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Joe Biden = Us [1]

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Date: 2025-01-18

I’ve been thinking about writing a diary about Biden for a while. Years, actually. How he “saved” democracy by being the person that was able to get 7 million more votes than Trump and nearly all of the swing states in 2020. Well, 2024 throws that into a different light.

But the thing that sticks with me the most, besides the utter nonsense after the 2020 election leading to 1/6, is the way he and his administration were treated in those first days. Those first hours, actually.

Trump beats town the morning of the inauguration, being the classless sore loser that he is. There is no crowd to see the inauguration ceremony, for reasons that we all know. Worst of all, the shabby treatment he and his family had from those first moments including a delay in opening the doors for them.

This was all part of Trump either firing or sending the White House staff home that morning so no one was there to greet and help the Bidens.

That always stuck with me. That Trump was such a complete bum is not surprising. These are the things that will come up in history and people will be perplexed that they happened.

But was the entirety of DC and the Executive branch hostage to Trump’s pettiness? Really? On this everyone followed protocol to a T?

Dial out a bit and look over the past 8 years from a longer vantage point and some things sure look clear:

- Trump is an avatar of white/male/right wing Christian privilege. Biden and all Democrats represent a coalition of educated urban/suburban liberals, non-whites, women, and LGBTQ. For the people that represent the status quo, that is an equation where one side is always dominant, no matter how many more votes our side gets or how many elections won.

- Trump is a full fledged representative of the oligarchs, as well as foreign autocrats. Never mind that those two groups are at odds with each other over various areas and policies. One thing that unites them is an utter disdain for the average person and entities with less money. In other words, 98% of the planet. Biden was not in their corner, therefore he is a “bogus” president. Oh sure, he’ll hold the office and the title. But he can’t really do anything serious against them. They had all sorts of allies (Mansinema, the SCOTUS) to make sure of that.

- the lack of respect and the great indifference shown to Biden himself- from that opening on- was purposeful. And picked up on by all the worst people- “power brokers” and hapless pundits, who couldn’t wait to tell everyone how limp and helpless he was. They were taking their cues from not only the GOP and right wing noise machine but, surely, the oligarchs that were bragging how Biden couldn’t really do what he wanted, what he promised, or what they feared.

Do you get the drift here?

Joe Biden was not simply the winner of the 2020 election, with the most votes ever, and the president. He was there for us, “the American people.” And he was particularly there for us, the Democratic coalition. The out-groups. The working class. The Bottom 95%. The Americans that were not afraid of losing any privilege and just wanted a fair share of the nation’s bounty for all of us.

That makes you a loser in the tech bro/oligarch/right wing/MAGA bubble.

Trump isn’t simply being an ass right now- demanding everyone kiss his ring, threatening to use federal power to go after his enemies, already looking to punch down harder on the marginalized- because he’s such a repugnant person.

He is acting on behalf of the oligarchs who want everyone to know that when “they” are running things it goes their way, and when “we” get into office we don’t get as much power or respect.

The MAGA cult also wants this, as they want their tribal privilege upheld and getting preferential treatment while “we” stay in the back of the bus and are held to a higher standard.

The people with out-sized power, or tribal privilege that they desperately want to hold onto to, want all of us to know that the very things that would make us elevate Joe Biden make him a “loser” to them.

Biden didn’t separate the nation into supporters/Biden voters and non-supporters/non-Biden voters. If the red states needed more federal dollars thanks to the neglect of their Republican representatives, Biden let them have it. If a red state full of Trump voters was hit by a disaster, he didn’t hesitate to send them all the aid they needed.

Those very qualities are a liability to the crowd on the other side. Don’t you know that people are supposed to be rewarded or punished based on their alliances? What a sucker!

Biden didn’t put out massive social media posts of insults and complaints, mixed in with heavy helpings of complete bullshit about what was happening and who was to blame. He was too busy on the actual job. To these guys, insecure losers to a one, the lack of bragging and insulting was a sign of weakness.

Joe Biden was and is a decent person. They regard that as a mark against him.

That Biden was actually trying to help the Bottom 95% was noticed more by the oligarchs and their water carriers than many members of the Bottom 95% itself. There are many reasons for that, involving the media and the lack of real news, but that was another black mark against him. From this crowd.

Point of fact Joe Biden was treated as disrespectfully and dismissed as much by the oligarchs and their circle as they would if you or I- mere peasants- showed up in front of them.

In that way, Joe Biden really did represent us.

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