Joe Biden’s gifts to America

August 2, 2024

Over his half-century of public service, Joe Biden bestowed many gifts on America. True, like every politician with a fifty-year record, he has made his share of mistakes. But when it mattered most, Joe Biden stepped into the breach to defend democracy and provide hope to America when it flagged.

He stepped up to challenge Trump in 2020 because he believed he could save America from the horrors of a second Trump term. He was right. That was a gift.

Over the next four years, he restored decency, compassion, and fairness to the governance of great nation. That was a gift.

He proposed and passed sweeping legislation that made historic investments in fighting climate change, protecting the environment, ending child poverty, rebuilding our infrastructure, and bringing chip manufacturing back to America’s shores. That was a gift.

He restored the broken relationships between America and its allies. He was able to do so because our allies recognized that he was a good and decent man whose word could be trusted. That was a gift.

Today, Joe Biden’s gift of renewed international alliances resulted in the freedom of three American citizens wrongfully detained by Russia. The exchange would not have happened except for the relationship of trust and goodwill between President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The German Chancellor agreed to release a Russian assassin held in a German prison. In agreeing to the deal, Chancellor Scholz told Biden, “For you, I will do this.” See WaPo, Inside the deal that led to a blockbuster prisoner swap between U.S., Russia. (This article is accessible to all.)

The complex deal involved 24 detainees and 7 countries—the most complicated prisoner swap between the US and Russia in history. President Biden continued to work his relationships with foreign leaders to close the deal until the very moment he announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. Joe Biden’s selfless efforts were a gift.

The complex deal could not have happened without Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or the cooperation of six US allies. Vice President Kamala Harris played an active role in the negotiations, including private meetings with the Slovenian Prime Minister and German Chancellor at the annual Munich security conference.

The complexity of the deal is beyond the comprehension or attention span of Donald Trump—who boasted that he could secure the release of US detainees from Russia without giving any concessions to Putin. After Joe Biden finished his press conference announcing the deal, a reporter shouted a question about Trump's boast that “that he could have gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange.”

Biden stopped, returned to the lectern, and asked, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” See embedded video, here.

Within an hour of completing negotiations for the swap, Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race. Thirty-minutes later, he endorsed Kamala Harris for president. At a time when party leaders and podcast pundits were calling for “mini-primaries” and an “open convention,” Joe Biden had the wisdom and foresight to realize that Democrats needed unity and certainty.

Kamala Harris had earned Joe Biden’s endorsement, and he gave it promptly and enthusiastically. Forty-eight hours later, Kamala Harris was the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. That was Joe Biden’s final gift—a seamless transition that has allowed Democrats to overtake Trump in less than two weeks. Kamala Harris deserves great credit for that result, but so, too, does Joe Biden for his selfless actions, wisdom, and political foresight.

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More on Republican efforts to obstruct certification of votes in 2024

Yesterday, I discussed the Rolling Stone article that identified 70 Republican election officials who had posted election denialism on social media. Today, Marc Elias of Democracy Docket posted an article that takes a deeper dive into the process of certifying election results—and what can be done when local officials refuse to do so. See What Happens When Election Officials Refuse to Certify Results? - Democracy Docket.

I urge you to read the article for yourself, but it confirms that there are legal remedies and statutory safeguards in place to prevent arbitrary refusals to certify election results. For example, the article discusses the first line of defense against refusal to certify: state election officials can take over from local officials who refuse to perform their duties:

The short answer is: there’s mechanisms in place to ensure elections are certified. As Karalunas noted, each state has specific statutes that outline a process to follow if a local official won’t certify an election. “So in Michigan, for example, the state law allows state election officials to take over certification at the local level if a local official refuses to certify,” she explained.

“Voters should be rest assured that if they see an attempt to refuse to certify an election in their jurisdiction, that does not mean that there was a problem with the elections,” Karalunas said. “There are processes in place to make sure that certification ultimately will happen in a timely fashion and that their vote will be counted.”

But if all else fails, then the courts provide a remedy. Again, per the Democracy Docket article,

If that process fails — i.e., the state official brought in over the local official who won’t certify also refuses to certify the election — then the courts can step in, at the request of a voter, candidate, or another state official. The process, known as a writ of mandamus, involves a court to step in to legally compel a government official — in this case, an election official — to fulfill their duties, like certifying an election.

Statutes and court orders may not be able to prevent every instance of refusal to certify, but the important point is that no one should feel that voting is pointless because Republicans plan to cheat. They tried to cheat in 2020 and Democrats prevailed in 60 lawsuits challenging the election results. The most important thing Democrats can do to ensure that Republicans don’t cheat is to help Kamala Harris to win by a uncontestable margin.

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Trump repeats race-based attacks on Kamala Harris

Trump repeated his race-based attack on Kamala Harris, claiming that she “recently turned Black” after presenting herself as an Indian American. Of course, Kamala Harris’s mother was Indian, and her father was from Jamaica (and Black). In Trump's world view, someone can only be one race—so he has declared that Kamala Harris is not Black.

His strategy is backfiring, with his coaches at Fox News hinting in every way possible that Trump had gone too far and was engaging in self-defeating behavior. See The Daily Beast, Jesse Watters on Trump Questioning Kamala Harris’ Race: ‘Not Something’ I’d Do.

Trump ratcheted up the ugliness by re-posting a copy of Kamala Harris’s birth certificate—proving that she was born in Oakland, California to a mother born in Jasper and a father born in Jamaica. The tactic is a throwback to Trump's birtherism attacks on President Obama—and is too much for some Republicans. See NYTimes, Trump Escalates Race Attacks on Harris, Worrying Some Republicans.

David Kochel, a longtime Republican strategist, called the racial identity attack unneeded and risky . . . politicians from both parties seemed to be trying to determine whether such an attack would be effective in 2024, amid a rapidly diversifying electorate. More than 12 percent of Americans identify as multiracial.

Trump also posted a photo of Kamala Harris as a child with her mother and aunt dressed in Indian clothing—apparently trying to establish that clothing can change racial identity. Of course, the internet is filled with photos of JD Vance in Indian dress at his wedding.

Although JD Vance tried to clean up Trump's attacks by claiming that Trump was raising questions about Harris’s “authenticity,” saying she was a “phony” and a “chameleon.” If Vance thought his comments made Trump's racist attacks better, he is sorely mistaken. There is no indication that Trump's attacks are gaining traction; to the contrary, they are offending most people of with common sense—including his apologists on Fox News and Newsmax.

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Republicans block expansion of child tax credit while JD Vance misses vote

JD Vance has been busy offending people without children by calling them “cat ladies” and otherwise claiming that they have no stake in the future of America. He has argued that people with children should pay less in taxes.

On Thursday, he had a chance to put up or shut up by voting for or against an expansion of the child tax credit. He did neither. Instead, he skipped the vote in the Senate to make a photo opportunity at the southern border. See The Hill, Senate Republicans block child tax credit expansion bill.

The GOP spins a fantasy about being the party of family values. But when they consistently vote against tax credits, food benefits, and healthcare that would ensure that children live above the poverty line, have food to eat, and medical care to keep them healthy. Weird, isn’t it?

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Opportunities for reader engagement

A group of readers and grassroots volunteers in the Santa Barabara area put together an "Election Toolkit to Win the Presidency." It includes a short list of well-respected organizations to donate to (vetted by Focus for Democracy and Mind The Gap) as well as a few groups to sign up to volunteer. Check out Your Election Toolkit

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Join Movement Voter Project on August 4 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern

Please join the effort to STOP the MAGA takeover and usher in a new Progressive era by joining our virtual fundraiser in support of the Movement Voter PAC (MVP) on August 4, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.  Hear about MVP’s winning strategy and about the importance of grassroots organizing from our Special Guest Congressman Jim McGovern.

MVP is a national organization that funds grassroots groups all over the country with special focus on swing states.  Kamala Harris' candidacy has unleashed an unprecedented surge of excitement all across the country and the momentum is with us.  The outpouring of funds for Harris is terrific, but the grassroots groups MVP supports have funding gaps.  Our job now is to raise as much money as we can to fund the groups that are working every day to mobilize the hardest-to-reach voters in every critical state and district.   

All funds go directly to the grassroots groups who have demonstrated that they are best positioned to get out the vote to win in November --and we now may even have the possibility to win big, ushering in a progressive decade!  

REGISTER  here and if you can’t attend, DONATE here.

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Concluding Thoughts

Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris elevated themselves today by achieving the most complicated prisoner exchange in history. Joe Biden’s character and integrity provided the infrastructure for the complicated web of personal relationships among world leaders that made the deal possible. Kamala Harris played an important role in direct negotiations with two key countries—Germany and Slovenia. Both Biden and Harris demonstrated presidential timber in the process. Meanwhile, Trump and Vance are rolling in the mud of racial attack politics—the last desperate refuge of a failing campaign.

We have the momentum and the high ground. But we have no reason to become complacent. As Trump and Vance realize that they are losing, they will step up the ugliness and viciousness of their attacks. But Kamala Harris has shown that she has the self-confidence and political judgment to rise above the attacks and continue her campaign in the dignified, joyful, forward-looking manner that has inspired the Democratic base as never before.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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The photo below is of the Omega Nebula (Messier 17), which is 4,200 light years from Earth. Taken on 8/1/2024 from Los Angeles, CA with a 90-minute exposure.