Two weeks ago, I told you all that I was not really tuned into the 2024 presidential election only to write an entire article about it. Well, since it’s the beginning of February, I figured I might as well properly celebrate Groundhog Day and do the same thing again. So here we go.
Much to the disappointment of my parents, I have been fairly checked out of the 2024 presidential election. I already discussed one story regarding the first of the two out-of-touch white guys I find interesting. Now I want to cross the aisle and talk about the other old out-of-touch white guy we are considering re-electing to the most powerful position in the world.
During his campaign, former President Donald Trump was adamant that, if elected, Americans would win so much with him they would get sick of it.
After 4 years of tweets, name-calling, casual attacks of institutional norms and an overall culture of chaos, Trump went into the 2020 as one of the most unpopular incumbents in American history. A lowly approval rating of 43% on election day made something clear: The majority of Americans wanted a change.
In the 2020 campaign, current President Joe Biden presented himself as the antithesis to Trump in every way. Where Trump was chaotic, Biden was calm. Trump had never served in public office prior to the presidency, meanwhile Biden was an experienced Senator and a two-term Vice President. Where Trump spewed election denial, Biden called for faith in the electoral process.
Of what I mentioned above, the final point specifically became one of Biden’s go-to rhetorical tools. The attacks of Jan. 6, combined with lawmakers and political candidates throughout the Republican Party embracing election denial, set the stage perfectly for Biden to uplift himself as a “defender of democracy.”
However, throughout his presidency, Biden’s actions have contradicted his rhetoric regarding democracy frequently.
In 2018, during Trump’s presidency, Washington Post journalist and columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. In response to the murder of one of his citizens by a foreign state, Trump did what international relations experts like to call “absolutely nothing.”
Not only did he refuse to condemn, sanction or punish the Saudi government, but he actually questioned the American intelligence agencies who were telling him that Khashoggi was killed by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In his 2020 campaign, Biden vowed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their crimes and turn them into a pariah state. After assuming office, however, Biden decided not to sanction Saudi Arabia for fear of how it could impact the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
In fact, the United States sells more military equipment to Saudi Arabia than any other country today. In addition, the Biden administration continues to turn a blind eye to the suffering inflicted on the Saudi population by their government and the abuses committed in Yemen.
But it’s not just Saudi Arabia. I’ve talked before about many of the horrors that Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces have brought onto Palestinians both prior to the attacks of Oct. 7 and after. Yet, Biden has stood lock and step with Israel.
He has given them the guns, money and international protection for this assault. Not only has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyu ignored the recent provisional measures announced by the International Court of Justice, but he’s also stated that, in Gaza, “there is no other solution but a complete and final victory,” Given the current death toll, it’s clear that Netanhyu’s victory will come with a lot more dead Palestinians.
Even domestically, Biden endorsed contradictory policies about democracy. Despite professing a love for immigration and disdain toward Trump’s immigration policies, deportations have increased year after year in the Biden administration.
I agree with Biden when he classifies Trump as a threat to democracy. I think Trump is a fundamentally unserious person who I would not trust to walk my own dog, much less be leader of the free world. However, that does not mean Biden is some champion of democracy. He has shown time and again that, if push comes to shove, he will throw his words by the wayside if it serves his administration’s interests.