While the huge numbers currently turning out for early voting are a sign of an aroused--and polarized--electorate, there is still a sizeable number of the U.S. population who will not vote, cynical about voting given the history of just the last twenty years of false promises and betrayals by both parties: Bush being put into office by the Supreme Court in 2000 despite losing by half a million votes, his shady re-election in 2004, and the sabotage of Sanders' 2016 primary campaign by the Democratic Party among others. And then in 2008 Obama came along, promising big changes from the Bush years, which turned out to be small change indeed, and became a jumping-off point for demagogues like Trump to rally others. In 2016, Trump became the 2nd of the last 3 presidents to enter office with fewer votes than their opponent. So there's certainly a need for major changes in the worst electoral system of any of the nations claiming to be 'democracies'-- including doing away with the electoral college.
But this is not just another election between the 2 corporate parties. This is a watershed election, in roughly the same way that the 1876 election just 11 years after the Civil War ended slavery marked the beginning of the end of the democratic gains made by African Americans during the Reconstruction period.
There is a difference that makes a difference. Trump is a neo-fascist--although he's too ignorant ideologically, his instincts are there--and he surrounds himself with nazi types like Steven miller and Steve Bannon among others. His re-election threatens the already weakened gains made by the civil rights and women's rights movements in particular since the 1960s, from voting rights to abortion rights and more.
And what marks Trump as a fascist and not just another right-wing conservative like a Reagan or a Bush is one of the hallmarks of fascism historically--the open cultivation of a racist hard-core base among his broader base of followers.
There has never been a president who:
1. Has openly stated he will not accept the election results if he loses the vote, and who has primed his supporters to see such results as fraudulent.
2. Has openly supported, encouraged, empowered, enabled and legitimized a hard-core base of armed white supremacist nazi/kkk gangs, instructing them to "stand by" for future orders awaiting the election results.
3. Who openly encourages and incites violence against protesters, and poisons the atmosphere around opponents setting them up for possible assassinations as in the case of AOC, Ilhan Omar, Michigan Governor Whitmer, Leslie Stahl--all women if you haven't noticed.
So this is not just another election. Trump is a fascist, not a neo-con like Bush or a neo-lib like Obama--both of whom wreaked enough havoc, chaos and conflict around the world on their own terms. If Ttump gets a 2nd term, I believe we'll also see a wave of repression like the McCarthy era, or worse. And even if Trump loses, the right-wing and fascist racist movements he has led and helped to boost will still continue to be a source of conflict and chaos that we must anticipate. It's not going away.
But how about Biden? The main thing he has going for himself is that he's not Trump--and he will mark a break with the explicit white-supremacist culture that emboldened many Trumpers in their racist attacks. On foreign policy the Dems are just as much the war party as the Repugs, but with different targets at different times. Biden just might ease off on the draconian sanctions Trump imposed on Cuba and Iran; Venezuela, Syria and Nicaragua remain to be seen. What is beyond a doubt is that building an antiwar, anti-coup, anti-militarist movement will be a key task among others whether if Biden or Trump..
Living in New York, a safe state, I didn't have to vote for Biden, but if I lived in one of the battleground states, I would have, and I urge those who do live in those key states to vote Biden.
I voted for the Green Party because I think it is important that there be a third party on the ballot
Those Americans who joined the international brigades in Spain in 1936 to fight Franco's fascism were referred to by J. Edgar Hoover as "premature antifascists"; in a derogatory way it was to become a badge of honor. But could there be such a thing as a "premature fascist"?
Large sectors of the ruling class oppose Trump at this time as they did in 2016 when he won. At this time, they still do not think the measures that Trump calls for, and the polarized racial and scapegoating climate he creates and nurtures, is necessary for their continued rule over the rest of us. Trump is a racist misogynist anti-immigrant sociopath, and there is no better reason to vote for Biden other than to stop Trump--overwhelmingly a defensive move to stop his road to a fascist U.S.
But if Trump loses this election, and Biden follows through on his assurance to a segment of his supporters that "nothing will change", mark the next 4 years, it could turn out that in 2024 "premature fascist" could well describe 2020 Trump.
This is a very dangerous moment--and we underestimate that danger at our own peril.
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