Millions of Americans are drowning in debt. Ahead of the upcoming election, Democrats can do what’s both right and popular by promising to cancel it.
by Scott Remer, In These Times
Hard as it may be to believe, the 2024 presidential election is now little more than a year away. Despite four criminal indictments, Donald Trump’s defiance of political gravity shows no signs of abating, even as he has defended the January 6 insurrection and vowed to lock up his political opponents. Given Trump’s penchant for authoritarianism and the threat his followers pose to our political system — especially in light of Democrats’ failure to pass desperately needed democratic reforms—President Biden’s temptation in the next year will likely be to deploy the same emotive, content-light “battle for the soul of the nation” argument that he used in 2022, ahead of the midterms. After all, there’s precedent for Democrats: Party strategists employed a similar framing tactic in 2016, when Hillary Clinton turned the election into a referendum on whether America is “better than Donald Trump” and claimed punningly that “love trumps hate.”
It is worth reminding voters of all the ways that Trumpism imperils our freedoms. If he becomes the Republican presidential nominee, Trump threatens to impose frightening changes like the revocation of birthright citizenship and instituting Schedule F, which would purge the federal bureaucracy of 50,000 career civil servants and replace them with far-right extremists and allies. He also promises to reverse progress on mitigating climate change while centralizing power and punishing his political enemies.
But if President Biden and the Democrats want to defeat Trump and his MAGA movement, along with highlighting the dangers of a vindictive demagogue winning in 2024, they will need to run on a positive platform which would improve the material lives of working people. Central to that program should be taking on the fight to eliminate student and medical debt.
Recent Posts
Wilson in Seattle and Mamdani in New York Back Starbucks Workers Strike
Take Action Now “I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either.” By Jon Queally, Common Dreams The mayors-elect in both Seattle and…
‘The Trump Administration Needs to Be Isolated in Its Anti-Science Actions’: CounterSpin interview with Rachel Cleetus on climate complicity
Take Action Now Janine Jackson interviewed the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Rachel Cleetus about climate complicity for the October 31, 2025,…
Europe Is Regulating AI Hiring. Why Isn’t America?
Take Action Now In 2024, the European Union passed the Artificial Intelligence Act, a landmark law that classifies any AI software used in hiring as…
“Gunboat Diplomacy”: U.S. War In Latin America Feared As Hegseth Launches “Operation Southern Spear”
Take Action Now “…it’s time for those of us here to stand up and say that where we will not support any attempt to bring back the old…