When the history books are written Donald Trump will go down as a historic failure. Trump’s incompetence in managing the pandemic has lead to the deaths of over 250,000 Americans and a debilitating economic recession. The country has lost nearly 5 million jobs since Donald Trump took office and there has been little if any relief provided to the public. Trump will also leave behind a legacy of historic corruption, joining only 3 other Presidents in being impeached for attempting to bribe a foreign country to investigate his political opponent. Lastly, Donald Trump is in the process of becoming the first Presidential Candidate in American history to refuse to concede. A truly shameful distinction.
In 100 years when children are reading about the legacy of Donald Trump they will read about it as an aberration. Yet, it did not have to be this way. Donald Trump came within striking distance of being re-elected. Trump could have become a two term President and defined America for a generation. He could have gone down as a Conservative hero in the mold of Ronald Reagan. Instead, he will simply be another failed one term President sandwiched between Obama’s two terms and his Vice President.
In order, to defeat Donald Trump, we needed the right candidate for the moment. Joe Biden was that candidate. In my lifetime, I have noticed in American politics that we often select a President based on the opposite qualities of his predecessor. After the scandals of the Clinton years, America elected a straight edge “Christian” man like George W. Bush. After the stupidity and incompetence of the Bush Administration, the U.S. selected the articulateness and intelligence of Barack Obama. And after the perceived “liberal elitism” of Obama, Middle America harnessed this backlash against the political establishment into Donald Trump.
Similarly, after the chaos and petulance of Donald Trump the country needed the calmness and compassion of Joe Biden. Biden does not really fit the part of Candidate of the Democratic Party in 2020. He is an old white man in a growing diverse party, he has a history of “moderate” policy positions and he has a penchant for gaffes.
However, Joe Biden has an increasingly rare quality in American politics. He has the ability to understand people and their concerns. After working for the Hillary Clinton Campaign in Ohio in 2016, I quickly realized that this was the ability we needed in a Democratic nominee. Was the perception of many in being able to “connect with working class white voters” in part based on sexism or racism? I’m sure it was. However, two much was at stake and Trump’s Presidency was far too great of a risk to take chances.
I have been supporting Joe Biden for President since 2017 because he had this quality. The ability to understand and connect with regular people. Joe Biden never went to an Ivy League school. He was the poorest member of Congress for most of his life. He’s a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania the heart of where we lost the voters we needed to get back.
For this reason, I did not believe any of the other Democratic candidates could defeat Donald Trump. Defeating an incumbent President is a very difficult propositions and one that had not been accomplished in nearly 30 years. Ousting a President with the love and enthusiasm Trump’s supporters had for him made it all the more difficult. The only other Democratic candidate I saw that could truly “connect” with these voters was Bernie Sanders. Yet, I know Bernie’s association with socialism would bleed college educated white voters in states like Arizona, Georgia and even Pennsylvania. Biden was the only one who could marry the two.
The coronavirus pandemic, amplified all of Joe Biden’s best qualities and Donald Trump’s worst. Most Presidents have to deal with a major crisis at some point in their term. Bush dealt with the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Obama handled the Great Recession. Trump’s main challenge was always the pandemic. Yet, the candidate of chaos downplayed the virus’s effects, insisted it would end in weeks and consistently held super spreader events. This culminated in Trump contracting the virus himself.
Contrast this with Joe Biden, who was more equipped to talk about death than any other politician. Biden had lost his wife and daughter to a car accident mere weeks after getting elected to the Senate. He also lost his son Beau to cancer a few years ago. Biden’s history of anguish was his greatest strength. He was able to talk to the families of the 200,000 dead Americans and the rest who feared a similar fate.
Joe Biden was everything that we missed in a President. He knew how to express sympathy. He knew how to talk to the American people in times of sorrow. He knew how to calm tensions. He was able to go a week without sending a petty Tweet attacking someone or spreading a conspiracy. These qualities were what made Joe Biden meet the moment. These qualities are what defeated Donald Trump and made Joe Biden President.
