After nearly four years, what more can you say about the Trump presidency? We’ve seen children caged at the Mexican border, a tax break for billionaires and, most recently, protestors being abducted by unmarked federal agents. It’s been pretty chaotic.
After the Republican National convention this week, it is clear Trump is treating it like another one of his many rallies. His message isn’t always coherent or consistent, even his foreign policy plans have glaring contradictions. But, clearly Republicans are anything but divided.
Perhaps the only thing you need to look at is the fact that 6/12 speakers at the Republican convention have the last name Trump. You could call it nepotism, or even corruption, but the fact is the president and his team are all singing from the same hymn sheet.
Now look across the aisle, towards the Democratic convention. At first it almost looks like the inclusive big tent that the party has been talking about for years. There are speakers like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka AOC), even Mike Bloomberg, and former Republican Governor of Ohio John Kasich.
An odd choice it seems, but hey, if the party is dead set on defeating Donald Trump in November, then it’s necessary right? On paper this could prove effective, but in reality, it shows that not all speakers and Democrat politicians are held in the same regard.
For example, more time was given to Mike Bloomberg over AOC, despite the clear preference of Democrat voters. As mayor, Bloomberg oversaw many unpopular policies such as stop and frisk, which predominantly targeted ethnic minorities over white people.
During his primary campaign in the presidential race, Bloomberg emerged unsuccessful, winning only four delegates of a possible 3,979, and yet he had a full five minutes to speak at the convention. There was little on policy, and instead focused on the risk of a Trump in a second term. John Kasich, a lifelong Republican who repeatedly attempted to gut Planned Parenthood, was similar and was given four minutes to speak about the dangers of another 4 years of Trump.
AOC recently won re-election, holding her seat in the Bronx and Queens. This proved to critics that her shocking victory in 2018 against 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley was not just a fluke. Just ask one of her 6.4 million Instagram followers about how she truly understands the problems that people face in her constituency. This is exactly why voters continue to choose her to be their representative in congress.
A recent poll by CBS showed that 63% of Democrats wanted to hear her speak at the convention, peaking to 80% amongst the 18-29 age group. In the same poll, she even beat former president Bill Clinton, who gained 56% of Democrat support. Compare this to Kasich, as only 38% wanted to hear from him. Despite AOC’s popularity, the party leadership allocated her a pre-recorded segment, lasting just a minute and a half for her to speak.
By giving these men larger platforms over progressives despite the voters’ preference, one has to wonder what sort of group the Democrats want to be and how much they value left leaning voters.
Bernie Sanders also led a popular campaign, championing ‘Medicare for All’ as a main policy. This policy that many pundits were preaching to be a radical lurch to the left is anything but. It would merely mean the USA joined a group of 32 other countries, including the UK, that already have universal health coverage in the developed world.
Furthermore, in September 2019 77% of Democrat voters said that they would be in favour of Medicare for all, even more essential now during a pandemic. Sadly for progressives, Joe Biden’s current platform appears to be an effort to return to business as usual. On healthcare he plans to expand on the existing system through Obamacare.
But is this enough in a pandemic? According to a study from February 2019, medical debt leads to nearly 530,000 bankruptcies every year in America. Even Obamacare struggled to significantly change this.
So, from the outside it appears as though they are prioritising billionaires and ‘moderate’ anti-Trump Republicans. If they would rather give John Kasich and Mike Bloomberg a platform instead of a left leaning candidate, then you have to wonder what the Democrats are standing for?
You may say that this is a naïve attitude, and that Democrats need all of the votes they can get. However the CBS poll reported that only 1% would probably change their mind on who to vote for, and 3% said that they might change. So, one could argue that voters have already decided.
For further context, a recent poll by the Pew Research centre asked why they were voting for either Trump or Biden. Whilst reasons varied with Trump supporters from policy to his temperament, one common theme was shown for would-be Biden voters. He wasn’t Trump.
A whopping 56% of those polled said they would vote for Biden to avoid Trump’s re-election. And it’s clear that the Biden campaign is leaning into this, with the current platform appearing to be ‘anyone but Trump.’
If the mission is to get Trump out of office, this has left little room for meaningful discussions on policy, and one has to note the rift that this is causing in the Democrat party. Can the Democratic party be a home for both billionaires and progressives?
Unfortunately, The United States shares the system of First Past the Post, meaning that the chances of a third party winning an election are slim to none, so the Democrats will have to cooperate.
If the party heads are not providing airtime for progressives, they must rely on the votes that got them there. For the Democrats who want Medicare for All, they won’t achieve this through appealing to Republicans who thought that Obamacare was too left leaning, or insider politics. It comes through the strength of public pressure, through the same grassroots campaigns that elected progressive politicians.
The upcoming election appears to just be binary, Trump or Not Trump. But even if Biden wins this election in November, it will be important for him to address this growing rift between his own voters’ wishes and what he is willing to offer as president.
Words by Jack Graham
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