Not to Play
We learned a new “phrase” in the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Republican Party spent decades making Clinton look bad (including seven million of taxpayer dollars on the multiple “Benghazi” hearings in the House of Representatives). And Donald Trump was the candidate of division from the moment he came down the “Golden Escalator” in Trump Tower. Both of their “negative” ratings were underwater (over 50%), and yet they were the two candidates we had to choose from. It was a “binary choice”. To take a phrase from the early 1980’s Matthew Broderick movie, War Games, the only other choice was “Not to play”.
We all know the outcome of that election.
Covid
Joe Biden was a failed Presidential candidate in 2008, but the perfect match to a relatively young and inexperienced Senator Barack Obama. After eight years as Vice President, 2016 should have been Biden’s “turn”. The ultimate tragedy, the death of Biden’s oldest son in 2015, made it emotionally impossible for the Vice President to run for the top office. With Hillary’s loss, it looked like both Clinton’s and Biden’s political careers were over.
But America had never experienced a President like Donald Trump. In 2020 to many; especially after the disaster of Covid response; Trump represented an existential threat to the American Democracy. For the same reasons that Biden was the perfect choice for Obama’s Vice President; experience, stability, foreign policy expertise; Biden was the now the perfect choice against the “bull in a China shop” Trump. It was, again, a binary choice. And as the results show (the largest election vote ever), few chose “Not to play”.
It’s now 2024 (so fast, is this what happens when you get old??). There is a collective hole in America’s memory, a hole we label simply as Covid. We don’t remember what we did, what we missed, what we lost. There are folks that just disappeared. Even today, I hear, “What happened to old so and so”. We have little memory of their passing. When I look back, it’s hard to remember the “toilet paper” lines, the literal battles in the grocery store for the last can of “something” (even here in Pataskala), the cheap gas because there was nowhere to go. Are we better today than we were four years ago? Of course – IF – we really remember what we were doing four years ago.
Spring Chickens
No one, really, no one, wants two octogenarians running for the Presidency of the United States. On energy, blood pressure, slurred words and stumbled stairs alone; Americans are rightly concerned. We thought Reagan was old, elected President at seventy. Looking back, he still wasn’t a “spring chicken”, but definitely not a “stewing hen” either (until the Alzheimer’s crept in).
But it is what it is. We have a binary choice, again. To vote against “old”, you either have to throw your vote away on a seventy-year-old, worm-eaten (his words, not mine) Bobby Kennedy, or choose “not to play”. But it’s not just a binary choice between two (too?) old men. It’s also a black and white choice on multiple issues.
Rights
Stop the Steal: a vote for Trump is a vote in favor of voter suppression. His Supreme Court is already eviscerating the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The six conservative Justices, led by the Chief John Roberts, somehow believe that discrimination is “over” in America. In our increasingly minority-majority nation, the notion of “white power” is real. Many states (including Ohio) are doing whatever they can to make voting harder, actions which impact lower economic and minority communities more. The whole point: maintain power, in the state legislatures and in the National government. As the Nation approaches the time when whites are no longer the majority (around 2040) the pressure of some to keep power will only grow greater. And who represents them best: Donald Trump.
Abortion: a vote for Trump is a vote for banning abortion nationwide, regardless of the reason. It’s really that simple. Trump can say whatever he wants right now, but the seminal “deal” of his political career is his deal with the Christian-right, an agreement based mostly on ending the right of women to make their own choices for their own bodies. That agreement alone allows “Christians” to accept a morally bankrupt candidate as their “imperfect vessel”. It’s not just three Supreme Court Justices (and young replacements for two if Trump is elected). It’s all of the other “wedge issues” that come with it; LGBTQ rights and the whole other litany of alphabetical issues: DEI, CRT to name two.
Foreign Policy
Ukraine: a vote for Trump is a vote for Russian victory in Ukraine. It’s not only about Trump’s known affinity for Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin. Among other traits, Trump is known for getting “revenge” (“I am your retribution”). Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy failed to “play ball” with Trump against Biden in 2019; if Trump is elected his “retribution” will result in the Russian conquest of the nation. And what is the outcome of that? Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania all are on the block, with Poland right behind. Putin’s appetite to rebuild the Soviet Union really has no bounds.
Israel and Palestine: a vote for Trump is a vote to suppress Palestinians. And that might sound “OK”, but it also means that Palestinians will use the only remaining outlet available to them, terrorism. It’s how this all started in the first place, in the 1970’s. The only solution is to somehow give Palestinians an opportunity to have their own nation, a real nation with real sovereignty (not the occupied West Bank). But getting Israel to do that will require political change in their government, and Trump is massively allied with the current regime. It’s not a coincidence that Benjamin Netanyahu is Jared Kushner’s godfather.
Retribution
Democracy: Maya Angelou said it best, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”. Trump, and his notorious advisory staff, have made it clear what they will do on gaining office in 2025. It’s what they wanted to do in 2017 with the first flurry of executive orders (remember the Muslim Ban?). They didn’t understand how to get things done then, but they’ve had eight years to get better at it. Once Bannon’s pardoned, and with Steven Miller back in the saddle, the Justice Department will be the “Department of Retribution”.
Sure there are lots of good reasons to vote FOR Joe Biden. But in the end, it’s a binary choice, one that’s even made if you choose “Not to play”. In fact, that entire quote is:
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?”
But, to be clear, not choosing is not a “winning move”. It simply means abandoning personal responsibility to help govern America. And, if you don’t care, you deserve what you get.
