After two turbulent and fascinating months Here are some things I’m seeing in American politics as this election year approaches the home stretch.
After the presidential debate in June, Joe Biden’s candidacy was doomed. He was right to drop out of the election.
The weakness we all saw was obvious. Afterward, polls showed Biden losing support seemingly by the hour. To Biden’s credit, the American public was already expressing concerns about Biden’s age before the debate; the doubts became insurmountable afterward.
David Gushee
It is very disturbing that his staff wanted to keep the president’s waning vitality as secret as possible before the debate made that impossible. Biden’s situation reminds me of other presidents – Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK – whose health problems were downplayed or kept secret from the public. People deserve better information from their government.
It is good for our country that President Biden has finally resigned. He obviously did not do so voluntarily. The pressure was enormous. He was under the illusion that he would continue to be successful.
It’s a refreshing lesson: Don’t hold on too long. You may think you’re indispensable. But no one is indispensable.
Kamala Harris had a surprisingly successful start.
Harris’ failed 2020 presidential bid and early reports of her vice presidency were not promising, but from the moment she knew Biden was going to step down, she took effective action.
The way she secured the nomination within 24 hours was a masterpiece of power consolidation.
Overall, Harris’ performance since July 21 has been like that of a Broadway understudy who has blossomed into a top talent, but no one knows it yet. It’s not until she gets the chance to take on the lead role that everyone discovers who she has become.
Another way to look at it is that after July 21, she had to face the challenge, whether she went under or not – and she has faced that challenge. In the polls this week, she has reached a lead of Biden -3 to Harris +4.
A big problem for Harris is running as both the incumbent vice president and the candidate for change. But so far, she’s succeeding.
Republicans should be able to pin everything they can criticize about the Biden-Harris administration’s policies on Harris: the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, border controls, inflation, housing. And they are doing everything they can to do that. But so far, the shock that everything is different about the vice president seems to outweigh the fact that she is the incumbent vice president.
At the Democratic Convention, I saw two key issues where Harris’ substantive position did not visibly differ from Biden’s, but she managed to stand out on both counts: abortion and Israel/Gaza/Palestine.
On abortion, where Biden has never been comfortable articulating the pro-choice arguments, Harris does so with confidence, including at the convention. It is not just that she, as a woman with authority, can say, “Trust women.” She also argues that repealing Roe v. Wade in 2022 and the passage of highly restrictive legislation by several state legislatures means a dramatic loss of basic personal freedoms for women, increases risks to women’s health, reduces access to necessary health care (leading to life-threatening emergencies in some cases), and in some states forces girls and women to carry pregnancies that are the result of sexual assault. Biden has never made such arguments.
“Harris makes her case very well on this issue. She will be harassing Republicans all fall.”
She could also have said that the number of abortions in the United States has Dobbs. And that voters in both red and blue states consistently reject very restrictive abortion laws when they have a vote on them (six states so far, and another ten states are considering such measures in November). Harris makes a very good case on this issue. She will be bombarding Republicans with it all fall.
On Israel/Gaza/Palestine, the Biden-Harris administration is under pressure from many grassroots supporters to more effectively pressure for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and to more effectively counter the Netanyahu government’s morally unacceptable policies in Gaza (and the West Bank).
In Gaza, the Israeli military continues to attack the civilian population without any apparent strategic objective. In the spirit of just war theory, it is hard not to conclude that Israel is violating the two basic principles of proportionality and the distinction between civilian and military targets. More than 40,000 people are dead, most of them civilians. The landscape and most of Gaza’s infrastructure and institutions have been destroyed, and Gaza is facing a humanitarian emergency.
Discontent over this issue threatened to disrupt the Democratic convention. Police and organizers kept the protests in check, but the Democrats had both a political problem with their own base and a corresponding guilty conscience.
In her remarkable treatment of these issues at the Congress, Harris first condemned at length the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and supported Israel’s security and the US commitment to that security. But she also articulated – and seemed feel – expressed its sincere concern at the “heartbreaking” suffering of the people of Gaza and reiterated its commitment to the Palestinian right “to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.
Harris may not have broken new ground on the substance, but her finely tuned, very balanced statement and emotional tone were spot on. At least implicitly, Harris signaled that change is coming if she is elected.
Donald Trump has swallowed the Republican Party and seems to have no idea how to compete against his new opponent.
The former president is no longer the younger, more vital candidate than his Democratic opponent. His personal insults and wild accusations are not helping him. Slowly but surely, the polls are turning in favor of the Democrats.
The Republicans certainly had the chance to put forward another candidate who would not be burdened with Trump’s extraordinary baggage, but they did not do so because Trump dominates what is left of the party.
“Trump has turned his party into a hollow personalistic shell.”
It was obvious that there was a difference between a Republican convention, which featured no former presidents, vice presidents, or defeated candidates (no Bushes, no Cheneys, no Quayle, Palin, Romney, Ryan, or Pence), and the continuity seen at the DNC, where virtually the entire palette of former top politicians was represented.
Trump has turned his party into a hollow, personalistic shell. It is difficult to imagine what the reconstruction will look like after he leaves.
The vice presidential candidates seem unusually significant in 2024.
JD Vance was hurt by his effective research into the opposition, which quickly defined him through some of his more inflammatory interview comments from the past. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz seems to be striking a chord with a generation of young people who have lost their fathers in one way or another.
Authoritarian, reactionary Christianity will clearly keep the conservative Christian sector with Trump.
Trump still has influence over right-wing Christians. These Christians are not a national majority, although they dominate in many regions and states. That is a big part of the whole phenomenon – it is a national minority that itself feels like a majority. (I once lived in a small town in West Tennessee. I know.)
Perhaps once again tens of millions of Americans, who dominate two dozen states, will believe that her The President is the person who will be declared the loser in the official Electoral College count. It will be easy for Trump to convince some of them that this can only have happened through voter fraud – unless the Democrats win overwhelmingly.
As a Christian ethicist, I am convinced that the defense of democratic norms will continue to be the most important issue in this election.
“No concrete political question that is contested within a democracy is as important as the question of whether democracy itself will survive.”
These norms include respect for free and fair elections, rejection of political violence, and the peaceful transfer of power. No specific political issue at stake in a democracy is as important as the question of whether democracy itself will survive. This fall, I will be working on advocating for democracy.
However, there is also cause for concern, as there are many signs that the penultimate area of policy is evolving into an area of ultimate importance.
Politics has become our religion, while religious devotion is waning. Given the polarization of our politics, many people of faith seem to have made politics their primary goal, and faith has become subordinate or even indistinguishable from politics.
Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. No country is that kingdom. No human community deserves absolute loyalty.
One reason I hope that our politics will calm down in the not too distant future is so that she can then once again take her rightful place in our loyalty.
David P. Gushee is a leading Christian ethicist. He is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, Chair of Christian Social Ethics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Senior Research Fellow at the International Baptist Theological Study Centre. He is a past president of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics. His latest book is Introducing Christian Ethics. He is also the author of Kingdom Ethics, After Evangelicalism, and Changing Our Mind: The Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBTQ Christians. He and his wife, Jeanie, live in Atlanta. For more information: davidpgushee.com or Facebook.
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