You Actually Think You're 'Saving Democracy'?

The Guardian puzzles over US politics again...

Try as we might, we could not close the deal at every door. I still think regularly about a Bucks County man I met in the fall of 2024 who told me that he could not imagine his state supporting Donald Trump, but he refused to cast a vote for Kamala Harris. I wish I had done more to convince him to hold strong for democracy.

He was 'holding strong for democracy', though - he just wasn't prepared to listen to some stranger who wanted him to change his vote. 

Does the door-to-door approach still work when Republicans are successfully using digital strategies that seem to bypass the doorbell entirely? Free votes is a cornerstone of democracy.

It's a credit to the political situation that you are allowed to canvass, but it's pointless crying 'foul!' when people use technology to avoid you... 

Those questions feel valid, particularly in a country where so many have fallen prey to the lures of Trumpian authoritarianism.

Of course, they’ve been ‘lured’, it can’t possibly be because they weighed up the alternative and found it wanting… 

For those of us who have been feeling unmoored by the state of the country and the future of US democracy, those doors are where our ideals meet unforgiving reality. If we want to build a better future, we will have to do it right here, surrounded by unfriendly dogs and intrusive Ring doorbell cameras.

The only legitimate  reason to own a pitbull, to keep people like this away!

I Hope I'm Not Counting Chickens...

...but I have everything crossed that Trump silences that damned cackle for good! 

Oh dear, it's like Brexit all over again for the left-wing press. All of them are in 'I don't understand! Nobody I know voted for Nixon!' mode.

If 'Kamala Harris' Is The Answer, You're Surely Asking The Wrong Question...

Yikes, Mehdi! 

I was an outspoken critic of her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, earning the ire both of her then spokesperson and also the notorious “KHive” of terminally online Harris fans. Nor did I shed any tears when her campaign turned out to be a disaster and she ended up withdrawing from the race before a single vote had been cast in the primaries. So it is with some surprise, reluctance and even trepidation that I am now writing these words: Joe Biden should stand aside and endorse Kamala Harris as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

So what changed your mind? 

First, some facts about Joe Biden. The president was trailing Donald Trump in the polls before last week’s debate – and he is still trailing Donald Trump after the debate. The president was old before the debate – and he is even older after the debate. He, of course, continues to get older with every passing day. On Sunday, a CBS News poll found a whopping 72% of voters say Biden does not have the “mental and cognitive health” to serve as president. Almost half of Democrats say they want the Democratic presidential nominee to step aside. So I won’t waste time making the case for why Biden shouldn’t be running for re-election.

You don't really need to, he's making it all on his own!  

You might not want to believe it, and lazy pundits may say otherwise, but the polling is pretty clear these days: Harris actually has a better chance than Biden of beating Trump.

There's the triumph of hope over expectation!