Let me put this as clearly as I can.
Elected Democrats are about to lose the election in June.
The electoral instinct that leads Democrats to think they can throw their party leader under the bus, undermine the party’s platform, and trash legislative victories will somehow save them personally is absolutely crazy. And to put themselves before democracy is unforgivable.
Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine
After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee. Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise. It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.
Some of Congress’ best work in recent years has happened in spite of the president, not because of him. A handful of responsible Democrats, including myself and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, rejected Biden’s bloated “Build Back Better” bill and instead passed a law that supercharged American energy production, saved Medicare billions of dollars and reduced the deficit. Years earlier, Congress stood up to the GOP establishment who tried to hijack Trump’s agenda to achieve their long-held goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Defeating them saved health coverage for tens of millions of Americans and protections for people with preexisting conditions.
Any person that writes “democracy will survive Donald Trump” clearly hasn’t been paying attention. Anyone that celebrates Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema, should not be someone supported by Democrats in future elections. It is a precursor of things to come. With party switching from those two, and in states, my immediate thought is Golden is preparing for a party switch. That has to be the presumption.
Maybe that isn’t what he meant, but the stakes are too high for Democratic voters to give people like Golden the benefit of the doubt.
In addition, making it clear you won’t appear with the President doesn’t do anything but create more noise and distrust with swing voters.
Baldwin Won't Campaign With Biden in Wisconsin as Vulnerable Dems Back Away From President
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) won't campaign with President Joe Biden when he visits Wisconsin on Friday, the latest example of vulnerable Democratic candidates distancing themselves from the president.
You can not unhitch your wagon from the President and then think that is going to somehow give you an invisibility cloak is delusional.
This is less of an issue, but an issue nonetheless. It is a smaller microcosm of the much bigger issue Jared Golden’s op ed represents.
Democrats as a party are reinforcing to voters the stereotype of weakness. The impression that they have no spine. And most importantly, they won’t stand up for their leader, which translates into lack of conviction in voters minds, makes voters wonder what they really stand for, and if they will cut and run on citizens when the going gets tough. We went through this in 2009 with Obamacare and clearly Democrats didn’t learn their lesson. My only question is whether it is incompetence or intentional.
Jared Golden thinks he can run op eds in his local paper, and no one will notice. It is beyond critical to make sure he knows we hear him and we notice that he doesn’t support the Democratic Party nor the Democratic Party platform (which BBB was heavily based on). If Democrats don’t create consequences for representatives that reinforce Republican talking points, making it more difficult to win, it will be impossible to win the supermajorities that will eventually be needed to save Democracy.
Trying to avoid confronting the obvious turns into permission structures for the next Manchin/Sinema, the next Tricia Cotham in NC. No one says folks like Golden have to vote for legislation they disagree with, but undermining the party leader and party message while all but supporting the opposition message and giving permission to vote for Trump is something no congressperson should be able to come back from.
When the stakes are clear, when the threat posed by the GOP and Trump is clear, Democrats should be clear that the person is part of the threat, not the solution. And Democrats need to begin thinking about an alternate path forward.
If were in Maine or Wisconsin, I would write both Golden or Baldwin and tell them I follow Maya Angelou’s mantra with my money and my votes, when someone tells me who they are, I believe them and would not support them in an post 2024 election.
Rep. Golden/Sen. Baldwin- I believe you.