The Democratic Party’s Culture of Loyalty - TomDispatch.com

The Democratic Party’s Culture of Loyalty - TomDispatch.com Norman Solomon, Putting the Biden Crisis in Perspective July 23, 2024 Until last Sunday, the 2024 election wasn't just a campaign between a distinctly old man making uncalled-for mistakes and his opponent. It was between two distinctly old men, both making uncalled-for errors, and of the two, the one making the most disastrous errors (not just in language but in preparing the future for the rest of us) was, thanks to an assassination attempt on him, offered a free pass to the Republican convention. Who cares that, at a recent rally of his, he said things like "everybody has a water spot, where water comes out" and went on "nonsensical rants about whether it would be better to be electrocuted or attacked by a shark." And yet give him credit. Though in recent years he could never seem to stop talking, in the wake of President Biden's disastrous debate with him (no matter that he himself offered a nozzle full of errors, misstatements, and god knows what else that night), he kept his mouth remarkably shut for days on end and let the Democratic Party beat itself to... well, now that President Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 race, let's hope it's not death. Certainly, Joe Biden had his problems. I'm thinking, of course, about the president who only recently called Ukrainian President Zelensky, "President Putin," while introducing him at a NATO conference in Washington, and briefly labeled his own vice president, Kamala Harris, "Vice President Trump." And that, for sure, was anything but pretty, but at least he's now left the race and we don't have to face the possibility of an 86-year-old president. But even a president who would leave office at 82 is -- let this 80-year-old assure you -- simply not a good bet. In the meantime, while the Republican Party has, with the rarest of exceptions, become totally Trumpified, the Democratic Party suddenly faces a new world of sorts and it's not exactly in great shape, as TomDispatch regular Norman Solomon, who has had long-term up-close-and-personal connections to that party, makes clear. No one, of course, can faintly know how all of this or, given Biden's decision, election 2024 will turn out, but if you're not worried, believe me, you should be. Tom