Dr James J Zogby<\/p>\n
Even before US President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, November\u2019s presidential election had become a dizzying rollercoaster ride.
\nIn the run-up to this election, the Democratic Party failed to consider the impact a weakened Biden would have on the electorate, and it assumed that fear of former president Donald Trump would be enough to win.
\nIn just the past few weeks, however, two new factors emerged, wreaking additional havoc on the foundation of these two assumptions: the horrifying mass shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the growing chorus of prominent Democrats urging Mr Biden to step down as their party\u2019s presidential nominee.
\nEven before last week\u2019s Republican National Convention, polls were showing Trump commanding the support of his party\u2019s faithful. In the aftermath of the shooting, the embrace intensified, with some seeing his escape as a sign of divine intervention.
\nThis deification of Trump and the wild enthusiasm seen at the Republican convention made Democrats more concerned about their electoral prospects and more troubled by Biden\u2019s all-too-apparent weaknesses.
\nHis frailty was already an issue, having come into sharp focus during the June 27 debate. With polls showing almost two-thirds of Democrats displeased with Biden, senior party elected officials had publicly urged the President to pass the torch to a younger candidate.
\nNow that Biden has withdrawn his candidacy and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be his party\u2019s nominee, the election is once again wide open. Harris isn\u2019t the nominee just yet, with various factions in the Democratic Party possibly jockeying for power, but she will be the hot favourite ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
\nIt is fair to say, then, that the current election cycle has been topsy-turvy, particularly over the past week. And yet it\u2019s worth pointing out that within the larger American political context, it is still business as usual. For starters, the stakes are still as high as they were since the campaigns kicked off more than a year ago.
\nThis is truly, as my brother John would say \u201can Armageddon election\u201d. No matter who emerges as the Democratic nominee, this will be a contest between two fundamentally different visions of America. Despite Trump\u2019s statement that it was time to unify the country, his convention, choice of a running mate, and the rhetoric used by many of the Republican convention\u2019s speakers made it clear that the leopard hasn\u2019t changed its spots.
\nThe Trump-led GOP continues to prey on the fears and anger of the white working class, using the same exploitation of social and cultural issues and racist and Christian nationalist xenophobia and resentment of \u201celites\u201d that they have been cultivating for years. This will distract attention from their policies favouring the wealthiest and most entitled at the expense of the safety, security and prosperity of the middle class and those seeking to become middle class.
\nTrump will continue to project his frightening dystopian vision of American life, targeting his favorite line-up of evildoers \u2013 federal law enforcement, media elites, and immigrants. His use of ridicule and hostile language will continue to inflame passions and incite violence.
\nDemocrats, meanwhile, will continue to call for greater economic, social and political equity. Biden had previously called out the widening income gap between the richest Americans and those struggling to make ends meet. Democrats will call for a fairer tax system, a raised minimum wage, protection of unions and labour rights.
\nDespite their crackdown to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, they\u2019ll call for a humane approach to those fleeing persecution. They will call for expanded health care, lower drug prices, support of women\u2019s rights to make their own healthcare decisions, and continued progress towards racial justice.
\nAnd finally, Democrats will continue to focus this election on the need to protect democracy and the rule of law, warning about the threat posed by Trump supporters\u2019 plans to reject the outcome of this election by using administrative tactics and even violence as they did in 2020 to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.
\nOne additional factor that will remain the same is the threat posed by gun violence and the failure of the GOP to support even modest gun control reforms \u2013 despite the attempt on Trump\u2019s life.
\nAmerica now has more than one mass shooting each day, with tens of thousands needlessly losing their lives in these and other shootings. It still hasn\u2019t addressed its diseased obsession with weapons. Nor has it faced up to the fact that political violence is not an aberration, when in fact it is who we are as Americans.
\nWhen The New York Times writes as editorial titled \u201cthe attack on Trump is antithetical to America\u201d, or when Biden asserts that political violence isn\u2019t who we are or that it\u2019s an aberration, they are ignoring the reality that political violence is \u201cas American as cherry pie\u201d.
\nLiving in denial is not only ignoring the dozens of attempted assassinations that have defined American history, but also means that the country isn\u2019t ready to learn lessons and take much needed remedial steps to end this plague.<\/p>\n
The writer is the President of Arab American Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr James J Zogby Even before US President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, November\u2019s presidential election had become a dizzying rollercoaster ride. In the run-up to this election, the Democratic Party failed to consider the impact a weakened Biden would have on the electorate, and it assumed that fear of former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13158],"class_list":{"0":"post-421310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-james-j-zogby"},"yoast_head":"\n