To wit:
This is roughly the same dynamic that happens when there’s, say, a family abuser, and the spouse of the abuser gets much more vitriol for not protecting the kids than the actual, you know, abuser.
Why?
Because the spouse, unlike the abuser, knows better, and CAN change, whereas the abuser won’t respond to calls for empathy or reason; and therefore, there’s no use addressing the abuser at all anymore. Right?
Also see: tell women how to protect themselves from rape, don’t bother with campaigns against the rapists, because, like inclement weather, rapists are impervious to change or even influence. And are inevitable.
So. Over 9000 calls for Biden to drop out of the race. Very few mentions on a front page of *oh yeah and also the other guy is a malevolent fuckface who has springs coming out his head and is going to get us all fucking killed.*
Oh, why, because that part’s a given and therefore not worth mentioning again? Because we have to be more ruthlessly honest and soul searching about our own failings or whatever the fuck?
I’m calling bullshit.
I think this is part of an insidious process that happens in abuse. You start internalizing the abuser’s narrative. The truth doesn’t matter! Strength, or the appearance of it, is all that matters! And of course the abuser deserves special treatment. Why? Because the abuser is REALLY FUCKING CONFIDENT that he deserves special treatment.
Sooner or later, even people who swear they know better, they give it to him anyway.
I don’t claim to know whether Sulzberger of the NYT is genuinely in the tank for Trump or is butthurt over the lack of Biden interviews or what. I can’t speak for any individual here. Especially not media oligarchs. But no one else here running around like Chicken Little either.
All I know is what this feels like:
Familiar.
“It’s not what *I* think, it’s what *they* think.” Yeah? Did we even wait for what “they” (in this case, the unicorn herd of swing voters) actually think?
Contorting oneself into a more pleasing shape reflexively, even BEFORE the blow comes: also a hallmark indicating that the abuse is working.
Also not. Fucking. Helpful.
“I don’t know who needs to hear it, but.” Truly, I don’t. Maybe my Boomer dad, who declared with rock solid certainty that Biden would not win re election and our only chance was him dropping out.
One of dad’s earlier takes: Biden should shitcan Harris and pick Liz Cheney for VP.
Mostly, I suppose, I’m talking to myself. Yeah, I’d had a narrative going that Biden would dance on an enfeebled Trump like Grandpa Joe with the Golden Ticket, the polls would shoot in his favor, and we’d begin to climb out of the woods.
Truth? Even if he had performed like we’d all hoped, I’m not actually sure the needle would have moved that much.
It’s not clear it’s moving much now. Yet, anyway.
So yeah, it’s bad. It’s BEEN bad, and has been for a long time. No shit.
Can we at least all take a breath and agree to put the blame where it belongs?
I don’t love all of Biden’s policies. But I’m not going to spend more time getting worked up over him being old than I am over, you know. Actual fascism.