To say the month of July has been a roller coaster in American politics is an absolute understatement. Starting with the disastrous debate that exposed President Biden’s health decline, following the attempted assassination of President Trump, and now the replacement of Biden well after primary elections, we have had a steady stream of attempts to reject the American electoral process.
We are all horrified by the assassination attempt on President Trump and the tragic murder of Corey Comperatore. I also think many of us are sadly not shocked it has come to this. We have a weaponized government that represents only the people who agree with it – if you disagree with the swamp, if you stand up and say, “enough is enough,” you are labeled a threat to democracy.
It is a shameful situation we are in that requires a strong and genuine leader to bring the institutional change we so desperately need. The rhetoric used by the left against President Trump is outlandish – implying the end of America as we know it if he wins simply encourages extreme behavior to try to prevent his election.
Extreme behavior includes what now looks like a concerted effort to hide the scale and scope of age-related health challenges for President Biden. For months, Biden’s lead surrogates were saying he was “sharp as a tack” and often outpaced his staff with his stamina. The debate revealed just how false all those claims were. Everyone ages, and many of us have seen firsthand the memory issues emerging in family members in their 80s, but few of us would say they should be in charge of consequential government decisions while experiencing them.
Local democrats don’t escape this criticism. Even after the debate, Gov. Tim Walz went to the White House to meet with Biden, and proclaimed Biden to be “fit for office” and assured Biden had his full support to defeat the “existential threat” from a return of President Trump. Walz not only actively ignored the truth we could all see about Biden’s health – he engaged in extreme rhetoric about his opposition to President Trump.
We don’t know why Trump was targeted for assassination. It is clear however Democrats across the board said Trump would risk America’s very existence. That kind of rhetoric fuels extreme actions.
Transparency and honesty should be the foundation of our political debate. It’s not honest to say President Trump would end American democracy. It’s not transparent to hide the decline faced by President Biden behind teleprompters and short, carefully scripted events. Transparency and honesty go hand in hand and should be the type of leadership we elevate in our political system. We should be able to have disagreements on the size of government or the use of our tax dollars. About policies that affect our children and grandchildren. About the future of the country and the direction we want to go. We should be able to have these debates without fearing for our lives.