Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here,” and Joe Biden demonstrated the plain, pragmatic truth of that statement today. If you’re just now reading the political news of the day, there was a considerable bru ha ha generated when a communications staffer at the DNC insensitively responded to news of Asa Hutchinson formally suspending his bid for the GOP nomination last night. The staffer quipped, “This news comes as a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out.” That was a stupid thing to say.
Many Democrats cringed, because of a couple of very important reasons: Asa Hutchinson stood up to Donald Trump and any Republican who does that is not deserving of any kind of Democratic rebuke, only our thanks. Also, on a pragmatic level, we need every phuquing vote that we can get in November. We don’t want to alienate any allies on the other side of the aisle. The best analysis I’ve read of this debacle is from Jonathan Last at the Bulwark. You’ll read his commentary down below. But first, here’s how Joe Biden handled it. He had his Chief of Staff, Jeff Zients, phone Hutchinson with an apology.
Thanks for posting this, Amanda. If we’re ever going to achieve some semblance of unity again in this country we’re gonna need a lot more people thinking this way. The nastiness of our politics today tends to divide us as much as our polarizing and uncompromising viewpoints.
— Dan Coonan (@dancoonanauthor) January 17, 2024
Very good move. Now on to what Jonathan Last had to say.
Democrats need to marshal every positive input they can find. That means saying nice things about Joe Manchin, in case 500 voters in Georgia are swayed by hearing that Biden likes Manchin. Or saying nice things about Asa Hutchinson, in case there are 300 Arkansas transplants now living in Fulton County who have fond memories of Asa.
Republicans can win with their base because their base is (a) homogeneous and (b) large. The Democratic base is a coalition and D’s need to do everything possible to make that coalition as large as possible.
Now the morality: Asa Hutchinson is a damn hero.
There was no reason for Hutchinson to resist Trump—every one of his peers in Arkansas folded. There was sure as hell no reason for Asa to stand up to Trump in 2024. He could have just stayed home and kept quiet.
Instead, Asa stood up and told the truth about Trump.
Here’s a thing Democrats may not realize: If you’re a Democrat and you stand up to Trump, it costs you nothing. It’s free. It’s better than free, actually: That’s been the name of the game in Democratic politics for almost a decade.
For a guy like Asa to step up and take on Trump it costs him everything. He loses friends. He loses opportunities. His peers in Arkansas come to see him as at worst a traitor and at best a mental defective.
Asa chose to make himself a leper when no one expected him to take a stand. He did it for no gain. He did it because he knew it was right.
Asa conducted himself with honor throughout his entire campaign. He did not both-sides. He did not pretend that Joe Biden was just as bad as Donald Trump. He did not lie about America being in a state of chaos because of Biden’s administration.
Hutchinson was at least a recognizable Republican standing up for the values that that party used to espouse. It’s a sad commentary on the MAGAfied mess that the GOP now is that the man didn’t get far more support than he did. But in no way, shape or form is he worthy of anything other than our gratitude and our respect. I’m glad that President Biden handled this in the manner that he did.
And here’s the bottom line of what Last has to say and this is gospel truth.
Is it unfair that Democrats need to play perfect baseball? Yes. But fair’s got nothing to do with it.
Democrats need to be their best selves. And what’s more, they ought to be their best selves.
Because that’s what America needs right now.
There is one functioning political party right now and it’s us. The other party is “a party marching in lockstep behind a madman who says—explicitly—that he wants to “terminate” parts of the Constitution, be “a dictator,” go beyond serving two terms as president, and much, much more.” We have to be our best and we have to rise to this occasion. Simply, there are Americans and there is Trump, and we can’t afford to alienate even one ally. At the end of the day either America will still be standing, or Trump will be back in office and America as we knew it will be gone. The fact of the matter is that even with him not getting back in, we’ve lost so much stature in the world that it may take us decades to recover the trust of the world, if in fact we ever do.
I’m glad that this matter was handled with grace, dignity, and style. MAGAs can say what they will about Joe Biden, he’s a big enough man to admit when something has gone wrong and he will apologize and make all efforts to set things straight. That’s leadership. It’s also a state of affairs many lightyears beyond one Donald J. Trump.
President Biden displayed not just class, but leadership. GOOD leadership. The DNC should follow his example and also reach out and apologize. Then send that staffer down to Arkansas and treat Hutchinson to a quiet steak dinner at the best joint in town to offer a personal apology. You’re right. This is the type of old school GOPer we will need as this year progresses to pick up handfuls (maybe more) votes all over the country.
The fact that Biden is everything Trump is not makes this election even more stark. He’s a true statesman, an experienced leader, and a moral man. Trump is none of those and is a spoiled child with no life experience that shows, and is an immoral man in every way a person can be evil. We must rise up and stop this death cult.
The scary thing for me is that some part of the electorate does not want a moral man. they want a strong man dictator who does things on a whim. Jimmy Carter was a statesman, he got run over by a truck with dickhead yuppies and reagans shoot first diplomacy. clint eastwood made a movie about invading grenada, an island, how hard is that. rambo was invading vietnam and killing people right and left. I am afraid if trump threatens to invade venezuela that that jingoism will jump on board. The US left Afghanistan in 2021, the US doesn’t like to not have a war (sorry for the double negative). I am afraid we are due.
The DNC staffer hopefully has been fired. Anyone without an even basic filter, one that would have kept that comment in the staffer’s little brain, should not be in the position the staffer was in. It would seem that the very first employee training given by the DNC would be one about Hot Mics. The session would include the little fact that other people can hear what you say. If the DNC doesn’t supply that kind of new employee training then they are stupider than that staffer.