Electing Joe Biden is nothing more than choosing lesser of two Evils

Posted November 2020

By Tristan Hanson

Staff Editor

In electing former Vice President Joe Biden over current President Donald Trump, America has succeeded at selecting the lesser of the two evils.

As someone who doesn’t associate very strongly with either the mainstream American left or the mainstream American right, I didn’t enter this election cycle having strong tribal loyalties going either way. In fact, earlier on I was seriously conflicted about whom the superior candidate was (or perhaps more accurately, who the lesser of the two evils was). Although I have long been aggrieved by many of Trump’s actions, characteristics, and policies, I was also nervous about electing a 77-year-old man who—and I understand this is now a bit cliche, but still holds true nonetheless—likely no longer has the mental fortitude necessary for the office of president. Trump is no spring chicken himself, but one of the few positive things I can say about him is that he has a remarkable amount of energy and vigor for a man his age, a quality that thus far hasn’t been visibly diminished by his time in the Oval Office. The job of President of the United States is one that undoubtedly takes its toll on those who occupy it—it generally doesn’t take long for the first signs of age to appear on the newly-elected president’s face—and my concern has always been that Biden, having clearly already begun the process of mental degradation that comes with old age, simply won’t be up to the task. Every time he opens his mouth to speak I’ve come to fear he’ll lose his train of thought mid sentence—and he often does. If I can’t rely on him to string together competent and articulate sentences, how can I rely on him to serve in the most important role in the country, perhaps even the world, for the next four years?

And yet, despite this concern, as well as other, more policy-based qualms, I still eventually came to the conclusion that Biden was the superior candidate. While Biden may be bordering on senile, Trump has already delved deep into the waters of irresponsibility. And while Biden’s senility is more a danger to himself than the country, with many, more competent advisors at his side to guide him and a vice president able to take his place if he’s no longer able to continue, Trump’s irresponsibility has the potential to inflict irreversible harm upon this country for many years to come.

Of all the different areas of policy we could speak about, let’s take climate policy as an example. Climate change is already having disastrous consequences around the world. In the previous decade, we experienced twice as many “billion dollar” climate disasters in the U.S. than we did in the decade prior to that, which itself was twice as many as we experienced in the 80s. California experienced 4 of its 5 largest wildfires on record, and Arctic Sea ice-cover dropped about 13%, contributing to rising sea levels. But what’s more concerning than that is the potential implications climate change could have for the future if left unaddressed. According to the U.N., temperatures are currently on pace to rise around 3.2 degrees celsius by the end of the century, which is over double the warming that scientists expect would be necessary to irreversibly harm the planet. Either way, our prospects are grim if we don’t act fast, and the U.N. has stated that we only have about a decade or so to address this looming threat.

So what, then, is President Trump’s (and more broadly the Republican Party’s) plan to address climate change? It’s quite literally to stick our heads in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening. Among other things, Trump has denied the overwhelming scientific consensus behind climate change, attempted to expunge mentions of climate change from governmental websites. He's withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord, and sought to boost U.S. production of coal, oil, and gas, all of which contribute towards the growing climate crisis on our hands.

Given the gravity of the climate situation and the grave consequences we could all face if left unaddressed, this type of convenience-based science denial is profoundly irresponsible, a disgrace to the pillars of truth and reason upon which any society should be built and an almost taunting jab at the younger generation who merely want a healthy planet for them and their children to live on. A fair amount of funding for the effort to fight climate change shouldn’t be so much to ask, and yet, Trump and the Republican Party, who have increasingly become a cult formed in his honor, seem instead more interested in the pointless and misguided pursuit of bolstering what is already the world’s most bloated military budget. Instead of attempting to meaningfully tackle a threat to the world far greater than all our enemies combined, they’ve opted to plump the cheeks of the defense contractors who’ve already worked so tirelessly to cultivate the military-industrial complex and convince Congress we really need a greater military budget than the next seven countries combined.

Beyond the climate crisis, though, there was another issue that played an instrumental role in tipping me over to Biden’s side: the many, very overt attempts Trump has made to undermine our democracy.

For the longest time, I believed that the claims made that Trump was a present threat to our democracy amounted to nothing but fearmongering, borne out of a hysteria of sorts over Trump’s unexpected and unprecedented 2016 victory. But in the run up to the election, Trump made some very questionable statements that began to change my mind. Firstly, in July, Trump floated the idea of postponing the election, claiming, without evidence, that the mail-in method of voting prevalently used this election was conducive to voter fraud. He then refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power when asked directly about the topic by a reporter in September. Such statements, particularly his suggestion that the election be delayed, are the stuff of quasi-democratic leaders dictators like Vladimir Putin. Not only does Trump lack the authority to postpone elections, doing so would also unjustly and unnecessarily extend his reign, delaying the will of the people for no valid reason.

Ultimately, based on how the election played out, I think it’s safe to say my concerns over Trump’s undemocratic behavior were just. On the night of the election, Nov. 3, Trump declared victory to his followers long before we even had a solid understanding of who was in the lead. This was, once more, profoundly irresponsible. He hadn’t yet won. He was in no position to claim he had, and that he thus had the support of the people in remaining in power. Making this declaration, though, served a purpose. It allowed him to successfully plant into his supporters’ heads a narrative that went, “I’ve already won, and if I lose it from here, it’s because they stole it from me!” And, unsurprisingly, when the news broke that he had lost, this is exactly what the narrative was.

At some point, as mail-in ballots in key states continued flooding in, and continued being overwhelmingly Democratic, it became clear that the tide of the election was turning. What was Trump’s response? “Voter fraud!” he cried. Vague allegations were made, the only evidence being that “All these mail in votes coming in late and being predominantly Democratic must mean something, right?” (Which was, by the way, to be predicted. We knew prior to the election that mail in votes would likely be counted last, and we knew that polls showed they would be largely Democratic, in no small part due to Trump’s repeated vilification of mail-in voting.) Cries to “stop the count!” rung out from Trump and his supporters, as though refusing to count everyone’s vote would somehow make the election more fair and democratic. Overall, he threw a nasty temper tantrum, owing to his seemingly childish and immature nature. But we must not remember it solely as such, lest we overlook the more sinister and nefarious impulses behind it. We have a sitting president who has the audacity to suggest we stop counting votes for no reason other than doing so benefits his opponent. We have a sitting president who attempts to introduce doubt, without evidence, into what are seemingly perfectly legitimate election results solely because it didn’t go his way. This should be deeply troubling to anyone who cares about American democracy.

None of this is to say that Biden, beyond the issue of his age, is perfect. Far from it. And although I disagree fundamentally with Trump on many issues, the same could perhaps be said about Biden. Let’s take the issue of gun control, for example. I don’t generally support gun control. I see it more-often-than-not as an impulsive reaction to certain tragic events that ultimately fails to achieve much beyond further depriving citizens of rights explicitly enshrined in the Constitution, and many of the gun control policies Biden has proposed I disagree with. But I can’t help feeling that many of the impassioned claims conservatives have made about how Biden is gonna “take yer guns!” are absurd. Biden has never even talked about gun confiscation. What he has proposed is a voluntary buyback system for “assault weapons” and/or mandatory gun registration for assault weapons. This is, in my mind, an issue, but we shouldn’t mischaracterize it as “gun confiscation,” and gun owners should rest assured knowing their guns are probably safe, unless Biden becomes the first recorded case of a modern politician who’s stronger in action than in rhetoric. Even assuming this was tantamount to gun confiscation, though, we’d have to ask ourselves: “What’s the likelihood this is actually passed?” It’s looking as though Republicans are going to hold the Senate, while conservatives outnumber liberals in the Supreme Court 6-3. I don’t think it would be too bold a prediction to say any radical gun control passing and being upheld is unlikely.

It’s important to emphasize that Americans weren’t exactly given a choice between two stellar options here. Trump has been one of, if not, the most unpopular presidents in modern American history. And I’ll stand on record saying that literally any other Democratic primary contender would have been a better nominee than Biden. But if the choice is between an incompetent, immature manchild who turns a blind eye to perhaps the greatest crisis of our time and has no regard for democracy, and an old man whose greatest threat is to himself, I’ll choose the latter every time. Ultimately, I’m glad America did too.