It's too early to give up on the 2024 election. Robert Reich tells us why. Here's part of what he writes:
Trump could get a second term. But I don’t believe that will happen. The progressive forces in America are overtaking the regressive.
I’m not paying attention to polls. It’s way too early to worry about them. Most of the public hasn’t even focused on the upcoming election.
Biden gave a powerful State of the Union address last Thursday evening — feisty, bold, energetic, and upbeat. He was combative — taking on Trump with gusto, even besting Republican hecklers like MTG. I’m convinced he’s equipped to win reelection.
The broad American public is starting to see just how weird MAGA Republicans really are. Republicans comprise only 28 percent of voting Americans. More than 40 percentof voters consider themselves independent, unaffiliated with either party. Most of these independents don’t want the unhinged running the government.
During the State of the Union, Americans saw Republicans heckle and boo Biden and then sit on their hands when Biden declared that “No child should go hungry in this country.” Hello?
The Republican response to Biden’s speech by Alabama Senator Katie Britt was, to say the least, bizarre. Delivered from her kitchen, it vacillated from wholesome to horrific. . . .
The GOP is so out of touch with American values that it’s putting up outspoken bigots for major offices.
Case in point: Mark Robinson, who won the GOP nomination for governor of North Carolina last Tuesday night, has hurled hateful remarks at everyone from Michelle Obama to the survivors of the Parkland school shooting. He’s called the LGBTQ+ community “filth,” wants to outlaw all abortions, and wants to return to a time when women couldn’t vote. He’s also ridiculed the #MeToo movement, women generally, and climate change
Oh, and he’s a Holocaust denier with a history of antisemitic remarks. He’s suggested that 9/11 was an “inside job,” that the music industry is run by Satan, and that billionaire Democratic donor George Soros orchestrated the Boko Haram kidnappingsof school girls in 2014.
Robinson isn’t the only gonzo Republican nominee, but he typifies the grotesque values of MAGA leaders, including those of its likely presidential candidate.
The reason these bigots and haters are fighting so hard to defeat us is they know progressives are the future of America.
Neither their filibusters, nor their gerrymanders, nor their attempts at voter suppression can stop our rise. Nor can their absurd “great replacement theory,” or even their Supreme Court majority.
I’ve been at this game for almost three-quarters of a century. It’s a long game, and America still has a long way to go. But apart from Trump fanatics, the nation is in many ways better and stronger now than it has ever been — more inclusive, more tolerant, more diverse, more accepting, more dynamic. And it will be far better and stronger years from now, because we are rising.
Sure, we must do better at organizing, mobilizing, and energizing. And get elected lawmakers, along with judges and Supreme Court justices, who reflect our beliefs and values. The Democratic Party must be bolder at countering the power of big corporations and big money. And more aggressive in recruiting and supporting a new generation of progressive leaders in electoral politics.
All of us must become a pro-democracy movement — with all the passion and tenacity that movements require.
Even so, I see a new progressive era dawning in America, and I don’t believe Trump Republicans can hold back the tide. . . .
Here’s the bottom line: The majority of Americans view today’s record-breaking inequalities of income and wealth as dangerous. They believe government has no business forcing women to give birth or telling consenting adults how to conduct the most intimate aspects of their lives.
They want to limit access to guns. They see climate change is an existential threat to the nation and the world. They want to act against systemic racism. They don’t want innocent civilians killed, whether on our streets or in Gaza. They don’t want to give Putin a free hand. They want to protect American democracy from authoritarianism. . . .
Trump Republicans want us to be discouraged. They want us to despair. That’s part of their strategy. They figure that if we’re pessimistic enough, we won’t even fight — and they’ll win everything.
But I believe their backlash is doomed. The Republican Party has become a regressive cesspool, headed by increasingly unmoored people who are utterly out of touch with the dominant and emerging values of America. And most Americans are catching on.
I don’t mean to be a Pollyanna. We’re in the fight of our lives. It will demand a great deal of our energy, our time, and our courage. But this fight is critical and noble. It will set the course for America and the world for decades. And it is winnable.
