by Charles Pierre

In the age of Trump, it is remarkable to think how much the political landscape has changed and will change. When Joe Biden entered the race on April 25th, 2019, he had a commanding lead and huge name recognition. Towering over all the candidates with a whopping 40% -- during this time Bernie Sanders was in second at 14%, and Elizabeth Warren was at meager single digits and for all intents and purposes written off. Biden’s premise being he is the most electable and able to beat Donald Trump, and furthermore, wrapping himself in the mantle of Barack Obama to solidify this position. The media blitz around him and the push by the establishment made him a formidable contender indeed – the empire struck back, for the lack of a better term.

Six months later, which is forever in the age of Donald Trump, the political landscape has taken a markedly different turn. I’m being generous here – three strictly mediocre debate performances, scores and scores of gaffes, embarrassing soundbites, and soft racist ramblings (Black mothers and record players anyone?). Additionally, Vice President Biden recently had a fundraising quarter in which he came in fourth with a meager 15.2 Million haul compared to Sanders and Warren who brought in 25.3 Million and 24.6 Million respectively. Mayor Pete Buttigieg admittedly with worse poll numbers than Vice President Biden, brought in 19.1 Million and is eating up his establishment/moderate lane. Elizabeth Warren has overtaken him in most polls as the front-runner, Bernie Sanders outshines him in fundraising and enthusiasm. 

With the House formally going forward with impeachment, the premise of Joe Biden’s whole campaign is obsolete. He and his campaign claimed he was the most electable and the best candidate to beat Donald Trump – patently not true anymore. Speaking of impeachment which is over the Donald Trumps’ Ukraine phone calls, insisting he get dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in exchange for weapons assistance  – this will become a political liability for Joe Biden, no scratch that, a political nightmare if Joe makes it to the national stage. 

I can hear it now – Donald Trump crowing about draining the swamp vis-a-vie Hunter Biden and crony capitalism going on in Ukraine. Do the democrats really want to be defending why Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who got a 50,000-dollar board member seat at a Ukrainian gas company during the national election? How about Hunter Biden being on the board of a Chinese investment firm. It’s legal and that in itself is problematic, but from a political standpoint it a liability and honestly fair game to question.

Despite the lunatic wingnut bad-faith conspiracies, establishment democrats will essentially be defending the nepotism and the banal corruption of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. In the general election it will become a game of who is worse Trump or Biden, and this is precisely Donald Trump’s home terrain. Donald Trump has been and will continue to hammer Biden non-stop over these unseemly influence-peddling make-work positions for Biden’s son. For all intents and purposes Donald Trump has already started “Lock Him/Her up: Season 2” – which has given him the red meat to rant and rave about to his base (see: The Recent Minnesota Rally). What is even more stunning Joe Biden was by all media accounts, surprised and taken aback by the attacks on Hunter Biden and his family. 

Let’s be clear for a second, nobody’s family should be targeted in a rabid conspiracy campaign by cranks and lunatics but we are dealing with Donald Trump, Fox News, and an industrial strength propaganda machine on the lunatic right. Biden should have been prepared to counter-attack and defend against this. Instead the Biden campaign, and the ex-Vice President himself have been tepid in his response at best and politically inept at worst. The anachronistic third-way school of politics to which Joe Biden adheres, are showing its weakness and ineffectiveness at countering these attacks.

Speaking of third-way politics, Joe Biden is an extraordinarily weak candidate on many issues. Anyone remember he literally disavowed his support for the Hyde Amendment 2019? Women’s rights are under assault full-stop and there is no excuse for supporting the Hyde amendment for this long. The swing-and-a-miss answers on disavowing his praise for segregationists and support for anti-bussing legislation. Vice President Biden bragged and boasted about writing and authoring the Crime Bill in 1994, it was nicknamed ‘Biden’s Bill’ – no excuses, this was a full-on assault on minority communities, especially black communities all in an effort his own right-wing credentials with disastrous results. When you see militarized police with ATVS, swat gear, and high-powered rifles (Think Ferguson) you can thank Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton even humbled himself and apologized for signing this atrocious piece of legislation into law. 

One of the biggest and most dangerous weaknesses that Joe Biden possesses is his full-throated support for the Trans-Pacific partnership or TPP for short. Donald Trump has no core ideology, of course, but the one piece of coherent policy he was able to outline between his word salads was his staunch opposition to TPP. In 2016 Trump was able to honestly hammer Hilary Clinton on this issue to great effect – winning Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin places where manufacturing is key. Trump is no champion of the average worker, but it gave him huge bonafides among the rank-and-file factory worker which put him over the edge. It will be Deja-vu all over again in the 2020 general election Trump will essentially “noun-verb-Joe Biden Supported TPP” until the cows come home. This will be fatal blow to an already weak candidate that is leaking oil day by day.

Honestly, I can go on about why Joe Biden should drop out the primary race. What I will conclude with however is that between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, we have the most progressive platform we have had in my lifetime. The Overton window has shifted in the party, people want actual change, and Joe Biden is the antithesis of change – metaphorically and literally; he told donors that ‘nothing will fundamentally change’. This is an astonishing statement considering minorities, women, the climate, LGBTQ, immigrants, working class families are under full-frontal assault from all sorts of malevolent forces. Everybody from corporate thuggery to lunatic white supremacists – to which Trump lends moral support. We need a fighter and outsider – not business as usual.