Eric Swalwell and Joe Biden. Will Democratic Party tops be looking at somebody like him?
The most recent polls must be very worrying to the Democrats. They show that 58% of “Democratic leaning” voters (an absolutely key demographic) want somebody other than Biden as the Democratic nominee and Biden’s approval rating is down to a new low of 36%. Key is that only 32% of voters say they’d vote for Biden in a rematch with Trump while 36% say they’d vote for Trump. In other words, there is no enthusiasm for either one. It would be surprising to me if some of the Democratic Party tops aren’t talking about another candidate. Who could that be? I “nominate”….. Eric Swalwell. Look at him. He’s got the single most important quality: A good head of hair! (Biden’s head of hair is only barely decent due to hair implants years ago.) Overall, he’s good enough looking to have been the local high school quarterback, but doesn’t have the striking Tom Cruise looks that would mean he isn’t taken seriously. Swalwell also has the youth factor, and he can string several sentences together. Finally, he must be reliable (to the capitalist class) since he’s on the House Intelligence Committee. In 2008, an attractive, young and new face came out of nowhere to “steal” the nomination from Hillary Clinton. Can it happen again?
Categories: United States
True enough, there is no real enthusiasm for Biden. It’s hard to imagine thousands of militant & armed Biden supporters storming the capitol and trying to overthrow bourgeois democracy because Biden lost the election. Clearly, that can’t be said about hardcore Trump supporters. They may be 30% or less, but they are extremely “enthusiastic” about Trump, his misogyny and promotion of white supremacy. They are also willing to abrogate the will of the voters because, in their eyes, too many of those voters are people of color. They are so supportive of this resurgence of white supremacy that they are willing to buy into the most outlandish conspiracy theories to further the GOP’s movement towards fascist rule.
When you ignore the fact that one of the two major capitalists parties has turned decisively anti-democratic in an attempt to establish minority white rule in the US, by claiming both Biden and Trump’s low popularity both represent “no enthusiasm” you paper over the real danger represented by Trump’s ~30% who are very enthusiastic about the reactionary attacks on bourgeois democracy.
It’s already clear that whether the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate is Trump or someone else, it will be a party and candidate that stands for an overthrow of bourgeois democracy in favor of authoritarian rule, and the furtherance of white supremacy. And many will be very enthusiastic about that—think Proud Boys & Oathkeepers, not to mention the epidemic of racist killers that are increasing plaguing us—and this will greatly increase in the wake of any 2024 GOP victory. Attempts to paint both sides as equal, including the notion that both sides are equally unenthusiastic, serves only the GOP in the up coming election. I sincerely hope the “Left” doesn’t make the same mistake again, and help the fascist-minded white supremacist against the bourgeois democrats.
My comments were partly tongue in cheek. Among the hard core supporters of each party, I agree there is an enthusiasm gap – the Republican voters are far more enthusiastic than are their Democratic counterparts… and for all the wrong reasons! In the general public, the non-aligned voters, there is little enthusiasm for either candidate. I hope that you recognize that I am complete agreement with you, Clay, as far as your assessment of the Republican Party and the huge mistake of seeing them and the Democrats as more or less the same. I’ve been making that clear for some time now.
The main issue as far as the Democrats is that they cannot be counted on to stop MAGA. That was my point, made tongue in cheek, about Swalwell and Biden. But of course, that does not mean we shouldn’t vote for Biden or whoever runs against the MAGA candidate. It just means that we have to organize independently from them.
More than likely the next president will be a republican. You can’t keep asking people to hold their nose and vote blue and not give them anything meaningful in return. Crying fascist or fascism is coming isn’t going to work this time neither. It’s been used so much that if a real fascist formation similar to Golden Dawn of Greece or something akin to National Rally of France would appear and gain steam most folks would be like meh. John, any thoughts on RFK, Jr.?
If I had to make a bet on who was going to get elected in 2024, I’d bet one penny. I think it’s impossible to know since there are so many factors. If the economy collapses, it’s the norm to blame the president. On the other hand, the anti-“woke” politics of Trump & DeSantis is overwhelmingly unpopular with those 30 and under and they are turning out in increasing numbers. But then, as I’ve said before, I think the Republicans must be planning on ways to outright steal the election. So who knows?
No, fascism is not at the doorstep, but the Proud Boys, America First, the Constitutional Sheriffs and similar types have the support of the likes of Greene, Gaetz and others.
As for RFK, Jr.: It’s symptomatic of the enormous confusions plus the weakness of Biden that he’s actually getting some traction. On the one hand, he’s a covid conspiracist. On the other, he’s in effect running interference for Putin. His support stems from both the “Kennedy” name plus the lack of support for Biden. But I must say this: A lot of the lack of support for Biden stems from his age combined with the fact that he’s still something of a stutterer. That makes him seem out of it mentally. As far as what he’s “delivered”: He’s barely had a majority in the senate ever since he came in. And that’s being charitable, if you want to call Manchin and Synema Democrats! Nor should we forget that the majority of US voters are very middle of the road and they want to see the two parties try to “work together”, which is Biden’s fixation.