The anti-fascist world is in meltdown mode in the immediate aftermath of President Joe Biden's terrible debate performance against ex-President Donald Trump. In America, even formerly avid cheerleaders are jumping ship. It's always the same: "Biden is too old!" "He is too feeble!" "He has dementia!" The great majority of democrats recognize the achievements of his administration. As became abundantly clear during the debate, the problem lies in his seeming inability to articulate and celebrate them; unless he can do that, so the argument goes, Trump will win.
All the critics agree: Biden is a "good and decent man, " but he blew it! They say, "It's time for Biden to go!" Realism dictates the need for a new candidate. The "pros" admit that some technical problems may exist in brokering the convention in August 2024, but they know that they are solvable. Such realism has its flaws., however. No candidate coming out of a brokered convention has won the presidency in more than a century other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the greatest campaigner ever, who ran against "Herbert Hoover's great depression" in 1932.
And there are reasons why. Brokering the convention can produce a blood-bath. Is Vice-President Kamala Harris a consensus replacement for replace Biden? She has not exactly been a shining light in her role as his understudy, and leftists within the Democratic Party will surely come out swinging. Party elites can try to exercise their power. Using an iron fist to run the convention, however, will surely leave scars, produce distrust, and heighten the disillusionment of grass-roots activists. A brokered convention will produce a weak and compromised candidate. Whose defeated rivals will most likely offer him or her only lukewarm support. They might even wind up secretly hoping for a Trump victory since that would increase their chances for the party's presidential nomination in 2028.
Anti-fascist forces must sit back and take a breath! The style-critics were silent after
the President's justly heralded State of the Union Address in March, 2024. Never a particularly great debater, perhaps Joe really did just have a bad day at the office. That remains to be seen as the rest of the campaign unfolds. Roughly 150 million people voted in 2020 whereas 51 million people saw the debate. The debate assuredly changed few minds among avid pro- and anti-Trump supporters. Biden is too old. But Trump is no spring chicken. There is time to shift the narrative and drive home the age, dementia, and megalomania of the ex-president.
Under the circumstances, dumping Biden has little upside. None of the candidates with a realistic chance to supplant to Biden have policies very different from those of the President. None of them will satisfy left-wing activists let alone the self-righteous sectarian supporters of third-party candidates such as Robert Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein, and Cornel West. The election will be decided by a minority of "low-information" and "independent" voters. Any substitute for Biden will be identified with his causes and remain saddled with the same discontents as the present administration.
Meanwhile, if not a blessing in disguise, Biden's failure in the debate may actually invigorate his campaign by putting the fear of God into wavering voters who don't see the stakes involved in choosing between a decent guy standing up for democracy and working people, and a pig whose greed is only outdone by his fascist aspirations. A poor showing in a debate does not erase the thick line in the sand that separates these two men or the fact that, no matter who might replace Biden, solidarity from below will still prove more important than arrogant prophecies from the donors and party elites above.
*Stephen Eric Bronner is Co-Director of the International Council for Diplomacy and Dialogue and Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Rutgers University.
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