The night I realized I can no longer “vote blue no matter who”
What’s more American than a bit of tension between “We the People” and those who represent us?
In March of 2024, I watched President Joe Biden deliver the annual State of the Union address. It was uncomfortable.
Since that speech feels like a decade ago, let me refresh your memory… it sucked. The speech was underwhelming and at times incoherent. Many establishment liberals claimed that Biden “outperformed expectations.” In doing so, they further lowered the bar for a deeply disappointing administration.
For months leading up to the speech, my faith in the Democratic Party had been cracking, but I didn’t quite understand why I felt that way.
Watching the speech, the puzzle pieces started to connect. The more Biden spoke, the more I felt like I was watching a speech delivered by a 2010s-era Republican...
Biden brushed past the economic pain felt by struggling Americans amid rampant inflation. He focused on making his case for a second term in office. He used the fall of Roe as a messaging platform—issuing platitudes about the "power of women" at the ballot box, despite having done very little to meaningfully defend them.
And then there was immigration. Most administrations (including the Democratic ones) haven't exactly prioritized the well-being of our immigrant neighbors... Obama famously deported millions of people. But the Biden admin was unique because it had specifically campaigned on the importance of human dignity to distinguish itself from the politics of Donald Trump.
And yet here were establishment Dems, using the most important speech of the year to argue for a "bipartisan border bill" which contained "the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen."
The bill would have done massive harm to immigrant communities, setting a foundation for further abuse by future administrations. It took less than one term in power for establishment Democrats to drop their facade of empathy and push for legislation that would have made Donald Trump proud.
On this issue and several others, the Democratic establishment had leaned into the politics of Donald Trump—a complete betrayal of the immigrant communities that gave Biden the presidency.
Biden’s admin wasn't quite as callous as Donald Trump’s in its bigotry toward immigrant communities—because establishment Dems love to hide behind niceties.
But their actions reflected a calcified neoliberal ideology that was quick to betray immigrants rather than actually do the work of defending them. The establishment delights in the idea of simply being the lesser evil—not putting in the work to actually earn votes.
Biden's speech that night sounded great to those with a vested interest in the military industrial complex. It sounded great to other establishment Democrats. But it sounded downright phenomenal to Republicans.
Because despite claiming disapproval of Biden's border bill, Republicans understood that it represented an enormous capitulation from Dems. MAGA had successfully yanked establishment Dems to the right on the issue of immigration—and with them, millions of liberal voters who hate Donald Trump but were unquestioningly loyal to the establishment Dems emulating his policies.
I grew up in a community of immigrants, whom Biden slurred in that speech when he called them "illegals." It's a word his own admin had designated as a pejorative. It's a word meant to shrink a person’s humanity... to reduce them to a paperwork status. Biden let it slip accidentally during a shitty ad lib.
Politicians call people "illegals" when they view those people as political pawns rather than humans. That night I learned not to trust Joe Biden. I learned not to trust any politician just because they’re on “my team.”
I learned that we have to demand progress from our elected officials—not settle for their preferred mediocrity. They are not entitled to our votes.
In order to save this country, we must force the Democratic Party to be better—because they’ve proven they won’t defend us without being held to account. After all, what’s more American than a bit of tension between “We the People” and those who represent us?