Election season 2024 has been an epic shit show that’s been for me a roller-coaster of stress, sadness, doom, anger and disappointment. Today’s solemn news of Joe Biden stepping aside and endorsing Kamala Harris however allows me to add hope to that list.
In late November of 2020 my now husband and I were eating breakfast at a local restaurant when the announcement that Joe Biden had officially been named the winner of that election came over the televisions. We both looked at each other as tears welled up our eyes. The Trump nightmare was finally going to be over. It was spiritual load off like no other.
So We Thought
Fast forward to now, we’re back in front of the double barrel of a Trump machine that is today more powerful than ever. A full blown cult of personality, the man and his army of angry white men are poised to take the country back and take us all backwards into the dark ages of social policy among other things.
Worse, there are no longer any guard rails keeping him from going full throttle. There’s nobody to stop him – not a man, not a law, not a court. He’s promised a strong man dictatorship, revenge to his enemies, dismantling of the constitution and reversing more social protections than I can name. These are things he himself has said, not my opinions or what “fake news” has made up.
A second Trump presidency will be defined by Project 2025. The latest wet dream of the Moral Majority and Religious Right we fought against in the 70s and 80s, this manifesto written and designed by the Trump empowered zealots of Christian Nationalism is a framework to roll back countless rights and freedoms for minorities and LGBTQ+ people. It seeks to exact vengeance against “woke thought” through laws to punish and prosecute those who don’t fall in line with the new social orders.
Then there is the Supreme Court which used to be our last line of defense as a people to stop the moves and machinations of an over reaching legislative or executive branch. That’s all but gone as a result of the first Trump Presidency. If he is re elected you can only expect with his new appointments the court to become even more fortified against progress, fairness, and accountability.
It’s Got To Be Stopped
I supported Joe Biden. I love the good man he is and given the gridlock he’s worked within I’m happy with the record he’s accomplished. Did we get everything we hoped for? No. But if you’ve followed politics long enough and are realistic, you know that we never do. It’s impossible.
It’s however become sadly apparent this year and to a head at the Presidential Debate in June that Joe Biden’s age and acuity has come to a point where he is no longer the candidate who can win – even against a unspeakably flawed Trump. It’s not about record, policy, ability, or character.
It’s about the independent and the low information voters. The latter term I hesitate to use, but the fact is there are a large majority of voters who base their decisions on emotions, memes, what their friends all say and what they hear in news bites. Right or wrong, they will never vote for the Joe Biden they saw in the debate no matter how bad Trump is.
The polls back this up and most realistic people agree in their heart of hearts. It’s a sad fact and honestly makes me worry as a human being that I am surrounded by this many people who would sooner vote for a convicted felon who has promised to be a dictator than an honorable man no matter how age declined. It’s the reality we face.
Where To Go Now
Joe Biden has officially announced he is ending his campaign for President and has endorsed Kamala Harris to succeed him. I had a good cry, let out some grief and sadness. Time to move on and do what needs to be done.
Kamala Harris represents a powerful wildcard thrown into the current deck which has honestly been stacked against us. She is the tough sharp and focused prosecutor. Trump is the aging and overconfident felon. This is a match up made in heaven if you think about it.
She represents a younger, more powerful personality and a character that can win over the younger and disillusioned, the apathetic and jaded, and get the party loyalists already in camp to sit up and come out to vote. Kamala can win the trust of women and their allies in an age where reproductive rights are in peril. She’s unquestionably got our back as LGBTQ+ people.
She Has The Power, She Has Us
If we want to stop the Trump machine we have a long way to go and a short time to get there. Our task at hand now is to unify forthwith and vote Democrat in November no matter what.
We have to start by doing whatever we can to support a quick and speedy trial for Kamala Harris to become the nominee. There will be a few bumps in the way we have to watch for, a few sticks in the mud. Count on it. The larger consensus is however that she will be our ballots come this November. The good news is we have a new chance at winning this. There’s a damn good chance of winning this now. We have hope and a mandate.
As LGBTQ+ people we must rise to this occasion to be an army of support for Kamala Harris or whomever the nominee becomes.
We must donate as much as we can. We must become activists like we’ve never done before. We must step out of our comfortable chairs and volunteer however we can and we need to do it now. This mandate for our survival and way of life is as consequential today as the gay civil rights era of the 70s and the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s were.
As I write this, the Kamala Harris campaign is still in its infancy. There are today her social media platforms on X (Twitter), Instagram, Threads, Facebook and more. Donation links are already being posted on these platforms.
Vote Like Your Life Depends On it
Maybe you’re butt hurt over Joe Biden being pressured to quit. Maybe Kamala Harris isn’t your favorite candidate. Maybe her VP running mate might not be all that. Maybe you’re just done with all this and want to forget about it.
To paraphrase something Race Bannon said recently, “a vote is not a love letter it’s a chess move.“
We can win this! Vote. Get your friends and family to vote. Drive them there, help them. Change their minds. It’s time we turn the tables and use our inherent power of good, love, and compassion to be the Moral Majority for change. Who would of thunk it?
Smoker of fine tires, eater of natural foods, connoisseur of aromatic leathers, pusher of limits.