The Power is the People — Yearning to Breathe Free
. . . of the Trumped-up Politics of Fear and Loathing
The Republican National Committee (RNC) put out a video response to the Biden/Harris announcement of their campaign for re-election with the overarching theme of Biden as the “weakest president ever.” It uses AI to create raw, dark, comic book-like menacing images of Biden and of a number of apocalyptic scenarios. Watch it here. The video is a signal about the Republican playbook for the presidential campaign to come. It’s all about the politics of fear and about building on Trump’s success in feeding and propagating fear. It works to sell the necessity of his (or DeSantis’s, et al) “Strongman” approach to leadership and governance.
Unfortunately, this politics of fear remains alive and well with tens of millions of American voters.
The Republicans are likely to stay focused and double-down on this theme, and for good reason. There will inevitably be new domestic and international developments and “crises” over the next 18 months that will serve to underscore, if not confirm, Trump’s and the Republican Party’s claims that we should all be afraid --VERY afraid!
They will inevitably find and conjure both domestic weakness in policing black, brown, and any number of other “undesirables“ and “deviants” (emasculating queer and Trans people, liberal pedophiles, etc. etc.) at or inside our borders; and
They will likely also find and conjure fearful developments and crises in foreign affairs vis a vis, China, Russia, and so many other existing and potential hot spots and issues around the world.
And does anyone else hear in this initial video salvo an echo of Trump’s “Russia, are you listening?” approach to enlisting foreign aid for his campaign?
It seems clear that the RNC is signaling to authoritarian allies around the globe that the Big Ask is still open and that the development or creation of threatening, fearful circumstances or acts globally or domestically would be very much appreciated — and of course eventually rewarded by Trump or whoever becomes the Republican nominee.
All of this adds up to portents of an unfortunately grim electoral season of Republican fear-mongering, which we know will play well to the MAGA base.
Can Fear and Loathing Prevail? It Depends
A big question is: will this approach be compelling enough to sway “swing” voters — especially in the contentious battleground states? By itself, the odds seem to be against this. There are a lot of signals, from the 2022 midterm results to mounting opposition to anti-abortion extremism, that “middle America” is losing tolerance and patience for extremist politics.
But, add-in some serious foreign and/or domestic policy crises, then popular sentiment could rise for a muscular “strongman” form of governance. The autocrat’s argument can be deceptively appealing because it is so simple: “When I’m in charge I will do what has to be done. And with your support, no one can stop me.”
It seems to have swayed many tens of millions of Americans.
So, what are Biden, the Democratic Party, and other pro-democracy allies doing to counter this narrative and its potential impact on the electorate?
An Unfinished Job
Worryingly, in the battle for hearts and minds, Biden and the Democratic Party have yet to find their focus. And, unfortunately, the Biden/Harris re-election announcement video illustrates this. You can watch it here.
The video launches with the assertion that nothing is more important to Americans than individual freedom and that protecting and championing such freedom is what the Biden presidency has been about. Then he reiterates the message of his first campaign — that he’s “Fighting for the soul of America.” And finally, he adds the closing mantra, “Let’s finish the Job.” The main impressions I get from the announcement are:
The democratic version of fear-mongering: utilizing mostly clips of the January 6th insurrectionists and of assaults on women’s freedom to control their reproductive health decisions to suggest (accurately, of course) that there are essentially “forces” (never identified as Republicans, let alone domestic plutocrats and other authoritarians) in America determined to reduce a lot of people’s freedoms;
A panoply of essentially civil-rights focused stills showing Biden with lots of black and brown middle class people and workers;
Then closing with the platitudinous, “Let’s Finish the Job.”
This won’t cut it.
First of all — and overall — this is mostly a rehash of the past several decades of Democratic messaging that a great many Americans have experienced as little more than boiler-plate, empty promises that served as cover for the pursuit of Neo-liberal elite-privileging policies. It’s the same-old, same-old package of shop-worn posturing bracketed by decades of unfulfilled promises.
Second, the messaging is therefore a romanticized regurgitation of platitudes rather than what the moment calls for, which must be in the nature of a “call to locking arms.”
Third, the assertion that Biden’s first term has been all about protecting individual freedoms does not ring true — in part because it has barely ever been mentioned before now. What American of any political persuasion would identify this as the guiding force of Biden’s first term? There is no polling evidence anywhere that I know of that would back-up this assertion.
Fourth, the announcement glosses over the vitally important successes and forward-looking initiatives that Biden has launched in the face of relentless Republican opposition — especially in the cause of centering and re-storing the strength of our working and middle class and their communities. These extraordinary, proactive measures must be at the center of the presidential campaign messaging.
This is a huge and inexplicable messaging miss.
Fifth, the mantra, “Let’s finish the Job” is both vague and unconvincing, and, well, just not the least bit compelling. It seems to completely miss the significance of the threats, both domestic and international, that America and Americans face.
What does or would it look like to finish the job? We are as divided as a nation as we’ve ever been and the Republican Party has gone madly and thuggishly rogue. What in our national agenda in any single area of policy could possibly get finished in a second Biden term, let alone bringing our country back from the brink of authoritarian madness?
And, to close with, “Let’s finish the Job” walks right into the Republican playbook by ignoring or seeming oblivious to the real and perceived fears of so many Americans — the types of fears that can swing elections. And, speaking of which,
Sixth, The Biden/Harris Campaign launch video doesn’t in any way seek to address that elephant in the room: Fear and loathing, and the lying liars who want to rule our nation on that basis. Barely alluded to are the issues that polling has shown for years to be fundamental to peoples’ fears — real and imagined. These include domestic issues like crime, immigration, and the economy — and increasing global threats, like a proxy war with Putin and Russia in Europe, and multiple geopolitical conflicts with China, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, and other nations. All of these issues are powerful fodder for the Republican fear-mongering playbook that Republicans are going to hammer to till death.
Failing to address this hoary elephant suggests that Biden is too weak and/or meek to actually carry-through and execute a plan to center the one part of his potential democratic coalition that can possibly overcome the array of voting barriers and gerrymandering that is blighting vital battleground states.
Finally, there are a host of related and critical issues that also get scant mention. And many of these are precisely those that should be centerpieces of a compelling Democratic alternative narrative to Republicans’ fear-and-retribution-stoked vision of America’s future.
These centerpieces of a vision to make common cause to secure “The Blessing of Liberty” include directly addressing the fears outlined above, as well as:
Securing our commitments to to the wellbeing and opportunity for a full life of dignity for all Americans through support of living wages, unions, and safety net programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and others;
Smart and resolute (not alarmist) tackling of the growing climate crisis — rooted in the extraordinary investments in building a brighter and a sustainable future just passed into law in the first half of Biden’s first term;
Clear, moral high-ground articulation of basic American values based in our Constitution and laws as a counterweight to and foundation for soon being forced to confront our terribly partisan and abjectly corrupt Supreme Court majority, which is on a mission to reverse a century’s worth of gains in civl and political rights, for which generations of Americans have struggled and sacrificed;
A strong counter to the Trumpublican politics of fear-mongering and an inspiring message of dispelling of the real and imagined fears of so many Americans stuck in the quicksand of cynical Republican governance.
From the Ground, Up and the Middle, Out
Biden got off to a great start a few months ago when he articulated a commitment to strengthening America “from the ground, up and the middle, out.” That’s a novel, memorable, and compellingly positive message with a mission that could compete with the authoritarian promise of governance by dictate.. The Democratic Party at all levels should be reiterating and building on this theme every day, all day.
But this message needs to be filled out with some of the “how.” It must serve to engage and motivate the broadest possible coalition of voters. Given the Republican platform of “negative freedom,” that is, the freedom from rules, boundaries, and obligations to a broader public or public good, the Democratic platform needs to be about “positive freedom,” the freedom to affirmatively participate in the building of a more perfect union.
Such a message, embracing positive freedom, is especially pertinent given how Trump and the extremist takeover of the Republican Party has gotten the attention of the rest of America. This attention-getting has led to the activation of many millions of Americans who have hardly (or never before) engaged in politics or public policy, whether through elections or otherwise.
Shepherding A Great Awakening
This widespread activation of our body politic represents nothing less than the stirring of an awakening of what has been described as the “silent majority,” a mjority that will be essential if pro-democracy forces are to prevail over the forces of fear and loathing. This body politic must be positively engaged so it can spread to and activate millions more Americans.
America needs Joe Biden in this moment, in no small part because he has shown that he can steer this mighty ship through extremely turbulent waters. We know he is as a steadying hand in such trying times.But America needs much more than Joe Biden.
Americans activated in reaction to Trumpist extremism are for the first time getting a taste of what it must feel like to be facing the real perils of rogue governance. So many Americans are, to varying degrees, already somewhat shaken and are yearning to breathe free from the march of Republican extremism.
What our silent majority needs is for the Democratic Party to not just acknowledge, but to center their fears, and to make this election about them.
This is a time when our nation needs Joe Biden’s thoughtful leadership and his capacity for using the levers of democratic governance to craft solutions for hard problems. But we know that the battle for hearts and minds in a presidential race is as much about personalities and perceptions, about being heard, and about controlling the campaign narrative — as it is about competence and substantive policy choices.
Going into this race, there is much polling and concern about President Biden’s age. But I wager that if you really drill down on nationwide polling, Americans are less worried about Biden’s age per se than by what Trump regularly skewers as his elderly, “Sleepy Joe” persona.
As is often the case, Trump’s malign instincts enable him to conjure caricatures that contain at least a grain of truth. In this instance, Trump is not only calling-out issues of Biden’s age and energy, but also drawing a contrast with his own very energetic disposition, otherwise known as the almost endless well of narcissistic bellicose depravity with which we have all become far too familiar.
It’s not All About Joe
Joe Biden, in other words, is a known quantity and most people have well-developed impressions and expectations of him. His poll numbers barely move from month to month. He is what and who he is. He’s the slow and steady who most often will win the race. But not always.
So, while this presidential race is Biden’s to lose, it is for the majority of the
American people to win. As it should be.
And if it’s a race that’s all about ground, up and middle, out, it’s a race we can win — in the House, Senate, and Presidency, and in many statehouses and court systems.
The biggest challenge in this race, at least in the short-term, is for our leaders, Biden and Harris, as well as the entire Democratic Party, to own their focus on the ground-up and middle-out and to actually center those people in every action and message, all the time.
If our leaders can do that, we have a fighting chance to enable middle Americans to find their voices, assert their common sense, conquer fear and fear-mongering, and embrace e pluribus unum: that which is truly exceptional about America.