Howdy,
Well, it’s official: it will be President Biden versus former President Donald Trump. Gulp. Despite most Americans chaffing at this grudge match, here we are all over again.
At The Bulwark, my colleagues are trading collegial blows on whether Biden should drop out of the race. Considering he’s down 5 points in recent polling, this isn’t just some West-Wing fantasy. It’s a live question. I’m not a political analyst, but I still think Biden should drop out.
I could be wrong (see yesterday’s post), so I encourage you to read JVL’s recent article about it and AB Stoddard’s trenchant analysis from last year. Both make great points. It’s a toss-up, to be sure.
However, he won’t drop out, so I’m ready to move on (unless Biden is reading this, in which case, please move aside).
Last night, I fell into a momentary depression as Trump swept Super Tuesday. (Except Vermont! Hell yeah, baby! Nikki took Vermont and DC, both longtime conservative bastions!) As the lovely Charity can attest, I was not in a great mood.
That funk lasted throughout this morning. For all of Nikki’s problems, she would’ve crushed Biden. And as a pre-Trump/Never Trump conservative, she was my last best hope. It’s sad to watch an institution you cared about get pummeled by someone you despise.
But being a depressed little baby does nobody any good.
After an excruciating workout, my mood bounced back. Instead of complaining, I started brainstorming ways to help Biden (gulp) win the election. I’ll never forgive him for Afghanistan, but he’s pro-NATO/pro-Israel and doesn’t think an election should be stolen. That’s an admittedly low bar in 2024, but alas, here we are.
So, I decided to do something I never thought I’d ever do: I signed up to volunteer for the Johnson County Democratic Party. I figured I could help them persuade fence sitters like myself.
Throughout my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, I made alliances with some odious people and some really incredible Afghans from whom I learned a lot. Whether that will happen with this latest quixotic quest remains to be seen, but I’m confident I will take something out of the experience.
I, like Robert Kagan (who is no liberal bedwetter), believe that Trump is an existential threat to the country and the liberal international order that our forefathers bled for at Normandy, Iwo Jima, and throughout the Cold War. So, I cannot in good conscience sit idly by and write anti-Trump missives. I must be a man in the arena. There’s too much at stake.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be a losing fight. But if all that we fought for since World War II should come to an end, then I want my daughter to know that her father went down swinging.
I’m an Iraq and Afghan combat veteran. I’m used to fighting for hopeless causes.
Until next time.
“I’m an Iraq and Afghan combat veteran. I’m used to fighting for hopeless causes.”
That’s the spirit right there haha ❤️👍
Thank you Will for stepping up to help save democracy. I really wish we have two healthy parties to choose from. But I am willing to put up with some of the nonsense by the Dems and hope we keep democracy alive long enough for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to come up with a viable alternative in the future (maybe a distant one unfortunately).