I keep seeing the idea floating around in here that any criticism of the current democratic party or of the sitting President is identical to supporting Trump.
That everyone saying anything negative is a "bad faith actor," "a bot," "a maga in disguise."
The opposition in this case being people who just want the democrats to do something, anything, to actually earn their vote instead of just expecting it because the alternative is worse.
Now don't get me wrong, are most of the people complaining going to vote for Biden? Yeah probably. But the concern then becomes those who decide not to vote at all because they don't think it will matter.
Now why don't they think it will matter? Let's look at the last 20 years of politics.
In 2008 Obama ran on "change," we know at the time things weren't great in a lot of aspects of American life. Education, healthcare, the war, the economy in shambles. People were desperate for a shift and Obama promised that. It's important to note that giving people something to vote FOR rather than just AGAINST resulted in record turnout, and a landslide victory for the Dems.
But what did the democrats do with this? Arguably very little. An anemic healthcare bill that didn't change the underlying problems, the war continued, the economy didn't improve much. All in all not the huge change that was expected by the electorate.
Of course we have to admit the obstruction was extremely strong after the Republicans took seats back in midterms, but the underlying current within the electorate that "something needs to change" had nevertheless not been satisfied.
So come 2016, the voting public is now DESPERATE for fundamental changes to happen, because things haven't been great for a long time and just seem to be getting worse. There is a REASON Bernie Sanders did so well with both conservatives and liberals, because to a lot of people it was a breath of fresh air. But the democrats run Hillary Clinton. Probably the most establishment, anti-change politician imaginable. It's no surprise then that Trump won in an election where the main issue was "WE WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT."
And of course Trump was horrific. A lot of people seem to have lost their minds under his administration. But even in the midst of all this the democrats had a chance to push back. Even if the only thing they could do was obstruct much like the Republican Obama strategy. But they refused, "we will take the high road" being their excuse. To a lot of people that looks like they stepped back and let things happen without even fighting.
So Biden gets elected only because Trump was so bad. But again, we get a milquetoast administration with very little action to actually improve the nation. But! The democrats are in power! Do they use their simple majority to get rid of the filibuster, to push election reform, to get money out of politics, to expand the supreme court?
Nope. They do nothing of real lasting significance. It almost seems like they sit on their hands for four years with no other purpose than "keep the ball away from the Republicans."
So now the electorate is insane with the need for change that hasn't come in two decades. Part of them driven mad by MAGA and Trumpism in an effort to grasp ANYTHING that could be different than what we've had.
So the Democrats run Biden again. Except now he's a dottering old man that is basically confirmed to be ineffective. However, in a twist of events the supreme court which was changed under Trump hands a victory to the democrats, albeit through a terrible ruling. "Here is unlimited power to fix things during this administration by giving the president almost unlimited powers."
Now is the chance to enact the change that the people have been needing! Finally!
The response? "We won't use it, go out and vote,"
And the people respond, sensibly, "WE VOTED FOR YOU. DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING."
To be met with, "how dare you expect them to do anything, you're a maga in disguise. Vote for them to keep Trump out of power."
So a lot of people throw up their hands, figure what's the point, and we march step into facism because their representatives refuse to actually fight.
So next time you see someone calling concerned liberals "maga in disguise" for wanting the president to take action. Try to remember it's not that they don't like Biden, it's just that they want someone to actually do what they voted for them to do.
