This insufferable American moment
Author’s Note: Hey everyone, this was published a few days before President Biden withdrew from the race. I still think everything below is relevant, some points even more so now, which is why I’ve decided to leave it unedited. I hope you find it helpful. - Mark
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything that’s straight up political. Now seems as good a time as any, considering recent events.
The first presidential debate was roughly three weeks ago. It’s clear the real loser wasn’t so much one of the candidates as it was virtually everyone living in America. On one side was a shameless liar and philandering sexual predator who pushes for political violence. On the other was an incoherent incumbent unable to make the very easy case that democracy is still the best path we have. It all went down in a format that prevents a robust exchange of ideas; indeed, even the most well-spoken people in the world would be unable to have a true debate with only two minutes to answer questions and one minute to respond or rebut.
It was a stark symbol of our times: a frail liberalism struggling to forge a path forward and a vengeful, authoritarian populism eager to wreck every institution with no thought for what comes next. And little interest from members of the free press in taking a core democratic process seriously.
Then came the assassination attempt. Not even Donald Trump is safe from the climate of political violence he has played the starring role in cultivating. The attempted murder of the former president and the killing of an innocent man deserves outrage. It is not okay. It should be assumed that it is wrong. Yet those who have failed to denounce political violence in the past refused to self-reflect despite their pox descending on their own house. Their tune remains the same: political violence for me, but not for thee.
To be sure, this election leaves much to be desired, even for those of us who happily voted for Biden in 2020 and recognize he’s done some really good things during his presidency. All indicators from polls to every day conversations show the majority of Americans don’t want either candidate running. Trump is obviously unqualified. Whatever you think of Biden, he pledged to be a bridge to a new generation. Running for a second term flies in the face of that promise, whether he is mentally fit to run for office and lead the country or not.
But the two main candidates aren’t the only reason so many people who care about the direction of the country detest political news and try to avoid talking about politics. The largest political divide in America today is not between Democrats and Republicans or conservatives and liberals. It’s between people who follow politics closely and those who barely tune into it. The former group often finds the latter to be beyond understanding. The latter often finds the former to be incredibly obnoxious.
These past few weeks gave all of us a clear picture of why those who don’t pay close attention to politics…well…don’t. It has little to do with the candidates and everything to do with the recent, borderline insanity we are witnessing.
The “debate” was bad. The aftermath has been far worse.
I don’t know of any sane person who went into the debate thinking it would be a good experience. It played out more or less how a lot of ordinary Americans seemed to think it would, maybe even worse. By the end many sighed with disappointment, just like they have been sighing for months.
But if the debate was bad, then the aftermath has been a post-apocalyptic hellscape driven by obsessive journalism and a largely entitled, self-victimizing centrism.
Many journalists and news agencies took Biden’s poor performance and serious questions about his health —a story worthy of being reported on— and fetishized it to the detriment of other important stories. Biden’s bad debate performance became the only political story. This manifested in some truly shoddy and disgustingly speculative pieces, including insinuations that Biden has Parkinson’s disease with no serious evidence offered. The White House certainly hasn’t done themselves any favors, but the double standard in how no one gets a free pass but Trump came into sharp clarity. Biden stumbled over his words and reporters have relentlessly questioned his mental acuity ever since. Trump has spoken like a deranged lunatic for years, including in the debate, and journalists have shrugged it off more and more as time passes. As for the candidates actual legacies of what they did and policy, who has time for that?
It did not end there. Much of the centrist commentator class devolved into chaos and frantic calls to replace Biden on the ticket. While that’s a perfectly justified view to hold, many of the bold proclamations stemming from the frenzy have been absolutely bizarre. Some who had concerns about Biden’s age before the debate instantly wagged their fingers at the country. If only you people would listen to us, they self-victimized. Others have declared that Democrats are not even discussing the problem, despite obvious examples that they very much are. One respected centrist Christian commentator even described Democrats possible refusal to replace Biden on the ticket “as their Jan. 6.”
I want you to read that last one again. It is absurd to equate a violent attempt to overthrow American democracy, the mauling of police officers that led to multiple suicides, and elected Republicans refusing to hold anyone accountable with a decision to run a candidate who rejects all of the above, a decision that has not even been made yet and that may still deliver what a majority of people want anyways. It’s also disgusting considering many of the Democrats who “need” to be convinced Biden should not be running were fearing for their lives on January 6 as a violent mob tried to hunt them down.
Look, there are many sane voices in this country. But we all just got a severe taste of why so many people have tuned out of politics: the center, the respectable, and even the smart can be just as unhinged as the ideological extremes.
The assassination attempt was really bad. The aftermath has been unbearable.
Americans were rightfully horrified to see Trump fall to the ground to the sound of gunfire. Political violence is never acceptable. The immediate wave of condemnation was well-deserved, encouraging even. Like the majority of Americans I’m grateful he survived and that most people continue to detest violence.
But also like many Americans, I found myself bracing for what came next. And what came next was truly unbearable and embarrassing: a conspiracy theory-laden wasteland, one that was quickly outmatched by a near slavering obsession with political theater and divisive calls for false unity.
Hardcore MAGA-types and some elected Republicans immediately blamed liberals for the assassination attempt, with one GOP Representative declaring that Biden ordered it himself. Others suggested the Secret Service was complicit. Left-wing social media accounts claimed it was a false flag operation. All despite no one knowing the motive of the shooter and having few details of the situation. Sadly, irresponsible chatter like this from the extremes is par for the course in 2024 America. To our credit at least, a lot of people have gotten better about ignoring it.
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But perhaps we should have been more worried about those loud centrists. Some journalists and commentators completely missed the seriousness of the moment, instead marveling at photos of Trump pumping his fist in the air with blood running down his face. Iconic. History-making. Never mind that an American citizen was murdered, others were wounded, and a major presidential candidate narrowly avoided assassination. Never mind that an exhausted country was forced to endure another painful body blow. But hey, at least the pictures were legendary. It’s the show that really counts, not the substance of the moment.
Next came the centrist civility and tone police. Unify now, they demanded. Stop talking about the threat of political violence. There is little daylight between that and the people who say now is not the time to talk about it after yet another school shooting. Having legitimate conversations about real threats to our governing institutions is being equated with actual dangerous language that has incited actual political violence. Expecting unity to emerge out of ignoring the greatest threat to unity is an absurd proposition. Not talking about problems and not dealing with them doesn’t fix anything. It makes things worse.
Again, there are many sane voices in this country who did not participate in the bizarre aftermath. And again, we all got another taste of why so many people have tuned out of politics: the center, the respectable, and even the smart being just as unhinged as the ideological extremes.
Confronting the ferocity of the out-of-touch centrist and our national lack of accountability
When you step back and take in the larger picture of the last few weeks, it’s easy to understand why so many Americans don’t follow politics closely. Horse-race coverage and fetishized journalism adds no value to human life. Our “debates” leave no room for actual debate. The aggressive push to usurp healthy democratic processes with irrational personal demands leaves no room for civic community. Unsurprisingly, people don’t like being told to shut up when they see real problems that need to be addressed.
I sometimes wonder what bothers Americans more: the ideological extremes or the aggressively feckless center. It’s easy to blame the loud voices on the far-right and hardcore progressive ends of the spectrum for our woes. But many conservatives, moderates, liberals, and respectable progressives alike know those voices are only able to be as loud as they are because of centrist incompetence. The example of many centrists ignoring the visible, intra-Democratic Party conversation about the future of their candidate —merely because the party isn’t doing what they want with the unrealistic immediacy they demand— only highlights an obvious truth: American centrism has no tangible vision for the country, much less a political path to making one a viable option.
These centrists have no one to blame but themselves. It’s been eight long years since so many well-resourced, moderate voices with big platforms declared that both parties “abandoned” them. The loudest still remain locked into cycles of self-radicalization, cycles that have led to a bizarre hand-wringing paralysis intertwined with judgmental entitlement. Here they proudly stand, constantly proclaiming their demands and dislikes while acting as if they have no responsibility to do anything of substance. They have made no serious effort to cast a practical, positive vision for the country. They have made no serious effort to organize disaffected moderates into a viable political party. Their only effort made is to complain and to judge.
Building a healthy life, a vibrant community, even a positive vision for an entire country cannot be done on the basis of what you don’t believe, don’t like, or don’t agree with. This is why so many moderates have not moved to the right or left so much as they’ve just walked away entirely. Those loud centrist voices were not abandoned. They gave up —some were never truly trying to begin with— and then they drove away the moderates who tried to hold them accountable for it.
A lack of accountability, of course, is the crisis lurking behind so many of our other crises. The man who sent the mob to the Capital on January 6 still walks free. Predictably, he still wreaks havoc on us and himself as a result. Regardless of what you think about the Israel-Gaza crisis, the sitting President allowed a foreign leader to dictate our nation’s foreign policy toward the crisis (a big no-no). He was not held to account, and Israelis and Palestinians have paid a steep price for it. The Supreme Court is in the middle of an ethics nightmare so deep that some justices are genuinely shocked ordinary Americans expect them to be above reproach. Heaven forbid the literal highest judges in the land be held to a higher standard!
Much more ink could be spilled about the highest levels, but our anti-accountability environment filters down to us all. Countless companies have used inflation as cover to engage in blatant profiteering. They were not held to account for it, so they got away with it for longer. Abusive pastors and elders continue dehumanizing people in churches because those who have the power to hold them accountable refuse to. Friends and family have been forced to part ways after one person believed accountability should not apply to them.
Can anyone really act surprised that so many Americans across so many ideological, political, and social spectrums feel our country is broken? When this is how so many people —including supposedly sane and smart people— respond to real tragedy and real problems and real danger? When so few people take responsibility for their actions?
Lord, have mercy on us. We wrongly believed rejecting accountability would mean we could avoid all consequences. Instead it has made the consequences far worse, so much worse that not even the most powerful people in the country are safe anymore.
Making this American moment sufferable
The good news is that we don’t have to keep living like this. We can choose a better path, one that has the guardrails of hope and a better story about where we are going. Here are a few suggestions to that end, at least for our moment.
1. Turn worry into tangible action. Frustration and outrage-driven slacktivism doesn't accomplish anything of substance. In fact, it usually harms the cause. If you have real concerns about Biden staying on the ticket and have a Democratic Senator or Representative, call their office and respectfully express those concerns. The Democratic Party is currently the only major American political party that values engaged citizenship, even from people they disagree with. Engage directly with them instead of yelling falsehoods and half-truths about them online and demeaning them to friends.
And what if they do listen? What if Democrats do help Biden step aside? It’d be prudent to encourage Biden to finish his term. And there is perhaps no one better than Biden suited to be a unifying figure for both a new Democratic ticket and the anti-extremism coalition that emerged behind him in 2020. His rightfully stepping aside does not mean he should exit the stage altogether. Someone needs to be seen passing the torch to a new generation and he is uniquely positioned to be that figure in American life.
2. Be realistic. There will never be a perfect candidate or political party, so don’t make perfect the enemy of good and better. Don’t frame every election as “the lesser of two evils” because it often isn’t. People who say such things only sound judgmental and elitist an invite judgement onto themselves. And don’t expect an entire political party to meet your expectations within the hour, especially if you aren’t even a member. Political parties are big entities and change takes time and hard work just like it does in any large organization. If you want things to speed up then be an adult, register with that party, and get to work inside of it.
3. Participate in actual unity and reject faux unity. Many of the calls for unity flying around right now are outright gaslighting. Republicans who still back the January 6 insurrection to the hilt are demanding that we unite with them even as they threaten more political violence. Some reporters and loud centrists are both sides-ing legitimate warnings about violence and concerns for our democracy with actual hate speech and actual calls for violence. Using the assassination attempt as a cudgel to silence real concerns and conversations that need to be had is inherently immature and divisive.
Real unity involves people who don’t agree on everything coming together to fix very real problems. Participate in that. Create space for that. There’s a lot of unity to be found in rejecting political violence and calling to account those who demand that it not be addressed. This is not as hard as we have been told it is. Many of us already have friends and connections who don’t agree with us on everything. We already know Americans are not nearly as divided as we have been told we are. All we have to do right now is get to work.
4. Understand the power of the presidency for what it is and act accordingly. American presidents are not as powerful as many believe them to be. Joe Biden is not in control of prices at your local grocery store. Neither was Donald Trump. Many things that they have been praised or criticized for during their presidencies they had nothing to do with. Both men have certainly wielded tremendous power in specific areas and ways, but much of the world is out of their control as much as it is out of our control. This is why no president fulfills all the promises they make on the campaign trail and why tragedies come out of nowhere on their watch. They get into office and discover quickly their power has real limits, as it should.
Anything can happen between now and election day; however, on our current trajectory, it seems likely that Trump will win if Biden stays in the race. This is all the more reason to understand not just the power of the presidency for what it is, but also to understand that power in proximity to the rest of government and American society.
Congress, the courts, state and local governments, and civil society still wield tremendous power as well. All of them can put a severe check on Trumpism 2.0. If Biden decides to stay in the race and then loses, it will be all the more critical that as many of these other power centers are prepared to adhere to the rule of law and the protection of democratic values. Every race, from local school boards to the U.S Senate to everything in between, matters even more now. And on that note…
5. “Don’t boo. Vote.” - President Obama. None of us are voting for just a president, we are voting for an administration. If Biden and Trump remain the two options then a Biden Administration is still obviously preferable. He has smart people around him who genuinely listen, care, and want to do the right thing. I don’t agree with them on everything, but many of us know deep down we will at least be valued as American citizens under their watch. The same cannot be said of another Trump Administration, which has been crystal clear they will dehumanize those who have even minor disagreements with them and dominate the country instead.
Whatever happens between now and November, booing will not accomplish anything. Mobilizing those around you to show up at the ballot box will.
Closing Thoughts
There’s been a running joke over the last eight years that we are living on the dumbest timeline. These past few weeks certainly have made it feel like we are. There are segments of this country that have seemingly lost their minds, and it’s not just the most militant MAGAs or fundamentalist progressives. Indeed, some centrists have proven themselves to be just as egotistical, extreme, and ridiculous as those they loudly criticize.
Our moment calls for neither fearful chaos nor rejecting serious critique. It calls for calm thoughtfulness and relentless perseverance. For taking responsibility for our failures. To tell the truth in compelling and direct ways regardless of who the candidates are. And the truth is that people cannot be unified with those who are threatening political violence against them. The truth is we will not have unity as long as we are not allowed to have serious conversations. The truth is that neither Trump nor Biden should be running for the highest office in the land. These are not controversial things to say. We’re all right. We’re all wrong. We all must pass the torch. To dust we all return.
This is true as well: the politically disengaged among us are not dumb. Their views on policy and how to talk about difficult issues are often nuanced and rooted in deep personal experience. They are less interested in -isms and ideology. What they crave is tangible progress. If the hand-wringing tone police really do want the temperature to come down in this country, then they need to join the fight for the practical governance so many of us long for instead of telling everyone to avoid our problems. There’s a reason some of the most widely respected leaders in this country are the ones who pledged to “fix the damn roads” and then followed through on that promise.
What the disengaged don’t like is culture warring for the sake of culture warring. They neither find abstract references to authoritarianism and fascism helpful, nor do they hear vague language like “defending democracy” as useful when it comes to securing concrete progress. This mindset does not blind them from seeing when true danger becomes embodied, hence Trump’s never winning the popular vote. We have every reason to hope so many of the disengaged who still vote will do the right thing again, regardless of who is on the ticket. Treating them as less than is a sure way to bury that hope.
This is exactly why Trump and Biden should step down. It’s exactly why we should all reject centrist cynicism, self-victimization, and judgement just as we do fringe extremism. For their own good. For the good of our institutions. For the good of us all.
I explore faith and church culture in the American South from Memphis, TN. Never miss an article by signing up for my newsletter and subscribing to the podcast. You can also become a member or leave a tip to help keep this site free and open to all.
