Chuck Darwin<p>Of course, the Republicans will go into culture-war overdrive. </p><p>They will say that as a Californian, Kamala Harris is too <a href="https://c.im/tags/liberal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>liberal</span></a>. <br>They will say that as a former prosecutor, Harris is too <a href="https://c.im/tags/conservative" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>conservative</span></a>. <br>They will say that she is too <a href="https://c.im/tags/female" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>female</span></a> and too <a href="https://c.im/tags/Black" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Black</span></a>. <br>(Well, they won’t say those last two out loud, but get ready for a fusillade of dog whistles that will be amped up to the point that they could shatter granite.)</p><p>Indeed, the MAGA Republicans are already griping about a Democratic Party “coup,” as if they have serious concerns about democracy in any political party, including their own. </p><p>But Biden’s decision reflected a determination to put the fate of his country ahead of his personal vanity, <br>a choice Trump is inherently incapable of making.</p><p>After today the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans could not be clearer. </p><p>Biden faces challenges of age that are not going to get any easier. His decision to make way for a younger candidate reaffirmed that his party is not about one man. </p><p>Trump, meanwhile, continues to bellow <a href="https://c.im/tags/gibberish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>gibberish</span></a> at his rallies, <br>raving like the emotionally unstable, would-be <a href="https://c.im/tags/dictator" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dictator</span></a> that he is.</p><p>Even after Trump <a href="https://c.im/tags/insulted" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>insulted</span></a> America’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/veterans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>veterans</span></a> and the nation’s war dead, </p><p>even after he was found liable for <a href="https://c.im/tags/sexual" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sexual</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>abuse</span></a>, </p><p>even after he racked up 34 <a href="https://c.im/tags/felony" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>felony</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/convictions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>convictions</span></a>, </p><p>almost no elected officials in his party called for him to leave the ticket.</p><p> (As usual, Mitt Romney was seated at a table for one.) </p><p>Yet millions of Americans, sadly, have come to regard Trump’s pestilential character as merely a curious facet of an otherwise normal candidate.</p><p>Now that Biden is stepping down, all the false equivalency can end. </p><p>Biden is a good man, and he’s been a good and consequential president with a first-term record most of his predecessors would envy. </p><p>He is capable of serving out his term and should do so. <br>(The calls from Republicans today that he should now resign, coming from opportunistic hypocrites such as Elise Stefanik, are as meaningless as they are predictable.) </p><p>Trump was a disaster, an incompetent and ignorant president whose selfish decisions, <br>especially about COVID-19, <br>likely cost many thousands of Americans their lives.</p><p>🔸Biden’s decision is now also a challenge to every voter in the pro-democracy coalition to live by their words. </p><p>🔸For two years, many Americans lamented the choice between the aging Biden and the dissolute, unbalanced Trump. </p><p>🔸Their wish has been granted: <br>They will now likely have a choice between <br>a <a href="https://c.im/tags/shouty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>shouty</span></a>, 78-year-old habitual <a href="https://c.im/tags/liar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>liar</span></a> <br>whose life is a record of shame and failure </p><p>and a 59-year-old woman who has served <a href="https://c.im/tags/honorably" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>honorably</span></a> as a big-state attorney general, <br>a <a href="https://c.im/tags/senator" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>senator</span></a>, <br>and the <a href="https://c.im/tags/vice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vice</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/president" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>president</span></a> of the United States.</p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/07/a-candidate-not-a-cult-leader/679182/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theatlantic.com/newsletters/ar</span><span class="invisible">chive/2024/07/a-candidate-not-a-cult-leader/679182/</span></a></p>