I can understand the base impulses and general feeling among party loyalists to do whatever they can to win elections. I get it – you want to win, victory for the other side is unthinkable, and whoever the nominee is that gives you the best chance to prevail is worth getting behind. With all that said, as a Republican watching what is happening in the Democrat party right now, I’m starting to wonder how well all of the skullduggery sits with even die-hard Democrats.
Take a look at everything that has happened so far in this entire cycle for the Democrats. They altered their primary structure in order to secure Biden as the nominee from challengers concerned about his low approvals, sinking policy record, and bad decisions. They promoted the dripping bag of lies about Biden’s cognitive health – endlessly and shamelessly peddled by Kamala Harris and people like her. And, I can guarantee you that denying Robert F. Kennedy Jr. any Secret Service protection was absolutely political – either to spook him into dropping out of the race, or to force him to spend precious campaign dollars on security (notice he now has USSS protection in the wake of the assassination attempt on President Trump). Now, we have the sudden and ignominious withdrawal of Biden from the race. As many others have pointed out, for all of the Democrat bluster and grandstanding about “saving democracy,” they sure as hell don’t look like they practice what they preach.
In all of this, it is becoming increasingly clear that the idea of elections being “rigged” isn’t just campaign stump phrasing, or a red-meat talking point. At the very least, can you blame the average voter for feeling this way, after all they’ve recently witnessed? While most rank-and-file Democrat voters are probably happy that Biden is off the ticket, I can’t think for the life of me they are happy about it all happened. Moreover, should President Trump secure the win on election night, they are going to be extremely upset about how this played out. Sure, politics can be hardball with elements of pragmatism built on the ends justifying the means. But how much longer are average voters (especially those in the middle who may still be evaluating their choices) going to sit back while their intelligence is insulted by desperate, power-hungry pols and their manipulative games?
Of course, these frustrations aren’t anything new. The American people have become increasingly disillusioned over the past several years about everything – from the phony-baloney “success” of “Bidenomics” and revelations about government snooping, to the dangers of social media, the Russia collusion hoax, covid deceptions, and Jeffrey Epstein. Faith in our institutions – and of those who sit atop those institutions – swirls around the lowest sewage drains in the lowest sub-basements…and this new bit of chicanery and dishonesty within the Democrat party is merely the latest letdown in a growing pattern of trust-eroding moves by powerful people.
In the 2016 cycle, President Trump warned us about how the systems and structures of power in America could be, and increasingly are, used against the average citizen – and how government and its mandarins and establishment cronies no longer rule with the consent of the governed. We’ve seen it with unelected federal employees setting rules and determining outcomes from their unelected perches in the bureaucracy. And we’ve seen it with the media and big tech working to stifle the truth – often in coordination with government and political figures.
One is forced to ask: If the Democrat elites can deceive and mislead their own voters in their own party – what do you think they are prepared to do the average, middle-of-the-road, non-political Americans who are just trying live their lives and get through the day? What do you think they can do to you? Seeing the mendacity of the Democrat party brokers and their allies in the media makes one think that the minds and the concerns of persuadable voters (including open-minded Democrats) are as expendable as Joe Biden.
What has been happening in the Democrat party over the past few weeks is just more of the deeply-entrenched, do as we say-not as we do, upper echelon maneuvering that Americans have become increasingly tired of. The American people are getting sick of being played, treated with contempt, and then unceasingly gaslighted when the tangled webs are exposed to daylight. President Trump warned us about rigged political structures, and he was hypocritically criticized and jeered by those in the media and politics who have participated in the rigging. The brazen bait-and-switch bag-job and coverup about Biden – pushed by those who’ve now pushed him out – should astound and shock the citizenry.
Martha Fain is a policy expert, strategic consultant and frequent commentator on issues of national importance. She is Chairman of Vote America First and a Principal of Victory Coalition Strategies, LLC and has a J.D. from the Antonin Scalia School of law at George Mason University.