{"id":22295,"date":"2024-03-25T12:38:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=22295"},"modified":"2024-03-25T12:38:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:38:52","slug":"its-biden-v-trump-but-theres-only-one-way-to-vote-to-save-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2024\/03\/25\/its-biden-v-trump-but-theres-only-one-way-to-vote-to-save-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Biden v. Trump, But There\u2019s Only One Way To Vote To Save Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Emil Guillermo<\/em>

<\/strong>We are now at a stage where the big rematch for the U.S. presidency is assured between President Biden and the former president who, at first, wouldn\u2019t go away peacefully but now wants to get re-elected and stay forever.

<\/strong>This time, Donald Trump vows to do things the right way\u2014for his own self-aggrandizement\u2014in order to ensure his permanent sense of power.

He\u2019s surrounded himself with all the enablers who will help him achieve his stated goal\u2014to be dictator for a day. One day is all he would need to make the decisions and pull the levers to make sure he becomes president for life.

Just like China\u2019s Xi. A dictator. Only Trump would be trumping American democracy for his own gain.

<\/strong>President Joe Biden has no such desires. He\u2019s thinking about the good of the country.

Biden\u2019s State of the Union Address last week had me at \u201cHello.\u201dOr more specifically, \u201cHitler,\u201d the name the president evoked when he began the speech.

Biden started with a quote from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in January 1941 said, \u201cHitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe.\u201d

It was a reminder of the threat.\u201cPresident Roosevelt\u2019s purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment,\u201d Biden said. \u201cFreedom and democracy were under assault in the world. Tonight, I come to the same chamber to address the nation.\u201d

The president was equating Hitler with Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and with Donald Trump\u2019s acquiescence to Putin.\u201cMy predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, \u2018Do whatever the hell you want,\u2019\u201d Biden said, quoting Trump.

\u201cA former American president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It\u2019s outrageous. It\u2019s dangerous. It\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d

So why do the majority of Republicans want Trump to be our next president?

And what of you? Are you tired of freedom and democracy? Then by all means, consider Trump, the man who has coddled Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for years, and who just last week entertained Hungarian dictator Victor Orban at Mar-a-Lago. These are Trump\u2019s role models. Not Lincoln, Jefferson, LBJ, or JFK.If only it were Marcos, senior and not Bong-Bong in the presidency in the RP. Trump would be all over them.

Of course, American presidents from Reagan to Bush have always loved the Marcoses, propping them up until the fall.

A whole new era now, with Trump and the white dictators. That\u2019s how a freedom-loving country like ours finds its Republican party embracing a man who represents the same threat to American democracy as Hitler.

They don\u2019t see themselves as a threat because they see \u201cthe rest of us\u201d as the ones who stand as mortal enemies of their vision of America.

What\u2019s that America? One where the freedom is to their liking: Lots of guns, no immigrants, and everyone pregnant is forced to have unwanted babies. And all the history books feature Donald Trump as the best president of all time, for the rest of time.

That brings us to the other line in Biden\u2019s State of the Union address, which may well be the single most powerful one in the speech.\u201cYou can\u2019t just love your country when you win,\u201d Biden said.

Of course, you work together, winners and losers, to make a better America. You find common ground. You\u2019re on the same team.

You don\u2019t stop the peaceful transition of power with an attempted insurrection.

You don\u2019t proclaim as a party that the election was stolen and continue to deny the legitimacy of an election to this very day.

You don\u2019t stop a real compromise on immigration because it makes for a GOP campaign issue.

You don\u2019t balk at any real solutions because it\u2019s better for you to continue to fight and argue about fixing a problem.

Yet that\u2019s what we see from the Republicans. They\u2019ve lost the sense of democratic values. And once they have full control in a second Trump term, it just won\u2019t matter what their opponents think anymore.

Autocracy, strongman rule, dictatorship by any other name.

Biden\u2019s speech was different. It sought to bring us all together, not just based on ideology, but on class.

Biden boasted about the good economy. The facts are undeniable. He cited historic job growth and small business growth for Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans. (A shout-out to us!)800,000 new manufacturing jobs. More people with health insurance than ever before thanks to Obamacare, which Republicans want to ditch.

The racial wealth gap is the smallest in 20 years. Inflation dropped from 9% to 3%, the lowest in the world and trending lower, Biden said.

But most Americans see the economy like the weather forecast. There\u2019s the actual temperature and then there\u2019s the \u201cfeels like\u201d temperature. And Americans are having trouble feeling how good things really are.

Biden gave assurances for all. \u201cI\u2019m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well, the poor have a way up and the wealthy still do well. We all do well.\u201d

That\u2019s not what you hear from Republicans, who under Trump enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that Biden said, \u201coverwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit.\u201d

The national debt rose by 39% under Trump to $27.8 trillion, higher than any other presidency.

And it was tax cuts to the rich that did it. When you cut out income, a nation\u2019s debt rises, and so-called conservative values go out the window.

Biden promised a fairer tax code where billionaires who pay just 8% now will pay their fair share.

And he vowed to change the fact that 55 of the biggest companies that made $40 billion in profits paid zero in federal income taxes.

On the economics, Biden gives us options. Trump takes away, while fully focused on being an autocratic strongman like Putin.

With democracy\u2019s norms neutralized, he would be a dictator in the White House, surrounded by \u201cyes men.\u201d

That\u2019s the dark Trump vision. And it\u2019s so anti-American, that it\u2019s energized Biden to take his SOTU address on the road.

Oh and the age thing?\u00a0 Just this week, the GOP ageist strategy was dealt a blow when the special prosecutor in the Biden documents case denied saying Biden was senile.

In fact, Robert Hur said Biden had a photographic member.

Add that to the SOTU address and Biden\u2019s showing us all he\u2019s got the stamina, energy, and wisdom to defeat the darkness and fight against the possibility of an American dictator.

The rematch is on and though November may seem far away, lock in your vote in your mind and heart now. Don\u2019t change. Don\u2019t waver.

There can be no swaying if democracy is to be saved.

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is a journalist and commentator. He does a micro-talk show on <\/em>YouTube.com\/@emilamok1<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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