Paul Cantrell
Wow, feelings about Biden have really reached a fever pitch in my TL.
It’s disheartening. The anti-fascist coalition in the US is so incredibly fragile, and now seems to be coming apart at the seams before the election is even in full gear.
And if we learned one thing from the French elections, it’s that defeating fascism in an election hinges on holding that coalition.
1/
Paul Cantrell
Look, people:
If you think Biden should drop out, I do not think that you personally are an “op.”
If you think Biden should stay in, I do not think that you’re foolish or dooming us all.
I think this candidate selection is •always• fraught, a huge gamble, and our desperate need for certainty, for the future to be OK, is sending our feelings straight to 11 out of 10.
However we hash this moment out, we need to come out the other side shoulder to shoulder.
2/
Paul Cantrell
My personal feelings? I have a lot of concerns about Biden as a candidate, which are largely the same concerns I had back in 2020: the endless gaffes and fumbles, the way support for him seems to crumble under pressure. I underestimated him then, and maybe I am now too.
I’m extremely skeptical of the logistics of switching candidates now — especially given the catastrophic track record of ditching an incumbent for a last-minute replacement at a brokered Democratic convention in Chicago.
3/
Paul Cantrell
If we keep Biden, we’re going to have to face the reality of defending a candidate who’s already saddled with a hostile press narrative and whose his foot is always in his mouth.
If we try to swap, we’re going to have to face the reality of either (1) defending the clear replacement, a Black woman, to a misogynistic anti-Black electorate, or (2) accepting (in all likelihood) a •far• less progressive candidate — yes, really — who’s a wild card.
We have a very tough fight ahead either way.
4/
Paul Cantrell
The one thing here I do have clear feelings about is mistrusting the energy behind this “Biden must go” push. The press is pursuing it with an activist zealotry that suggests to me that the folks in charge of NYT, CNN, etc — who, let’s be clear, are •not• our friends — really, really want this story dominating the news, at the expense of…what? our unity? coverage of the SCOTUS laying out the red carpet for dictatorship?
That press push is coming from •somewhere• with a sinister edge.
5/
Paul Cantrell
I think it’s possible for one to mistrust the national press and its froth-mouthed coverage regardless of whether one thinks Biden should stay or go. And I think it’s possible to hash out diverging opinions about electoral tactics while keeping our eye on our real goal — defeating a terrifying surge of fascism in the US — and staying unified in pursuit of that goal.
Can we do that? I think we can do that. We have to.
/end
Stu
@inthehands it may have been easier in France (and elsewhere, such as the UK) because election cycles are shorter. But here, it's an (increasingly important) election every other year, and talk of the election can dominate for most of the year. It's ridiculous having to keep this energy up for that length of time.
Obviously, the fascists have a leg up here in the form of the Heritage Foundation.
Aaron Sawdey, Ph.D.
@inthehands This has very much the same "we're being railroaded" vibe as the run-up to the 2003 gulf war 😕
Paul Cantrell
@acsawdey
Very much agreed, and that’s something we all can recognize and counteract regardless of our opinion about Biden.
Paul Cantrell
@thias
I had multiple people in my TL predicting with angry confidence that the far right would surge to power in France because Macron would refuse to encourage center voters to vote strategically.
Both parts of that prediction turned out to be wrong.
Matthias Wiesmann
@inthehands One similarity I see with the french situation is the suspicion that one party, or one faction thereof is unwilling to put its own ambitions away for the common good… Left wing candidates sacrificed themselves, those from the center, less…
knowuh
@inthehands what I don’t understand is why we think we can alter the mind of anyone voting MAGA — like do we have to choose a white man because Trump people are vile racist supporters of the patriarchy?
Seems like we should just choose our people without having to compromise our core values.
Paul Cantrell
@knowuh
I’m sympathetic to the •feeling•, but as a •strategic thought•, that is dangerously incorrect. There very much are people on the Trump/Biden fence who are persuadable. They just aren’t the people you’re picturing.
I wrote about one such group here: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/112757554897957243 There are others.
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