Biden’s last service

Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the re-election campaign once again turns the race for the White House into an open competition. Biden has been a good president and he was able to stop Donald Trump in 2020, but he was no longer, in his current state of health, in a position to repeat such efforts. His timely exit as a candidate, along with the fulfillment of his presidential duties until he is replaced on January 20, will be his last service to the country and, above all, to democracy. To the domestic economic improvement under his tenure we must add the recovery of Washington’s leadership as an ally, his commitment to Ukraine, and his efforts — although unsuccessful — to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, while avoiding dangerous escalations with Russia and Iran.

His candidacy had become unsustainable, especially after the failed assassination attempt against Trump, used by the Republican candidate to soften his most aggressive side after getting exonerated from his multiple judicial processes as the first former president to be found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, not to mention his serious interference in the electoral process. A new Trump presidency, protected by the inexplicable decisions and delays of judges appointed by himself, is an effective threat to the democratic system that only the vote of citizens can stop. His brutal and ruthless response to the announcement of Biden’s withdrawal — in contrast to Democrats’ respect after the attack he suffered — demonstrates that his appeal for unity at the Republican convention was only a mirage.

After the last month and a half, the Democratic Party was forced to find the formula to reach the polls in a fighting position to win congressional majorities and the presidency. The procedure for the nomination of whoever replaces Joe Biden as presidential candidate is not easy, coming as it does just three months before the election and just a few weeks before the Democratic convention. Biden has already endorsed Kamala Harris, but the party structure must organize the procedure and the appointment of the vice presidential candidate in the most appropriate way in order to maintain party unity, ensure that the support of delegates and donors is maintained, and reach the last stretch of the campaign in a position to defeat Trump. The latter’s own glaring weaknesses will re-emerge, now that the debate over the president’s age and health is over. Many of the difficulties attributed to Biden also apply to Trump, who is only three years younger and whose capacity for oratorical rambling is far superior to his rival’s.

Biden’s withdrawal from the race should therefore act as a stimulus for the depressed Democratic camp and for the liberal democracies allied with the United States who are fearful of a new Trump presidency. If his first term in office became an empire of chaos and incoherence, the possibility of a second presidency with full Trumpist control of the Republican Party leaves little room for doubt regarding the meaning of a new victory. An isolationist and protectionist era would begin, marked by the concentration of powers in the hands of a president protected by monarchical immunity and and imbalance in the system’s checks and balances, with a Supreme Court dominated by the most reactionary judges of the last century who are willing to reverse all the achievements of the last 50 years in equality and social well-being. It is at least a relief that the Democrats do not consider the fight lost before it even begins.

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