without telling me what I should be thinking as though there is one singular answer. I always finish reflecting. Thank you.
Thank you, very much. This is always the North Star.
I was 17 years old and working in a cotton field in August 1974 when I heard about Nixon's resignation I don't remember being as concerned about Nixon in those days as I am today worrying about another Trump Presidency. Maybe it's the difference being 67 instead of 17. If Biden is replaced, I don't know how the Democrats will proceed to replace him. All the primaries are essentially over. Can they pull off a process that will unite the party and bring in Independents to defeat Trump? I don't think Harris is the answer. But I don't have a favorite candidate to offer.
re: Nixon's resignation: A lot of us were very happy to see him go. I was at a campground in Nova Scotia when Filthy Richard said good-bye. The Canadian kids with us wanted to know what the big deal was. As they said, ministers in their government were always resigning. Exactly.
Immediately after the debate, I was Team Stick With Biden. But the more time passes, and the better I understand what's been happening here, the more I think he has to go. It makes me sad, because I do think he's a good man and has been a good president. I just think he can't win now, and even if he wins, he won't be able to do the job for much longer. Time has just caught up with him. That being the case, I was persuaded by Adam Serwer's piece in The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/biden-resign-kamala-harris-presidential-candidate/678886/) that the best course of action is actually for Biden to resign and have Kamala take over now. It'll probably never happen, but it might be our best chance to save our democracy.
To your other point about life going on, I do think all our lives have to go on, in the day-to-day. But I also wonder if we should actually be marching in the streets to advocate for what we, the citizens, know needs to happen to keep this country intact. I wonder if people in other countries would not have been in the streets after the seismic Supreme Court decisions last month. I wonder if history is going to look back and say that all of us did nothing but tweet while the American Great Experiment crashed and burned. And I am not in the streets - I'm sitting at my comfy middle-class desk writing this comment on a blog, so I am complicit in this. But I have no ability to rally any large number of people, and if those who do have that ability don't exercise it soon, I fear we're doomed.
It should be a fascinating--and potentially quite momentous--week we have coming up.
For the first time in my life, rather than charging ahead with an action plan, I have accepted that the really important decisions will be in the hands of Washington insiders. All I can do is vote—and encourage others to do the same—this November.
Seeing him at the debate, I’m confused how anyone in Biden’s camp thought this campaign was going to work. Surely they know he wouldn’t be able to handle a typical presidential campaign, and even if he did and managed to win in November, there’s no way he’s making it through 4 more years. Did they think they could just sort of hide it?
My cynical side says this re-election campaign is more about the people around Biden who rely on him for their jobs and privileges. Easy for me to say his advisers should tell him not to run, when they draw their paycheck from his presidency.
Ultimately, I don’t intend to knock Biden - 81
years old is old. People in their 80s shouldn’t be sitting in these powerful, demanding positions.
I think you may be onto something here.
I ask myself these same questions about my political obsession all the time - thanks for sharing. I feel like I’ve been going mad reading and scrolling in the days after the debate, but I can’t stop. I can’t convince myself that I shouldn’t be so angry and terrified about the increasing likelihood of another Trump Administration. 😔
Yeah, I keep bumping up against that. I mean, we *should* be very concerned about this.
Yes Trump , the felon, the habitual liar, the one with the foul mouth, and...mind, is going to win..., IF all these in name only democrats keep whining about President Biden. Oh well.... what is new?
I feel the same, Will. What I have found interesting in the commentary on Threads is that many Dems perceive this as an MSM driven campaign to hand the election to Trump a la Hillary’s emails. They think Biden withdrawing equals defeat. Whereas like you I think it’s risky but still the best option.
I think that is a rather insane theory.
Every time I read one of your newsletters, it pays off. How obsessed we should be exactly about the slow-moving/fast-moving trainwreck that’s happening in front of us/in the background MIGHT be the key dilemma of our time! I ask myself this constantly! And I always come back to the same thing: If I set aside what I love to do to instead be an activist, say, would I be able to effect meaningful change? I’m not convinced I would. Because a lot of other people who have devoted their lives to it have not been able to prevent our being in today's situation. (And those kids behind the Sunrise Movement are legends!) Anyway. It helps to know someone else is tortured by the helplessness surely most of us feel right now.
When Nixon left the White House and waved good bye and received a pardon all in short order, my family looked at each other and said " Good we don't need a liar as President." How we got from there to where we are today where If you repeat a lie over and over, people will believe the lie and vote for for that person , that party, is a far cry from the Nixon years. I am older than Joe Biden and I would make a hell of a president. But I would go to bed every night wondering if I was a little less able to keep up the pace and do the right thing tomorrow. I bet Biden feels the same way. America is in a bad place.
Will, yes, a lot of people have tuned out of politics. But think about this, TFG* won the Electoral College not just by getting more votes than Clinton in 2016, but by having more people vote for other candidates (Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Evan MacMullin, combined, totaled nearly six million votes). In Michigan, where I live, Stein got 60,000 votes, Clinton lost the state by a little less than 10,000 votes.
As the Master (Charles P. Pierce), puts it, this will not end well. A reminder of the last time a Democratic President dropped out, we got Nixon. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/what-biden-can-learn-from-lbjs-decision-to-drop-out-in-1968?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_CH_070624&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd680f024c17c104803d5ed&cndid=51220698&hasha=ea7db4466785995e3cded32e5827affc&hashb=b796709ee0e4c4b536f68861399b01f56ffc7bb4&hashc=1c52dd22a4f1fb93cd6b97360cb871b7224408e84930c4f1881b3b9baa1cc4af&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&mbid=CRMVYF092120&source=EDT_VYF_NEWSLETTER_0_COCKTAIL_HOUR_ZZ&utm_campaign=VF_CH_070624&utm_term=VYF_Cocktail_Hour
Is Draft Day really worse than Trouble With The Curve? Because I'm pretty sure I could sit through Draft Day again if I had to.
They're both pretty terrible. I'd argue terrible in very similar ways.
Okay, at 83, I vividly recall Nixon’s decision to step down as president. He was in a box, really. If he didn’t leave members of his own party intended to impeachment him, demand he resign and toss him to the dogs. He would have ended up in prison. And he should have. He left because he stupidly thought that because he was president he could do anything and never be held accountable for it. Sadly, the current Supreme Court would have told him not to stay put. We’ve got your back.
Fast forward to today where an ethical, honorable, fantastic president had a bad debate. He committed no crime. He had a very bad cold and he had a horrible debate against the 34 times convicted felon he is running against. I thought that debate was a very bad idea in the first place because Biden didn’t do well the last time they debated. I think on his worst days , Biden is a better president than Trump could ever hope to be. I personally think he is perfectly capable of doing this job for the next four years. And, I think he can beat Trump if the pundits give the “Biden isn’t fit” stories a rest and let this play out for a week or so. And, good lord Democrats, stop helping Trump come up in the polls by continuing to focus all your negativity on the hero here and give some attention to the real villain, who is a criminal, Donald J Trump. And take a real good look at Mandate 2025 which Trump now claims he’s never heard of but only weeks ago suggested we all read it. Now that should make anyone who would like to see our democracy survive, vote for anyone the Democrats run as president.
One last practical reality to consider is this. If we all get behind Biden, he will win and we will have in place a seasoned, brilliant VP in Kamala Harris. If, God forbid, he were unable to complete his term in office, she is there prepared to take over. Please let’s put the focus back on Trump where it should be. His performance at that debate was beyond bad but did highlight all the reasons he can never be president again. It is historic that a man running for the highest office in the land would utter the words “I did not have sex with a porn star.” in response to a debate question. Let’s put that spotlight back on the monster who would be chief where it belongs. Please.
I definitely agree with the fact that Biden on his worst day is a much better president that Trump ever was and will be. But after the debate, I'm just no longer sure he's going to get that chance after november.
You may be right but I think he may lose not because he can’t do the job but because his own party is abandoning him. I was listening to Michael Moore yesterday and he echoed my thoughts exactly. You’ll notice Trump isn’t saying anything lately, I imagine his advisors have told him to shut up and let the Dems destroy themselves. The Republicans stand behind that crook 100%. Crime, what crime? they say. A few more days of dragging Biden down and Trump may just waltz right to victory and we can look back fondly at the country we once had and couldn’t keep. The tragedy is not Biden, it’s his party. Where is the loyalty?
Enjoyed your thoughts today. I suppose we let November take care of itself, today. We will all get to contribute politically, on a day that month. In the meantime, enjoying and loving our family and friends is a good investment of time. There’s no question you’ve set an example for your family.
Curious about the photo of the dancing red head with person in the wheelchair in motel parking lot. Don’t know why but I love it. Must be from a recent movie review? Guessing it’s not from Horizon-Chapter 1.
It's from KINDS OF KINDNESS. That's Emma Stone!
Wow, I’m old. Nixon resigned one week after my 15th birthday. It was a big deal, although the day he resigned was almost a little anti-climactic. Today’s problems are serious, but our country will survive. We’re on a bad path, both parties are broken, and it will take generations to repair the office of the presidency, but somehow, some way, we will eventually pull together for the greater good. I hope this happens in my lifetime. I don’t see it happening this decade, but I hope I’m wrong about that.
I hope it happens in anyone's lifetimes!