Only the Lord Almighty Can Save Us Now
David R. Weiss – July 7, 2024
Since last Thursday’s debate-debacle Facebook has presented me with an abundance of binary-byte memes intended to police me and my discontent-panic-anger-betrayal back into the fold of what is “possible” in politics. I call bullshit.
In an era of deep polarization, social media (really simply personalized “sound-byte media”) has only amplified our penchant for push button reactions. Thanks to their eye-catching quality and algorithm-enhanced presence, we don’t simply “see” in memes, we’re led to THINK in memes. To process information in binary pairs that reduce the range of options to THIS or THAT.
This is beyond dangerous in a complex world. Memes—and most Facebook comments—work assiduously to foreclose critical thought. I’d argue they do so more aggressively on the right because conservative thought frames lend themselves to either/or thinking. But the left is not immune to this, and, as either conviction and anxiety rises, liberals and progressives are just as susceptible to the false lure of an either/or.
We’ve seen this happen since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Any critique of Israel is framed as uncritical excuse of Hamas’ atrocities—and any attempt to offer a principled presentation of the Palestinian cause is painted as antisemitic. There’s virtually no room for both/and thinking. And yet we know that both/and thinking is the hallmark of critical thought—and the baseline for addressing complex problems.
These are just a fraction of the memes I’ve seen since the debate. Each one contains a half-truth, twisted into a whole “truth” … which is just plain a lie:
“I’ll take my elder statesman with a half-century of experience over your traitor.” Me, too. But if it seems apparent and even likely that “my elder stateman” is no longer up to the task of winning this critical election, am I not allowed to DEMAND a better option?
“Saying a liar won a debate is like saying a player who cheated won a game.” But when half the voting public is cheering on the liar—and the lies!—it’s NOT a strategy to simply avoid acknowledging how horribly your guy performed.
“Just because you think Alfred is too old to take care of Batcave, you don’t replace him with the Joker.” But isn’t Batcave too critical to limit the options to a nefarious Joker or a “too old” Alfred?!
“He wasn’t feeling well and he was arguing with the actual devil. Don’t you dare abandon him.” Seriously?! Biden barely had the energy or the acuity to argue with anyone.
“He’s not the lesser of two evils. He’s the far better human and it’s not even close.” Yes, but if he’s unable to mount a winning campaign and govern ably for another four years (both of which are in obvious doubt), then isn’t being the far better human is a moot point?!
“You really need to be more bothered by Project 2025 than the debate.” This is perhaps the most insidious meme of all because it implies you can’t afford to be bothered by both. Yet we might well end up with Project 2025 if we choose not to be bothered by the debate!
Yes, it’s late in the game to make changes. But that not my fault! It was Biden who declared himself a bridge to the next generation of democratic leadership—and then refused to be that bridge in a timely way. And it was Biden and the DNC that spurned any real primary, when it could’ve tested his mettle and refined his vision and message against those of his fellow Democrats rather than waiting to do so against Trump.
While we may have been caught off guard by the unnerving weakness of Biden’s debate performance, not everyone was. As The Guardian recounts, over the past two years, Biden’s inner circle intentionally limited his press conferences, interviews, and direct interactions with members of Congress. Each of the past two years—despite approaching the most consequential election of our lifetimes—Biden has skipped the tradition of a Super Bowl TV interview. There were those who knew he was better off out of the public view. But we weren’t.
What unfolded last Thursday during primetime was the result of a calculated gamble on the part of Biden’s handlers who have tried to cover for his declining stamina and mental clarity. And it proved to be a miscalculation of the highest order. Far better to have seen this during a Democratic primary rather than a debate just four months shy of an election in which democracy itself is on the line—where democracy’s standard bearer suddenly looks all too frail.
That matters because we know this election will be decided not by voters who’ve already made up their mind—but by two crucial categories of people: voters still undecided as to who they’ll support and (potential) voters still undecide as to whether they’ll vote at all. To win this election, both for the Democratic Party and for democracy itself, we need a candidate who can galvanize these two groups of people. And Joe Biden—even on his best day—can barely do that. On his worst days—there will be more—he will hand this election to Trump.
Despite what the memes would have us believe, multiple things can be true.
Trump may be the greatest threat to democracy (and to civil rights of all sorts) in my lifetime.
And Project 2025, for all its mind-numbing 900+ pages, may be a carefully constructed roadmap to a white nationalist future just waiting for Trump (or another far right candidate) to press “start.” Especially with a judiciary now stacked to greenlight it.
And Biden (despite “winning” all those delegates in primary contests he and the DNC conducted with Putin-like efficiency!) may be unable to effectively campaign—either against Trump or for an America with a widening promise. (Let alone govern effectively for the next four years.)
And, messy though it may be, our best chance to defeat Trump and white nationalism (the values of which are on the ballot in some places and beneath the ballot in others) may be to replace Biden even at this late date.
And the Democratic Party does have an abundance of articulate, passionate, visionary leaders, any number of whom could step into this messy situation with a presence that would reassure democrats at large and re-engage those disaffected by Biden’s candidacy—and offer a vision that would bring those still sitting on the sidelines forward as citizens committed to an America with a widening future.
Nothing about this is easy. Or uncomplicated. There are multiple paths forward, some begin with Kamala Harris, others with a mini-primary. All are messy. But while buying into the binary and staying the course with Biden might masquerade as loyalty and resolve, it portends catastrophe for both the party and the country, for marginalized communities and long-standing institutions, for international alliances and for those we love.
The stakes are unimaginably high. Fascism is on our doorstep; the end of democracy is up for a vote(!). Trump’s energy plan is ecological suicide. And “our man of the moment” showed last Thursday that he is not up to the challenge of this moment. Whatever his skills and accomplishments of the past, he will not carry the day come November.
Right now, the best political move Biden can make to secure his legacy is to step back with grace—and swiftly. Instead, he’s asserted “only the Lord Almighty” could dissuade him from continuing his campaign. Quickly adding that he doesn’t expect to hear any divine voice at all. More troubling, when George Stephanopoulos asked how he’d feel next January if he stayed in the race and Trump won, Biden replied, “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”
No, Mr. President, that is not what this is about!
For far too long Biden, his inner staff, and the DNC have delayed a difficult but necessary conversation about who comes next and what that means for the prospects of American democracy. That conversation is now upon us with existential urgency. November 5 is not going anywhere—except closer. Day. By. Day.
Honestly, despite my title, I don’t expect the Lord Almighty to save us. But I do expect Democratic leaders, past presidents, top donors, and millions of little voices like mine (and yours?) to become a burning bush that tells the President unmistakably, “It’s time to end your campaign. Now.”
We have (just barely!) the time and yet surely(!) the talent, values, and vision to win this election. But as of today, we don’t have the winning candidate. And the one person who can remedy that is Joe Biden. Mr. President, you say your deepest wish is to unite us. You can do that best by allowing—and urging—us to unite around someone other than you. For the sake of your party, our country, and democracy itself, that moment is now.
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David Weiss is a theologian, writer, poet and hymnist, “writing into the whirlwind” of contemporary challenges, joys, and sorrows around climate crisis, sexuality, justice, peace, and family. Reach him at drw59mn@gmail.com. Read more at www.davidrweiss.com where he blogs under the theme, “Full Frontal Faith: Erring on the Edge of Honest.” Support him in Writing into the Whirlwind at www.patreon.com/fullfrontalfaith.