Back in 2016 I loudly and enthusiastically pulled for a Trump vs. Sanders showdown on the grandest stage of them all. Two grizzled grandpa war machines, slugging it out for the Presidency. It likely would have been more brutal, more hilarious and destroyed even more norms than the campaign we actually got.
I don't know whether "Bernie would've won". No one ever will. But one thing I did know is that Sanders would have done the one thing Hillary Clinton never did, and the Democrats have failed to do since 2016, and that is ditch the moral high ground and pummel the living daylights out of Donald Trump rhetorically speaking, that is.
For all the ink and tears that have been spilled over Trump, his worst critics are still handling him with kid gloves. None of the fact-checkers, none of the late-night comedians, and none of the #Resisters with their edgy social media blitzes want to say any of it directly to the President's orange face. They're scared. They're scared of him and his crazed supporters. So they act like they're above it all.
Hence the Trudeauesque candidacy of Beto O'Rourke. Another youngish, telegenic, ethnically fluid blank slate with an endless repertoire of seemingly intelligent statements (that don't make a whole lot of sense upon closer examination) who listens to punk music so he'll appeal to The Millennials. Can you imagine the photo-ops when he and Trudeau show off their totally tubular boardin' moves and then discuss how radical and sweet it is to be living personifications of nihilism? Brooooo!!!
Are you sick of these broken-down Trudeau knockoffs like Varadkar, Renzi, and Macron yet? Doesn't it feel like they're the result of foreigners taking their superficial understanding of Canadian politics and trying to duplicate "the Canadian model"? But even if one of these establishment rubber stamps enjoyed the sort of institutional dynasticism of a Trudeau, Trump would still consume them like they were so many hamberders. I loathe Trump, but if he sticks the Fake News label on Beto's astroturfed buzz, I'm going to nod my head.
This is not going to be the election cycle for appeals to our better nature or aspirational politics. We need someone who will get down in the mud with Trump. We need someone un-triggerable and unflinching. That's why Uncle Joe Biden is the hero we need, and the hero we deserve, but he's not the hero we're going to get. If it were any other time, I would understand Beto's appeal, but the point of the exercise here is not to look good it is to get rid of Trump by any means necessary, or at least accurately take the electorate's temperature and nominate someone who can channel the anger out there effectively.
We've got people out there clamouring for 15-year old kids to be doxed and destroyed, and news outlets blowing whatever little cred they have left chasing some quickly debunked rumour about Michael Cohen being directed to lie by Trump on the grounds that it might get the President impeached, and the Democrats are still worried about whether Biden's considerable baggage constitutes a liability.
This is the danger of cults of personality, and the belief that the populist monster can be pushed back under the bed. Rose coloured memories of Obama's two terms are clouding everyone's sight. The stubborn and ultimately fatal idea that Trump is nothing more than a blip is the only reason why the Dems are failing to do what is necessary instead of what is easy.
I am really not looking forward to a few months from now when it becomes apparent that "taking the high road" is not having the desired effect. Or maybe it will never become apparent, and we'll get some version of "Some people are just too good for politics!" in lieu of an honest self-examination. Which is very sad, because if nothing else, we could always count on the USA to do the right thing after they had tried everything else. Perhaps they will, after another four years.
Photo Credit: Breitbart
Written by Josh Lieblein