Look no further, America.
This is our own doing.
Opinion columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports and navigating life in America.
For four years, poll after poll has suggested we don’t want to see the matchup we saw on the presidential debate stage Thursday night. But here we are now, and now we can’t see: Once again, our country’s choice for president is Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and they are as bad as we know they will be back when they can stop.
Why did these two pathetic candidates emerge from our primary? Partly because of the political machine. Partly because no Democrat of any gravitas wants to challenge the incumbent. And because there are no Republicans left with gravitas.
Even before Thursday’s debate, I felt nervous in Washington this week as we all began to realize that the worse candidate (Trump) could beat the worse candidate (Biden). I was there when the White House opened its doors to the LGBTQ+ community in celebration of Pride month, and with the election so close, it’s hard not to think that this might be the last White House Pride celebration for a while.
If you think I’m being overly dramatic, take a bet.
Have you forgotten that one of the things the Trump administration did on Day One was to start remove mention of the LGBTQ+ community from government websites? Including hourremember, like removing weirdos is one of the top priorities.
Yes, many people attending this week’s ceremony are concerned about what Trump’s victory will mean for the homes they recently bought, the safety of their children, their jobs and their homes.
This is what I thought when I realized that America’s choice for president was between a good old man with a good heart and a crazy old man with an ax to grind.
For most of us, that equates to choosing the lesser of two evils.
But it’s not a close call for those of us who remember that past administrations have hunted down weirdo federal government employees and purged them from their jobs (the “lavender scare” of the 1950s, 60s and 70s). Or that the Republican administrations of the 80s and 90s let us die on the streets during the AIDS crisis. There are no two evils to consider.
There is only salvation.
The LGBTQ+ community feels strongly, but this is the stake for everyone in this election.
Climate change is a major issue for Gen Z, but it wasn’t announced until the end of Thursday’s debate. Why not? It’s an economic problem: Climate change affecting the supply chain, which causes inflation. That a major national security issue: The climate crisis is fueling countless conflicts around the world and endangering the US. This is the problem of immigration: The conflict, along with drought and famine and flood, fuel mass migrationwith more to come.
But we haven’t heard anything close to a comprehensive plan to reverse pollution and global warming, or even to mitigate its now-inevitable effects.
Biden didn’t have an inspiring showing on Thursday, didn’t have a good answer on the border and did little to calm the panic of his supporters.
Meanwhile, Trump is a criminal who suggests the Atlantic Ocean will protect us from war in Europe, as if we didn’t just recognize the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. It wasn’t the ocean that kept World War II from being fought on our own shores: It was 16 million Americans in the armed services who defeated the Axis powers before they invaded the US.
Thursday’s faceoff was mostly about optics, and Biden didn’t look good. There is hope among supporters that Friday’s fundraiser in New York will be a victory lap. The high-profile event is meant to galvanize queer voters ahead of Pride weekend. However, “panicked” is the feeling after the debate.
The choice of the president should be one of policy. The historic campaign between a sitting president and a former president should focus on his record.
Unfortunately for many Americans, this election is all about survival. Trump scored a point when he said Biden had referred to black people as “superpredators” – lashing out at the president for championing racist crime bills in the 1990s. Biden himself has repeatedly acknowledged the harm of the bill and as president has worked to make it right.
For some that is not enough, and I understand that. I will also never forget the gross injustice that has sent generations of black people to prison needlessly and wrecking so many lives.
But look at the other side of the stage as well. I can’t forget that in 1989, Trump called for the death penalty for five black and Latino boys accused of assaulting a white female jogger in Central Park. Even after DNA evidence exonerated the five and they were awarded $41 million by the city for their wrongful convictions and incarceration, Trump — when he became president — continued to say he was guilty.
Such racist thinking and rhetoric is not a distant past. Thinking back only three years, to the insurrection of January 6. asked about the convicted criminals who attacked the Capitol, Trump repeatedly characterized as some sort of victim. They scaled walls, broke windows and attacked the Capitol police as members of Congress ran for their lives. If black people tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power, Trump wouldn’t call them patriots.
Well, survival is what I think of when I see Biden and Trump wildly veer from one subject to another on the debate stage. At one point he brags about a golf game that seems like there are no spectators leading him to forget that America is watching.
But watch us do it, at times in horror. It is very clear that in just 16 years, the greatest country on Earth went from “yes we can” to “what happened to us?”
