As Donald Trump’s legal woes multiply by the day, it’s easy to see why the Biden-Harris campaign is eager to make the 2024 election all about Trump. The former president is deeply unpopular (at least among non-Republicans) and has now been criminally indicted in three jurisdictions, with a fourth likely to follow in Atlanta. Even some Republican elites recognize the difficulties this will create for a candidate who has never enjoyed the support of a majority of voters.
Many Americans dislike Trump, others may simply be sick of him—either way, it’s no surprise that Democrats want to shine a spotlight on his outrageous conduct, trusting that the path to victory next year can be made smoother by Trump’s never-ending scandals and missteps. Assuming Trump gets the Republican nomination (not guaranteed, of course), President Joe Biden’s strategy could focus on asking voters: Do you really want to try another four years of Trump, given all that we know about his bullying, coarse, bumbling, dime store mobster persona?
The problem with this approach, however, is that Biden is nearly as unpopular as Trump, and polling at this admittedly very early date suggests a close race. Although Trump’s record over the eight years since he announced his first presidential run has made it painfully clear that he is unfit to serve in public office, it is still the case that he could win election in 2024—just as he did in 2016. In light of this reality, it may not be enough to ask voters simply to cast a ballot against Trump—Biden will need to present an affirmative case, some positive reason to vote for him.
It was refreshing—but certainly not inevitable—to see Biden proudly embrace the idea that government can be a force for good in Americans’ lives.
Ironically, one of the most fervent Trump supporters—Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia—may have given Biden a ready-made campaign plank. In July, Greene warned that Biden is following in the footsteps of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson; that he is a “Democratic Socialist” committed to “big government programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare.”
Greene—known for promoting a “Jewish space laser” conspiracy by breathlessly (and incoherently) suggesting that California wildfires in 2018 might have had something to do with a “laser beam” somehow connected to “Rothschild, Inc”—doesn’t stand out as a deep, strategic thinker. So it’s no surprise that her effort to tar Biden with the frequently misused scare label of “socialist” could easily backfire. As one observer said of Greene’s “socialism” rant, “it strikes me as a curious political strategy to compare the legislation of a President [Biden] you despise and want to impeach with some of the most broadly popular legislation in American history.”
Biden seems to agree with this analysis: his campaign quickly responded with an ad that welcomed Greene’s comparison to FDR and LBJ as an indication that the Biden Administration is committed to helping middle class and working class people.
It was refreshing—but certainly not inevitable—to see Biden proudly embrace the idea that government can be a force for good in Americans’ lives. In the past, other Democrats went into a defensive crouch when Republicans like Ronald Reagan described government as “the problem.” After Republicans hammered home their “big government attack” for more than a decade, Bill Clinton finally conceded in 1996 that “the era of big government is over,” seeming to accept the Republicans’ premise that government is the enemy, or, at best, “a necessary evil.”
The Biden ad suggests an alternative approach: seizing on overwrought Republican anti-government rhetoric as an opening for presenting an effective case for Biden and the Democrats in 2024 that contrasts their approach with Republicans’ cynical view of government. Greene’s critique of government as a sinister force somehow leading the country to some vaguely understood “socialist” future suggests that Republicans stand for a libertarian scheme that minimizes the role of government. Of course, like the rest of Greene’s critique, this is not, in fact, true. Authoritarian Republican tactics when it comes to reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ Americans, and even library books have nothing to do with freedom.
Here’s where there’s an opportunity to draw a stark contrast. Republicans see government as a force that serves them—that advances their specific world views at the expense of their perceived enemies. This view is represented in its purest form by the party’s leader, Donald Trump. For Trump, everything is about him, and the government exists only to serve his personal interests by lining his pockets (or his family members’ pockets), protecting his henchmen, punishing his perceived enemies, and consolidating personal power. This is a man so self-absorbed that he falsely insisted classified government documents were “my documents.” Indeed, a core plank of Trump’s 2024 campaign is that he should be elected President so that he can stay out of prison. It doesn’t get more self-serving than that. If he is given a second term, Trump has made it brazenly clear that he will do all he can to make government officials personally loyal to him. At its heart, Trump’s vision of government is profoundly authoritarian: he sees government as a tool he can use to advance his interests and a weapon he can deploy to destroy his critics.
In contrast, Biden and the Democrats can argue that government exists to serve everyone. The point of government is to make life better—the preamble to our Constitution says as much. Where Trump’s view of government is deeply authoritarian and personal, Biden can embrace government as thoroughly democratic and aimed at public service. He could claim his presidency has been focused not on personal gain but rather on helping Americans burdened by student loans, inflation, worries about the pandemic, and economic uncertainty. On all of these fronts, Biden has standing to contend that peoples’ lives have been improved by government intervention, and that he can continue this approach in a second term.
While past Democrats often shied away from this type of rhetoric, authoritarians like Trump and Greene have provided an opportunity for today’s Democrats to lean into it. That doesn’t mean Democrats can’t continue to make the negative case against Trump, but emphasizing a contrast between Biden’s and Trump’s approaches to government can give progressives an edge in an election that may be extremely competitive.