"Better than Trump" is just not good enough. [View all]

[Saviolo]

Hey, everyone! It's primary season! The season when we apparently all tear each other apart. One big defense I see a lot of candidate faithfuls use is "Compared to Trump, s/he's..."

Stop it. We aren't comparing our candidate to Trump. Of course your preferred candidate is better than Trump. Almost anyone would be better than Trump. That is such an absurdly low bar I can't even look at it. Jeb! would be better than Trump right now, that's how low the bar is. GWB would be better than Trump, and I sure as hell don't want that whole mess back.

It's early in the season, there are still a lot (too many) candidates, and it's important that we keep our minds open, and we keep ourselves honest and asking important questions. A lot of us have a favourite candidate, and a lot have still not chosen anyone. It's all valid. But we have to stop with "But compared to Trump..." nonsense. Of course your candidate is better than Trump. The joke is that you'd vote for a ham sandwich over Trump, but keep in mind: Not everyone would. Some people need to be excited to come to the polls. Some people need something strong and tangible to vote FOR, not just to vote against.

Several candidates seem like they'd be very good at righting the ship and getting everything back to how it was before Trump took office. Great! We need that, but remember that there are at-risk communities whose lives still weren't great then, either. Trans people were still dying in the streets. Unarmed POC were being shot by police. The poor were getting poorer and the rich getting richer. Women were losing bodily autonomy. This has been going on under D and R presidents. D and R congress.

Whoever the D candidate is needs to do more than say "I'm going to beat Trump." Of course. Of course we all desire Trump's loss and removal (and hopefully perp walk). But that candidate also has to say "... and we're going to take this country forward. We're going to look after our vulnerable and at-risk communities. We're going to try to address decades (or centuries) of systemic inequality." That is how you get people to vote FOR you, by actually offering something to the people who need it. To the people suffering. Not only that, but you have to do your best to actually deliver.

Sorry for rambling, just some frustration. Whoever the candidate ends up being, they need to be ready to move things forward. We also need to take back the Senate, and GOTV for that race, too.