When I learned yesterday of Bill Kristol’s September 14 podcast interview with long-time Democrat strategist James Carville – On Biden, Trump. the Democrats, and 2024 – I wasted no time getting to it on YouTube.
Make no mistake about it – those of us who are not in the USA have almost as great a stake in what’s going to happen there next year as any American citizen. America remains the closest thing to a world leader – politically, economically, culturally and militarily – as there is.
I was profoundly moved, and relieved, to hear Carville say that, for all the credit Joe Biden deserves – and he has been one of the best presidents despite the constant attacks on him – he needs to step down now and let someone younger run in 2024.
Carville draws attention to the fact that poll after poll reports that, more or less, 75% of the American voting public don’t want the Biden vs Trump choice. Doesn’t that alone say all that needs to be said?
Just think – if either Biden or Trump wins in 2024, American will have a president over 80 years old, the oldest in history, just when the country and the world face multiple crises.
What’s wrong with electing younger men or women? Barack Obama was 48 when elected; Bill Clinton only 47. Republicans seem to prefer older men, but Dwight Eisenhower was only 63, and Abraham Lincoln 52 when elected. Ronald Reagan was 70 when he became president, the oldest ever until that time. But it’s worth remembering that he developed dementia in his second term, which was concealed for some time.
One of the things here that I think is leading people astray is the assumption that Trump is going to be the Republican candidate. Biden beat him once, so he will again.
But University of Chicago professor William Baude and University of St. Thomas professor Michael Stokes Paulsen, both known conservatives, recently published an opinion that Trump is barred by the 14th Amendment from running in a presidential election because of his participation in the Jan 6/2021 insurrection, and his attempt to subvert the 2020 election. Other legal voices have seconded this.
The US supreme court has already shown itself to have little sympathy for Trump. Once this reaches them, as it surely will, I would bet that they will approve it.
The problem with that, Carrville says, is that as soon as you put almost any other Republican candidate up against Biden, the predicted Republican vote goes up.
The Democrat vote also goes up if you put in anyone other than Biden. Carrville insists that the set of possible Democrat candidates are one of the best the Democrats have ever had, so why not give them a chance to prove themselves?
Behind all of this is the fact that a Republican win will probably guarantee an even more right-wing supreme court for a long time, and also could mean America backing away from support of the Ukraine, which, if that results in Ukraine losing a significant part of its territory, will probably unleash military adventures throughout the world.
For anyone who wants to watch this challenging interview, here is the link:
Conversations with Bill Kristol/James Carrville
Alan Conrad 